✅ SOLVED Confederate or Union bullet?

[ringking76]

I found this bullet at a new site.
A battle took place on the other side of the hill we were hunting.
The bullet is pretty beat up but i put the calipers on the most "roundest" part of the bullet,toward the top.554
The length is 1.023 on the low side and 1.100 on the high side.
I wish it was in better shape but it is what is.Im just happy I got it out the ground.the 3 ringer is just for size comparison.

 

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[Goldiver]

Looks like you may have an Enfield bullet should have measured .577 when new. Most commonly associated with Confederates but also used by US troops.

Steve

 

[tennessee digger]

Really hard to say but it looks like a fired Enfield (as Goldiver pointed out). Both sides used the Enfield rifle so you really can't pinpoint who was using them.

 

[ivan salis]

if the battle was earlier in the war when the british supported the south * more likely to be southern ( based upon % used by both sides at the time ) --if later on in the war , when the british switched sides and stopped supplying arms to the south instead giving them to the north -- more likely to be northern -- a big help would be to know which side was upon which side of the hill say the confederates where from one side --union on the other --then the location found could assist you ...but when both sides used the same ammo / guns --it impossible to say this is "confederate or union" 100% -- but if you can say -- this bullet was found say in a confederate "trench line" so I would think its was likely used by confederate forces .... few if anyone would question your logic.

 

[BosnMate]

Yeah, but what if it was fired into the trench line by a yankee

 

[TheRingFinder]

This might help:

Bullets And Arms Of The American Civil War

 

[civil_war22]

Very nice find

 

[ivan salis]

Bosn mate * if fired into the confederate trench line by a Yankee --it would have "incoming" fired bullet type damage * (typically a smashed nose end) --if not then it would likely be a "drop" type bullet dropped into the trench line by a rebel loading his rifle (might have some damage due to being stepped on but not as much as a fired bullet would) -- drops were seldom "picked" up in the heat of battle --another bullet was just used instead ...ps if the yankee got close enough to shoot into the trench line -with a single shot type weapon like the muzzle loading enfeild ...its highly unlikely that the yankee would have tried to reload it -- (most likely he would be killed trying to do so by the rebels in the trench) --that's why bayonets were on them as well as knives and pistols and using the rifles as clubs in close up face to face civil war trench warfare

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

I agree that it appears to be a civil war era .577-caliber Enfield bullet. Carefully dig the dirt out of its base cavity. If an Enfield's cavity has a wide flat bottom, it is British-made. If it has any other shape of cavity, it is Confederate-made. Yankees wouldn't have been firing CS-made bullets. But both sides used British-made ones.

In the first two years of the war, both the USA and CSA imported British-made Enfield bullets. After then, the US arsenals had become able to mass-produce enough bullets to eliminate the need to import any from other countries.

 

[ringking76]

I agree that it appears to be a civil war era .577-caliber Enfield bullet. Carefully dig the dirt out of its base cavity. If an Enfield's cavity has a wide flat bottom, it is British-made. If it has any other shape of cavity, it is Confederate-made. Yankees wouldn't have been firing CS-made bullets. But both sides used British-made ones.

In the first two years of the war, both the USA and CSA imported British-made Enfield bullets. After then, the US arsenals had become able to mass-produce enough bullets to eliminate the need to import any from other countries.

Thanks for the advice ill clean it tonight.