50 caliber and Silver

Metal Illness

Hero Member
Jul 1, 2011
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Englewood, Ohio
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Minelab E-Trac
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All Treasure Hunting
Well after another Field Site bust, denied permission 4-5 times and 2 unsuccessful attempts at locating the homesteads in the past 3 days, I fell back on my little Silver Honey hole site. Second target I dug was the 1939d merc. (16 Silvers from this little home site) then I the found a 1925 wheaty and a killer WWII/Korean war relic. It is a 50 caliber Browning Machine gun round. It has 3 holes drilled in it and the firing primer has been removed. I used the mini mag light for reference. Based on some photos I have seen on the web, it might be a dummy round, based on the holes in the casing, I'm not sure. The photos of the dummy rounds I saw had a different pattern of holes, either way it is pretty cool.

The Browning M2 machine gun was the most widely used weapon on the American bomber and fighter planes of WWII. Due to the high demand of ammunition for this gun, many companies began producing the .50 caliber round to keep the supply available.
The .50 caliber round is 5.5" (140mm) long with seated bullet. The casing alone is just under 4" (100mm) long. The primer end of the casing where the headstamp is located is 0.75" (19mm) diameter. The bullet is typically 2.25" (55mm) long with 0.75" (19mm) seated into the casing. The bullet diameter is 0.50".

Frankford Arsenal (F A 1943)
Operated as a major ammunition manufacturing plant from 1816 - 1977.
 

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Upvote 8
very interesting! nice finds!
 

Nice merc, and 50. Cal. Put a few down range w/ Barrett M82 awhile back.
 

Lucky to find the 50 cal in one piece. I dig 30 for every one not roached and fewer yet with projectile intact. Good find
 

Sweet silver and cool .50 cal.
Congrats.
 

Very nice finds. GL&HH.
 

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