✅ SOLVED Camp Stevens Griffin Ga , anything here look civil war related? Thanks!

[Ihatepoisonivy]

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Upgraded Night Vision Monocular Digital Infrared Monocular Telescope for 100% Darkness with 8X Zoom - Grab it through Amazon!

[taz42o]

The Item at the bottom looks to be a friction primer.

 

[uglymailman]

upper left is "key" and ring off a can, like a can of corned beef. The thing under the quarter on right looks like spark wheel off a modern cigarette lighter. Good luck.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

The primer is a 20th-Century version if it was manufactured with a top that is pinched flat (made that way, not crushed after being discarded).

The one thing in the photo I see which could be civil war era is the large-caliber bullet-casing. Because its base is shown at a narrow angle in the photo, I cannt be 100% sure it isn't a rimfire casing (which could be civil war era). Need to see a photo showing its flat base clearly. Does it have a letter-mark on it? Also, need precise measurement of its diameter slightly above its base.

 

[Ihatepoisonivy]

Per your request, I put the cleaner bullet next to the old casing for measurement purposes, I hope these pics will help in identifying this shell as civil war related.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Thank you for the additional photos of the bullet-casing. They confirm my hope (.50-caliber or larger casing), but cancel the possibility that it's a pre-1866 casing, by showing that it is a "centerfire primer" casing -- which is strictly post-civil-war.

That being said... it appears to be a .50-caliber or larger casing, and it doesn't have the typical look of a shotgun-shell's brass base. So I'm quite curious about it. I wish you had a caliper for accurately measuring its diameter slightly above the base-rim.

Viewing super-magnification of the base-view photo, it looks like there might be some lettering on the casing's flat base. Please try gently scraping that area with your fingernail, to see if there is some lettering, and if so, tell me what it says.

 

[Ihatepoisonivy]

Here is a good picture in the light... I do see .50 and then some other lettering when the pic is in large...my eyes aren't so good anymore.

 

[Ihatepoisonivy]

I see a U and W and what looks like a sideways "s" next the .50

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Thanks for the newest photo, showing the casing's base-marking (called the "headstamp). Putting the photo into super-magnification, I seem to see "UMC" at the top, "50.70" at the bottom, and "US" stamped vertically on the left. Those markings mean your bullet-casing was manufactured by the Union Metallic Cartridge Company for use in the US .50-70 "Government" rifle, sometime between the late-1870s and 1888, when UMC merged with Remington Arms Company and the headstamps were changed to say REM-UMC.

The primer in your centerfire casing shows no firing-pin mark, so it is an unfired casing. The large amount of powder in the .50-caliber casing caused it to corrode to bits. The bullet that was in it should still be somewhere very close to where you dug the busted casing. Also, where you find one unfired bullet (or cartridge), there are often at least one or two more nearby. So, I'd go back and hunt the exact spot where you dug the unfired casing very carefully, to see if you can find the lead bullet from it (and possibly some more cartridges).

 

[Ihatepoisonivy]

Awesome info! thanks Cannonballguy for your input. Great info like this is why I will soon be upgrading my membership!