✅ SOLVED Bullet ID needed

[cti4sw]

Found this near the front door of a century-old Lutheran church. Finally got calipers to measure it with




Appears to be 1.15" long by 0.32" in diameter at it's thickest (where the casing would have ended).

I'm no expert in ammunition so I have no idea what round specs are for each caliber...

 

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[skeeterd]

Its a 30 calibure bullet. But there are ALOT of .30 calibures out there. Yours is too long to have come from a hand gun but there are still alot of possablities. The most common rifles are; .30-30 (.30 WCF) but factory ammunition used broad flat point bullets because most rifles chambered for it were tubular magazines, 300 savage (used mostly for a hunting cartridge), .308 winchester (a current military cartridge also popular with the general public), .30-40 Krag (US military rifle from 1892-1903), .30-06 Springfield ( US military cartridge from 1906 untill the introduction of the .308). The type of point it has and the weight in grains can help narrow down which cartridge it may be from. Hope this helps a little.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Note that your copper-jacketed bullet's "tail" tapers down to a narrower diameter than its main body. That is called a boat-tail design. It means your bullet is from about the World War 2 era at the very earliest, and probably much later.

Here's a photo showing what is identified as a World War 2 Browning .50-caliber Machinegun bullet. Notice the tapered "boat-tail" on it. (This photo was originally posted here on TN by Thrillathehunt -- and I thank him for it.)

 

[pistol-pete]

A 30 Caliber bullet measures .308 not 320. If that measurement is correct it has to be an 8mm military bullet!!

 

[skeeterd]

The pic that shows the bullet being measured is exactly .308. I thought that the .32 was either a typo or from damage to the bullet from being fired. The 8mm bullets all measure .323. It may very well be an 8mm bullet.

 

[cti4sw]

The 0.32 was my guesstimate based on the caliper's increments. I re-measured, and it's indeed 0.308 - just a hair past 0.30.

A WWII era date is neat, but doesn't explain why I found this next to the front door of a popular Lutheran church across from a volunteer firehouse in a heavily residential area containing homes that were already 15-20 years old by the time WWII rolled around.

 

[cti4sw]

These are the best pics I can give you of the tip. It appears to have a lip/rim but is not hollow. As for the weight...
<30 mins later> ...is 11g. According to Google, 11 grams = 169.755942 grains.





EDIT: I only used the calipers here to stand the bullet upright for the tip pictures - ignore the measurements.

 

[BosnMate]

The tip on your bullet looks like it's sporting ammo. I use 165 grain boat tail spire tips in my 30-06. Spire tip means the tip has a small amount of exposed lead. The M1 Garand military round was 150 grain full metal jacket with a flat base. I can't tell if there are rifling marks on the bullet. If there are, someone could have fired the rifle into the air, and you found the spent bullet. What goes up must come down, and some people are dumb enough to do that, not thinking where the bullet might land. A friend of ours was inside their upholstery shop, and a fellow deer hunting fired at a sky lined buck, missed, the bullet went over the hill, through the wall of the shop, and hit her just above the belt on her side. Didn't reach any vitals, but none the less, who wants to be hurt like that. The shooter got busted, and lost his hunting privileges among other things. If no rifling marks are on the bullet, then someone that reloads his own might have dropped a bullet on his way into church.

 

[cti4sw]

That may be the case, BM...1? C? There are no rifling marks.

 

[BosnMate]

That may be the case, BM...1? C? There are no rifling marks.

Kiddie cruiser, Korean war era, assault boat coxswain, ran a LCM, rates were frozen, didn't want to be a seaman with a hash mark so took discharge and used the GI bill and never looked back. Ship was USS Merrick, AKA 97, and if they had rated me I would have stayed, I liked the Navy, and I liked sea duty. That was all a long time ago.