Bullet ID Help

[Riggleman]

First bullet for 2018, but im unsure what it is. Last year i found 2, 58cal 3 groove, and a 58cal Gardner less than 50 yards from this find. Im hoping its CSA, im leaning towards a 52cal Richmond Sharps, solid base and looks like only 2 deep grooves or one band, may be a 3rd but its faint. Solid base. Looks to be fired. Any help is appreciated.

 

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[Yak1366]

Great Find & Great Pics!!

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Because you've asked me to comment:
When I don't know the object's ID, I tend not to post. I don't want to merely tell a digger it's not what he thinks/hopes it is.

But, because you asked:
Your bullet is definitely not a Richmond Sharps bullet, for three reasons.
1- The groove on a Richmond sharps is wide and flat-bottomed, not narrow and V-shaped as we see on your bullet.
2- Your bullet's nose is a shorter "cone" than a Richmond Sharps' nose-cone.
3- The Richmond Sharps is .95-inch long, and your bullet is significantly shorter at .795-inch.

When I first saw your post, to help you ID it I looked all through the "Handbook Of Civil War Bullets & Cartridges" (by Thomas-&-Thomas). There is no .52-CALIBER flat-solid-base bullet which matches your bullet's very short nose-cone, groove(s), and length.

That being said... your bullet's nose-cone almost looks like it has been carved down to be shorter than it originally was. Also, it looks like it has been fired, which compressed the gooves somewhat. I thought it might be a Merrill variant, but those are .54, and at least .10 longer than your bullet. The only candidate I can come up with that accounts for your bullet's unusually short length is a whittled-down-nose .52 Spencer that has been fired.

 

[Riggleman]

Thanks CannonballGuy, very interesting explanation. My next question is, was it common to carve a bullet? If so what was the reasoning behind it. Was it to increase range or accuracy?

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Soldier-carved civil war bullets are a fairly common find in winter encampments, and many short-term encampments... anywhere soldiers would get bored and do some bullet-whittling to pass the time. No, it wasn't done to increase the bullet's range or accuracy. Some of the soldiers' carving are very exotic (for example, I've seen a very detailed carved squirre lmade from a .58-caliber Minie bullet), but most are merely cut designs into the bullet. "Civil war carved bullets" is a popular category among civil war relic collectors. Carved bullets were the "Trench Art" of the civil war.

Although most "carvies" are found at campsites, some do come from battle sites. The first civil war bullet I ever dug was carved-on .58 Minie-bullet, and I found it at the Pickett's Mill battlefield, in Georgia. There were no encampments worthy of that description at Pickett's Mill, just a couple of overnight bivouacs before the armies moved on.

Here's an unfortunately poorly-focused photo of a .58 Minie-bullet carved perfectly in half, lengthwise. Like I said above, it is simply the result of a bored soldier.

 

[Davers]

TCBG
I like you opinion of the OP's Bullet 'Carved Spencer' that fits , it does have that Richmond Lab's Look , but to short as you said .

FWIW.
I have dug only 1 Richmond Sharps & that was West of Atlanta.

Neat Bullet find Riggleman.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

I forgot to mention... there is one other ID-clue which strongly indicates the bullet is a civil war .52 Spencer bullet. Note that in Riggleman's photos, the very bottom of the bullet shows a small rebate (an indention) encircling the base of the bullet. The photo below shows the underside of a .52 Spencer bullet, where you'll see what causes the look of an indention in Riggleman's "sideview" photos. The .52 Spencer is one of VERY few types of civil war bullets which have this slightly-indented base. So, in view of this and the other points of evidence, I think we can be fairly certain that Riggleman's bullet is a fired .52 Spenceer with a carved-down nose-cone.

 

[Riggleman]

I knew of "trench art" carvings, having only found one this far. But carving on a bullet to be fired just struck me as odd. Im satisfied with the evidence provided to safely say its a carved .52 Spencer. Thanks everyone for the great input. Just goes to show some of our finds can be identified as to what they are but we will never understand the stories they hold

 

[flgliderpilot]

Smart guy carved that one... attempting to improve accuracy