Civil War items?

[hillbillyhunter]

What are the types of bullets? I think the casings are spencer but not for sure.



Railroad spike I know. What about the bayonet looking thing? What are the other iron items?



Old spoons and an old buckle.


Several iron things not sure what they all are.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[hillbillyhunter]

Pretty weird I thought maybe Harmonica but im not for sure?

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

When you post a photo showing a large number of items, it is helpful to put a number next to each item,. Because you didn't do that, it's difficult for us ID-helpers to specify which one of the 21 items we're talking about. So, I'll have to just give you the identifications and let you figure out which items I mean.

Items in your 2nd post's photo:
pocketwatch guts
clockwork guts frame
dinner-knife
epaulettes ("Shoulder-scales") parts
sewn-on strap adjuster

 

[creskol]

I see The CannonBallGuy beat me to these ID's as I was making the labels. .. But.. here it is anyway.
The harmonica parts are 99.9% post Civil War.

 

[hillbillyhunter]

Good deal thanks guys I will go back and label my pictures

Thanks.







How do i delete previous pictures I have tried and am having a difficult time figuring out how to delete when i go to edit a post

Thanks for all your help

Also I just saw where you were requiring some caliper measurements of the bullets. I do not have access to one at this time but I can get measurements next week.

Thanks

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Creskol, I don't have the computer graphics skills to add label to items in a photo. Thank you for doing that labor.

Hillbillyhunter, there's way too many bullets in your post #1 photo #1 to give you identifications without numbers on them. So I'll just ID the other items. The cylindrical brass objects are indeed US .52 Spencer rifle/carbine bullet-casings. The tapered ones are US .54 Burnside bullet-casings. The objects at upper left are brass rivets which pieces of leather together, for everything from soldier's gear to civilian horsegear. Yours are most probably from the 1800s but there's generally no way to accurately date them, or tell whether they are from military or civilian leather gear.

Post #1 photo #2:
The cap-shaped brass object with a long pin is a civil war Enfield rifle tompion. The "twisty" iron object on the right is a civil war era double-heliz bulletworm.

Post #1 photo #3:
Pre-civil-war (1700s-early-1800s) pewter eating-utensil handles, and an apparently brass (or maybe pewter) spoon's bowl, broken off from the spoon's body).

Post #1 photo #4:
At upper left center, two crushed .54 burnside bullet-casings.

 

[hillbillyhunter]

Cannonball guy that is too cool. Thank you for your help The 1700 eating utilisels are really cool. I labeled some of the pictures. Sorry for putting so many objects in one picture. This is awsome I truly enjoy finding and preserving the past.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Hillbillyhunter wrote:
> Also I just saw where you were requiring some caliper measurements of the bullets.

Very-precise measurements (in hundredths-of-an-inch) are needed for accurate ID of bullets, because as little as .02-inch can make a difference in the bullet's ID.

> I do not have access to one at this time but I can get measurements next week.

Every relic-digger should own a Digital Caliper, because very-precise measurements are needed for accurate ID of coins. buttons, buckles, etc -- not just bullets. Fortunately, you can buy a very good Digital Caliper from places like Harbor Freight Tools (or online, like at Ebay) for a mere $15.

Since you've now added numbers to the items on your photos, I can give you "preliminary" identifications of the bullets. For some of them, we'll need photos of their bottom, to see whether it has a base-cavity or a "solid" base. Others in the photo are too blurry for ID. Others are still too dirt-encrusted for specific-ID. Please clean, caliper-measure, and re-photo the unidentifiable ones in the list below.

