Bucket Lister Minie Ball!

[mdj]

My first 3 ringer! It's so small. Is it real, is it civil war period?

 

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[Digger RJ]

Nice!!! Congrats!!!

 

[ToddsPoint]

Tell me how you found a 3 ringer in the Midwest? Gary

 

[snaps]

looks like a pistol bullet-whats the bottom look like?

 

[mdj]

Tell me how you found a 3 ringer in the Midwest? Gary

Exactly, it's funny, you really can find anything anywhere. That's the same thing I thought when I found the Chinese coins!

 

[gunsil]

Tell me how you found a 3 ringer in the Midwest? Gary

CW type balls and bullets are commonly found all over the country. Many more shots have been fired for target practice and hunting in our country than in battle and spent bullets are found everywhere. As the government up graded to breech loading weapons after the CW most military guns were sold as good old army surplus. These were very inexpensive to buy used at the time and many people bought and used them for hunting. Muzzle loading guns were used right up to the 20th century and even later in some rural areas. Don't forget that Lincoln allowed the rebs to keep their rifles and muskets to hunt food for their families with.

Slug here does look like a pistol bullet.

 

[mdj]

Thanks for the info gunsil! I've been trying to get some clearer pics. Does anybody know what caliber it is? It made my day! Here's the pics.... top, side and bottom.

 

[rsilva02667]

Civil war three ringers are much bigger!

 

[mdj]

Civil war three ringers are much bigger!

There are a lot of different calibers and types of CW minie balls, pistol balls and cartridges, according to Stephen Moore's book RELIC QUEST. It's CW time period anyway.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Cool find!

 

[gunsil]

Only you can tell us the caliber, nobody in the world can tell caliber from a photo. You need to get a caliper and measure the diameter, you can get a cheap digital caliper for fifteen bucks. It is not a minie ball, a minie MUST have a deeply hollow base so the thinner bottom expands into the rifling of the firearm where the grooves or "rings" are. A good in-focus closeup of the side would help date it, if there are little lines in the grooves it is a more modern slug.