CW bullet and a lead seal?

[Stef45]

Here is what i believe is an Union bullet and the other is a lead seal i think. Not sure what it says on it. Not wanting to clean it too much. Any ideas?

 

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[TheCannonballGuy]

Yes, that is a civil war .58-caliber Minie bullet. Looks like the base end of it got partially melted in a campfire. That makes it difficult to give you a "definite" ID as to what specific vrsion of Minie bullet it is. I see a little evidence that it MIGHT be a Confederate one called a Gardner. Need you to clean the rest of the dirt or concretion off of the body-grooves.

By the way, for anybody here who doesn't already know:
I mentioned "melted in a campfire" because we know for certain that when all the available firewood was wet, civil war soldiers would use a bullet-cartridge's gunpowder as a firestarter, and toss the now-useless lead slug into the campfire. That is why we find so many fire-melted bullets in civil war military campsites.

 

[Digginrebel]

Nice digs. May be a lead powder seal. I have found a couple like that in CW camps.

 

[Stef45]

Yes, that is a civil war .58-caliber Minie bullet. Looks like the base end of it got partially melted in a campfire. That makes it difficult to give you a "definite" ID as to what specific vrsion of Minie bullet it is. I see a little evidence that it MIGHT be a Confederate one called a Gardner. Need you to clean the rest of the dirt or concretion off of the body-grooves.

By the way, for anybody here who doesn't already know:
I mentioned "melted in a campfire" because we know for certain that when all the available firewood was wet, civil war soldiers would use a bullet-cartridge's gunpowder as a firestarter, and toss the now-useless lead slug into the campfire. That is why we find so many fire-melted bullets in civil war military campsites.

I will clean it up when I get back home this weekend and upload a new pic. Looks like it has three grooves. Thought it might be a three ringer. Do you think it's the same as the other one (nicer one) next to it in the pic?

 

[Stef45]

Nice digs. May be a lead powder seal. I have found a couple like that in CW camps.

Is there any way for me to look that up? I tried online and havnt found anything

 

[Digginrebel]

Not that I know of, sorry

 

[Stef45]

Yes, that is a civil war .58-caliber Minie bullet. Looks like the base end of it got partially melted in a campfire. That makes it difficult to give you a "definite" ID as to what specific vrsion of Minie bullet it is. I see a little evidence that it MIGHT be a Confederate one called a Gardner. Need you to clean the rest of the dirt or concretion off of the body-grooves.

By the way, for anybody here who doesn't already know:
I mentioned "melted in a campfire" because we know for certain that when all the available firewood was wet, civil war soldiers would use a bullet-cartridge's gunpowder as a firestarter, and toss the now-useless lead slug into the campfire. That is why we find so many fire-melted bullets in civil war military campsites.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Thanks for making and posting the additional photos. I'm happy to report they confirm what I suspected... congratulations, you've found your first Gardner minie-bullet, a variety which was manufactured only by the Confederates.

As I indicated in my previous reply, the damage to its base was caused by partial melting in a soldier's campfire... it has not been fired. Here's a photo showing what an unfired un-melted .58 Gardner looks like. I should mention, Gardner minies came in several minor variations in the shape (such as pointed-nose, clipped-nose, wide grooves, narrow grooves, etc.), so yours may not have looked exactly the same as this one.

Your very first photo in this thread shows your Gardner standing next to what is statistically most likely to be a .58-caliber 3-groove minie, and it appears to be the same caliber. Gardner minies were also made in .54 and .69-caliber.

 

[Stef45]

Thanks for making and posting the additional photos. I'm happy to report they confirm what I suspected... congratulations, you've found your first Gardner minie-bullet, a variety which was manufactured only by the Confederates.

As I indicated in my previous reply, the damage to its base was caused by partial melting in a soldier's campfire... it has not been fired. Here's a photo showing what an unfired un-melted .58 Gardner looks like. I should mention, Gardner minies came in several minor variations in the shape (such as pointed-nose, clipped-nose, wide grooves, narrow grooves, etc.), so yours may not have looked exactly the same as this one.

Your very first photo in this thread shows your Gardner standing next to what is statistically most likely to be a .58-caliber 3-groove minie, and it appears to be the same caliber. Gardner minies were also made in .54 and .69-caliber.

Thanks again CannonBallGuy! Once again you're the man!