✅ SOLVED c/w bullet type?

[8mygritz]

found many types of c/w era lead,but never 1 like this..58 cal.,a little more than 1/2 the length of normal minie of that cal..the cavity is almost as deep as the length of bullet itself.found at sherman campsite in NC.

 

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[Joe-Dirt]

This is just a guess, but because of the caliber, it might be one of the experimental/ conversion Springfield’s like the Robert’s (I think) rim fire .58 cal the govt. was playing with at the end of the war

 

[Joe-Dirt]

I think they they made Burnside carbines in .58 cal also, check with cannonman

 

[Slingshot]

Williams Cleaner Round - Poison Bullet - missing it's zinc base which went into the round hole in the base of your bullet. These were to clean the black powder fouling out of the barrel of the rifled musket with one being fired X amount of rounds. Since they collected up the gunk from the bore, people hit with one and not killed outright, often died from infection.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Your find is a civil war yankee .58-caliber Williams "Bore-Cleaner" Type 3 bullet. As Slingshot indicated, it is missing its hardened-lead alloy (not zinc) "thumbtack" base and the thin bowl-shaped zinc washer that was held against the main bullet's base by the "thumbtack." More info, with photos, is available for you in a recent discussion of that type of bullet in the What-Is-It? forum, here:
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/what/568014-williams-type-iii.html

By the way, the tale about a Williams Cleaner being a "poison bullet" is a myth. The ash left from the burned blackpowder propellant charge has been quite thoroughly sterilized by the flame which turned the gunpowder to ash. As the old saying goes, fire is the best disinfectant.

Here's how a bullet actually causes infection. As the bullet strikes the body, it carries bits of very un-sterile clothing and bacteria-ridden surface skin with it into the wound.

 

[sutphin]

THATS MR WILLIAMS I BELIEVE

 

[8mygritz]

yup.....that's it.i didn't think to chk.my 2 "cleaners".the hole was so clean i thought i had found something really unusual.i didn't realize they could come apart that easily.also i didn't realize that that bullet type was still in use late in the war.i had read that the bullet was very unpopular & inaccurate early on in the war & were discontinued.learn something new everyday...thanx