Any idea what this is?

[Tater Ball]

 

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[nhbenz]

Looks like an old lead bullet that someone used for soldering. Perhaps crimped onto the end of a bar and spun around (wearing the tip) to use the lead where it was needed. Anyway it looks like the top is melted.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

It is a civil war 3-groove .58-caliber Minie-ball which was "hard-rammed" into a very grimy rifle's bore (which caused extreme force to be needed for successful ramming), and then fired.

The "hard-ramming" caused the soft lead Minie bullet's entire nose to take the shape of the inside of the ramrod's mouth. The indented rim around the bottom of the bullet's nose was caused by the ramrod's circular lip. The rounded dent on one side of the bullet's nose and the "warping" of its base was caused by impact with the ground (which seems to have contained small pebbles).

Here are some photos of other examples of a "hard-rammed" fired civil war Minie-ball.

 

[Tater Ball]

Thank you!

 

[watercolor]

Tater Ball, VERY cool recovery!

and Cannonball, your knowledge of CW ordnance is incredible!

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Watercolor, pardon me if you've seen me say this in other posts. I do NOT mean it as bragging. I've been digging, collecting, dealing, and diligently studying civil war relics (especially, the Ordnance) for nearly 40 years. Some of my accumulated knowledge was given to me long ago, for free, by a couple of now-deceased experts. I feel a duty to also freely share their knowledge, and mine.

A bit more about "hard-rammed" Minie-balls:
The grooves which encircle a Minie-ball's body are there for a purpose. They held a small amount of tallow or similar grease, in order to lubricate the rifle's bore. Also, the black gunpowder in use at the time produced a thin film of ash with each shot fired. The ash and bore-lubricant grease combined to fairly quickly "gum up" the entire length of the rifle's bore. In a daylong battle, the bore would get so thickly encrusted that the soldiers had serious trouble getting a muzzle-loading bullet down the barrel. I've read wartime battle-reports which mention the soldiers having to use a fist-sized rock to pound on the ramrod's end to force the Minie-bullet down the barrel. That is how "hard-rammed" bullets (like Tater's) got created. I've dug quite a few of them myself, at long-length battles like Chancellorsville and Spotsylvania.