I.D. of two ringer and pistol bullet!

STRIKE HOLD Logan

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Location
South Central KY
Detector(s) used
Garrett Ace 350
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Found these at spot with lots of cw history. Not sure about two ringer and pistol bullet. Also in pic's a few other bullets and half of a sword belt plate. HH..

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Thank you very much for providing Digital Caliper measurements of your bullets.

The first one is a civil war yankee "Machine-Pressed-&-Turned" bullet... manufactured by a machine which compressed a lead slug into the desired bullet shape, then cut body-grooves into it by turning (spinning) it on a lathe. Note that it has an "ellipsoidal" base-cavity instead of a conical cavity. The type you found is incorrectly called a Belgian in some older bullet-books -- but proof has been found in yankee Ordnance Department records that it is yankee-made, not imported from Belgium. Yours is shown (as a Belgian) in the ancient McKee-&-Mason book, and as an MP&T bullet in the 2007 Revised Edition of the "Handbook Of Civil War Bullets & Cartridges: by James E. Thomas & Dean S. Thomas.

The second bullet, a fired one whose front got distorted by impact, is mysterious. It is definitely a metallic-cartridge bullet. The only match-up for a solid-based 3-groove bullet of the APPROXIMATE size of yours is a .32 Smith & Wesson bullet. But your photo shows yours as measuring .279 in diameter. Are you sure your caliper's jaw-blade isn't down in the bullet's body-grooves? I'm asking because there is no .28-caliber 3-groove bullet in the civil war era.
 

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Thanks Cannonball Guy. I was hoping to get a comment from you. You have always shown great knowledge in the subject. I recently got the same new edition of the book on my wife's nook but am still learning. I took another pic and wonder if the bullet is just distorted from being fired. I also have a pic of a possible grapshot I found. I have weighed it in the past but can't remember what it was. Thanks for the help.

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