✅ SOLVED Do I Have WW1 Shrapnel?

[DCMetal]

I live in Washington, DC and my house is located near several Civil War forts and batteries. I'm also next to the neighborhood that once served as a World War 1 testing ground and has been discovered a as a munitions dump.

We have a large piece of property (uncommon for DC), so the size and the proximity to historical events keeps my busy with the detector.

I've found buckets of things from old glass, pottery, buttons, coins, marbles, toys, lots of bones, a musket ball, copper and assorted rusty metal. I even found a large bronze commemorative FDR inaugural coin from 1941 (house built in 1939).

Today I found lots of things, including more pieces of what I think is shrapnel but I'm really not sure. There are so many things I'd like to post but this is the one that keeps me guessing. Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

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[rick67]

Don't know about the shrapnel but that is one busy yard.

 

[DCMetal]

Don't know about the shrapnel but that is one busy yard.

LOL! You should see the buckets and buckets of things I have and I don't even dig up everything I hit. My yard guys must think I'm crazy!

 

[DCMatt]

I don't see anything in your menagerie that looks like shrapnel. If you want shrapnel you gotta dig iron.

DCMatt

 

[DCMetal]

I don't see anything in your menagerie that looks like shrapnel. If you want shrapnel you gotta dig iron.

DCMatt

A ha! Now I think I know what you're talking about. I have plenty of that as well. I'm cleaning some of the pieces and should be ready to photograph. I'll post those and see what everyone thinks. Not really looking for shrapnel, I just keep finding loads of I don't know what.

In the pictures above, I'm referring to the twisted pieces of metal. They're not magnetic and I dug them with my old detector which doesn't tell me what it is. I'll pass my new one over it-- although I'm still trying to figure it out.
In the picture below, I thought the object looked like part of a cannon ball. To the right of the piece is what I thought might be a musket ball of some sort. I really know nothing about artillery.

 

[mick56]

The twisted pieces look like lead. Do they bend easily?

 

[DCMetal]

yes, they bend easily and look like lead, very heavy. do have any idea what they could be? i have a lot more than what is in the picture.

 

[gunsil]

Shrapnel is mostly iron, and all WW1 shrapnel would be iron. Some civil war artillery shells had lead sabots, but your lead appears to be too thin to have been that. The last piece you show looks like what is left in the bottom of a lead ladle or lead pot after a pour. I have a lot of those from casting muzzle loader bullets and fishing sinkers, get a bunch, melt 'em back down, and pour again. Hard to say what the other lead pieces are, looks like it could have come from plumbing or roofing work. We all find lots of lead in the ground, it had lots of uses and seems to have gotten strewn all over the place.

 

[DCMetal]

Good to know Gunsil. Thanks. I think I'll just keep putting it away in the shed. The less of it in my yard, the better. Cheers!

 

[DCMatt]

DCM,

If your house was built in 1939, there would have been plenty of lead products used in the construction. The bits in your yard may just be construction trash..

DCMatt

 

[DCMetal]

DCM,

If your house was built in 1939, there would have been plenty of lead products used in the construction. The bits in your yard may just be construction trash..

DCMatt

That's what I'm thinking. But the good thing is, there's so much good stuff in between the trash!