Chewed Bullet and Brass Item

[Clo]

Hey guys, y’all always pull through for me, testing my luck again. I found these two items this past weekend in SW Mississippi at an old homesite. Didn’t find any coins, but did find some turn of the century shotgun brass. The brass item appears to be either a handle or a guard off something. One end is broken, the other was made that way. The bullet appears to be a .58 cal, but with all the teeth marks it ranged from .56 to almost .59. It is 1.09” long. Were the grooves chewed through, or was it originally smooth? And what does that, a human or an animal? If human, was it like biting a stick for pain, or just something to gnaw on and pass the time? Thanks for looking.

 

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[vhs07]

Part of an andiron leg?

 

[luke_00]

Can you imagine chewing a bullet while your leg is being sawn off?

 

[metrotec]

I've found several hundred that have squirrel and hog teeth markings.

 

[islamoradamark]

I guess when ur nervous you will chew on something

 

[Dug]

vhs07 got it.

 

[Clo]

Oh wow. I couldn’t picture it in my head until I saw the pic. Looks like y’all nailed that one. Anybody recognize what kind of bullet it is?

 

[bologna321]

amazing ID

 

[HuntinDog]

I don't know what type of bullet, but it is said that the oxidization is sweet (not advised to lick it) and rodents and such will find them and give them a taste.
Humans biting on bullets is mostly a myth. Chewing on a bullet would most likely chip and break a tooth.

 

[DCMatt]

Can you imagine chewing a bullet while your leg is being sawn off?

Humans biting on bullets is mostly a myth. Chewing on a bullet would most likely chip and break a tooth.

More importantly, a doctor didn't want a patient laying on his back with a small object in his mouth because, at some point, the patient will likely cry out and could easily choke on the bullet.

That said, soldiers/men did chew or suck on bullets to stimulate saliva in the mouth during hot weather when water was limited. Lead also has a mildly sweet taste - or so I'm told...

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Just wanted to add my two cents here… the bite force of a common pig is 2000 psi; the average bite force of a human is 126 psi. Rodents tend to leave distinct fine striations on lead shot, but the chewing and digestion of a musket ball by a pig, which would happen as the animal is rooting around the ground looking for food can leave it covered with tooth marks.

I've found lots of chewed musket balls on farm sites from around 1800. The settlers in my part of Ontario were British Loyalists who left quite a few military artifacts around the sites. But it's unlikely that they carried chewed balls from battlefields hundreds of miles away. As further evidence, I've also found bits of melted lead likely from casting operations.

Lead oxide, "sugar of lead" is sweet tasting. It's the white covering found on many lead artifacts. At one time, it was the main pigment in white paint and enamel. Children were attracted to its sweetness and would suck on items like cribs and house trim painted with it. That's where some of the lead paint poisonings originated in earlier times and is one major reason lead was replaced with other pigments in modern paints. Perhaps animals like pigs sense the sweetness as well.