Post #5, photo #1:
1- fired civil war "generic" US 3-groove Minie-ball, probably .58-caliber
2- fired "high-impact" Minie-ball, high-impact meaning it hit something very solid (like a rock) at very close range, and thus "splattered" out very wide
3- apparently a Minie-ball which a soldier neatly carved perfectly in half, lengthwise
4- another high-impact fired minie, just not as spectacular as bullet #2
5- unfired civil war .44 revolver bullet, too blurry for specific ID, need better photo
6- ditto in every respect, except looks like a .36-caliber
7- ditto, .44-caliber
8- fired Minie, type unknown, too blurry and dirty, need better photo
9- looks like a fired British-made Enfield .577-caliber minie, need better photo
10- unfired CS .58 Gardner minie
11- unfired US .58 Williams "bore-cleaner" Type 3 bullet, missing its base-disc. Type 3 first appears on battlefields in 1863
12- minie, too blurry, need better photo
13- unfired generic 3-groove mine, need baseview photo
14- ditto, might be a CS version
15- unfired US .52 Sharps breechloading rifle/carbine bullet
16- unfired US .44 Colt Dragoon revolver bullet
17- appears to be an unfired but "pulled/wormed" CS .58 Gardner minie, need better sideview photo, and base
photo
18- fired minie, mat be a .54 CS Gardner, need better sideview photo, and base photo
19- unfired minie, gouges in side caused by squirrel-chewing (thought it was a nut)
20- 3-groove minie, may be fired, or just "pulled/wormed" unfired one, need better photo
21 & 26- US .52 Spencer bullet casings
22- brass rivets from leather objects, cannot be identified as to whether civil or military
23- US Burnside .54 bullet-casing
24- unidentifiable bullet, need better sideview photo and base photo
25- damaged lower 2/3 of US Burnside .54 bullet casing
26- identified with #21
27- uncertain, several possibilities, need close-up photo
28- bullet casing, looks longer and wider than a Spencer, need precise measurements of diameter and length
29- 19th-century "square-nails" -- one may be something else, need close-up photo

Post 5, photo #2:
1 & 2- unknown
3- buckshot, possibly from civil war "buck-&-ball" ammo, but could be from later game-hunters
4- civil war British-made tompion for .577 Enfield Rifle
5- civil war bulletworm, "double-helix" type
6- small buckles for leather straps, no way to tell what kind or date
7- appears to be a damaged extra-large squarenail
8- group of various lead musketballs and pistolballs -- one with three small round imprints if from fired "buck-&-ball"
9- generic 3-groove Minie-ball
10- squarenail
11- uncertain, need close-up photos

 

[hillbillyhunter]

Awsome thank you very much. I just purchased a caliper from ebay. Upon further inspection of two of the bullets I see a star in 2 of thems cavity. Does this have any impact on identifiers? And I am particularly interested in the "Gardner" bullets, because they could be confederate. How can you tell when you have gardner bullets? I have a box full different bullets and bullet fragments along with some lead objects that I have not clue what they are.

Thank you very much for your help this is great

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

If the star in a 3-groove minie's base cavity is a "raised-mark" 5-pointed star, that marking means the bullet was made at the Washington Arsenal.

All Gardner minies are Confederate-made. There was a US-made minie with a similar name, Gardiner (note the exact spelling).

Gardner minies have two flat-bottomed body grooves, AND what looks like a coffee-cup inserted into their base cavity. (For many years, modernday collectors of civil war bullets though it really was a cup-shaped piece of lead inserted into the Gardner minie's base, but it turns out it isn't.) There are several other varities of bullets which have two body grooves, but if they don't have what appears to be a cup-shaped piece of lead inserted into the base, they are not Gardner minies. See photo below. Also, to see some of the many slight variations of Gardner minies, go here: http://www.baymediapro.com/collection/bullet_tt_list.asp

 

[hillbillyhunter]

Close up of the nails and stopper?









Not sure about the last picture

 

[hillbillyhunter]

For some reason that link is broken. I have five of the Gardner bullets. Two of which are pulled. That is pretty cool, I can only imagine hwo the soldier felt during battle when his gun jammed and he had to pull it out of the barrel..

 

[digging440yrs]

GREAT ITEMS HILLBILLY---

 

[hillbillyhunter]

GREAT ITEMS HILLBILLY---

Thanks