I found a bullet and cant ID it

[TheDetectorist]

Hey guys the other day I found a bullet while metal detecting. Not sure what it is and was hoping you could help! My friends suggest that it is a .45 lead slug, but every time I look it up nothing comes up looking like it. It weighs 52 grams, and the full caliber was .477, but I averaged it to .452. Here are the pictures: Thanks

 

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[mirage83]

Your friend is pretty much right. Roundnose soft-lead slug, post CW, could be one of a couple different variations of the .45 made since the 1870's.

 

[TheDetectorist]

Thanks! Do you know how much it is worth?

 

[mbb]

The earlier generation of Colt SAA revolvers were .452 diameter. The new 3rd generation guns are .454. The round nose ins also indicative of the old government slug.

 

[TheDetectorist]

I looked it up and I'm pretty sure it is, but just to make sure do you know where I could find a picture of the bullet. Thanks.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Thanks! Do you know how much it is worth?

About $1.75/pound.

 

[Old Dude]

Does that have a hollow base? It reminds me of one I found from the 1870's.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Colt .45 lead bullets had a flat-tipped nose by 1875.
THE CARTRIDGE COLLECTOR
The earliest documentation I can find for an American-made bullet with "reeded/knurled" body-grooves (having multiple tiny parallel ridges in the grooves) is 1877. So, I don't think TheDetectorist's lead reeded/knurled-grooves bullet (which has some impact-damage on its nose) was a rounded-nosed one... but instead, its nose had a small-ish flat tip, as you see in the UMC-marked cartridges in the photo below.
THE CARTRIDGE COLLECTOR
(Scroll down to the 2nd half of that webpage.)

 

[TheDetectorist]

Thanks!! But do you still think it might be from the colt just a later version? By the way OD my bullet had hollow base and it is just a little bit smaller than yours.

 

[TheDetectorist]

Hey CBG I found a picture of colt ammunition from 1873/74 take a look. The one on the left looks more like mine.

 

[TheDetectorist]

Also could it be a colt .44?

 

[TheDetectorist]

Here is a picture

 

[TheDetectorist]

Thanks for all your help!!