CW Bullet I.D. Please

[john37115]

I dug this bullet last night and haven't the slightest idea what it is can anyone help.
I have put a digital caliper on it and it measures. .560 so I guess 56 cal. and it is 1.063 inches long.
It has a deep dished bottom that comes to a point.

 

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[wildrider]

I'd say probably a dropped "unfired' , field cast bullet for a British made Enfield. It should measure .577 caliber.

 

[Monty]

That's the first "CW" bullet I have ever seen without grease grooves. Is it jacketed per chance? Also, I don't see any rifleing maarks, so it must have been fired in a musket. And it does look to be fired with the base disrupted. Without grease grooves it would have to have been a patched bullet (usually cotton ticking greased with tallow or just plain spit). Both sides were still using some old English made muskets early in the war, while the Union had mostly the newer Springfield rifled guns. The Confederacy had a few Springfields but most of them were captured on the battle field or by raiding union supply lines after the war had begun. So, I'm saying musket bullet about .60 caliber, the patch material making up the last couple of hundredths of bullet diameter? Monty.

 

[CenterHit]

You got a Civil War era Enfield bullet.
These where used by the Confederacy and are found in there
camps and locations. Excellent find.

 

[johnreb1980]

It is a .577 cal enfield with a cone cavity. It also looks to be in dropped condition. Nice find.

 

[fortbball9]

The closest bullet in the McKee & Mason bullet book would be M&M 224 a nose cast .577 Enfield bullet.
Very nice find,have found a bunch of CW bullets but where I live we don't find many enfields.
CONGRATS!!!!

fortbball9

 

[john37115]

Thanks for the I.D. Guys. WoW and I found this on my property. Hmm sounds like time to spend some time at home LOL

 

[Monty]

Well, shut my mouth! I learned something today, and wake up in a different world every day. The Enfield was a rifled musket imported from England and quite accurate for the time. They claim to be able to hit a man at 1000 yds. I am still trying to figure out how they were able to load multiple shots without lubricating the bullet. In my experience with muzzle loaders, if you shoot about 4 times without a lubricant or a jacketed bullet, it becomes almost impossible to push a new bullet down the bore. Anyone here shoot one of these babys and can help me out here? M nty

 

[dcinffxva]

The bullets in the Civil War were shot without a patch, and are smaller than the bore of the rifled-musket they were fired from, so they aren't all that difficult to seat. Included in every box of cartridges were one or two "cleaner" bullets, that had a zinc base, and theoretically would clean the bore when it was fired. I think the ratio was 1-10 on the Williams Cleaners, but can't recall for sure.

I concur with the others, that it is a dropped Enfield.

 

[ivan salis]

yup I can splain since I muzzle loader hunt ---monty -- they tended to make the "minie" conical type bullets a tad under size * that way they could "ram" em home even with the heavy fouling that occured with black powder --(and with minie balls no patch was used unlike round balls which need a patch to make a good gas seal)-- the british made enfeild ( heavily used by the southern forces) was "offically 58 cal" but the bullets were .577 or smaller and had a hollow base - upon firing the hot gases hitting the hollow base end expanded it outward causing it to seal properly and propel the bullet (and if the barrel was rifled type barrel it would engage the rifling as well)---- by the way the model 1842 springfeild 69 cal was the last "smooth bore" made by the usa and saw use by both sides -- southern troops often picked up the springfeild guns after battles with northern troops and used em ---many guns at the beginning of the war were "smooth bored" thus there was no rifling to foul and hang up on , however they often were not as accurite as rifled barreled guns were as a rule. your bullet is most likely a "dropped" confederate 58 cal enfeild type bullet** in my veiw ----great find now go look for more civil war era stuff there --- Ivan

ps in hopes of being more accurite --modern muzzle loader bullets are much tighter * to the bore size that the old soft lead conicals back then were add the modern rifling and while highly accurite --its a tight fit --try 777 powder or pellets less fouling and less sulfer to eat things up too.

 

[Monty]

I muzzleloader hunt too, about 25 years worth. I always used a lubbed bullet much like the grooved minnie balls commonly found at the battle sites. Now I use a jacketed bullet in a sabot with Triple 7. Before I switched, I'd have to clean the bore about every 5th shot to get the lubbed bullets to seat properly due to all the black powder fouling. The info about the cleaner bullet makes sense if they could remember to use it in the heat of battle. I read somewhere that there were numerous rifles recovered from battle fields with multiple doses of powder and bullets loaded where the soldiers forgot they had already loaded the weapons. Must have been a heck of a lot of fear and stress as a battle ensued. Glad I wasn't around then and only had to worry about a little thing called Viet Nam. Monty

 

[ivan salis]

the early M 16 jammed so much they had to make a "foward assist" button -- the m 16 was very fussy as far as dirt went -- get her dirty and she didn't like it --- the sks and ak 47 on the other hand was much looser fitted parts wize so it was less prone to jamming -- so guess you had your battlefeild "issues" to deal with too monty --- heck give me a M - 79 with beehive rounds in the thick stuff