✅ SOLVED I need a little help from our Civil War bullet experts please...

[Subterranean]

After a three week hiatus and muscling (soaking) through the humidity...I did actually find some old items today. A 1895 Indian Head penny jumped out of the scorching hot dirt into the cool comfort of my tote bag. I may have stumbled onto an 1800's shooting range, as I was finding many fired bullets along a gentle slope near a main wagon road. I found the lead bullet which looks like a "mini" Minie ball. It is about 1/2" long, 5/16" in diameter, and weighs at about 5 grams. It appears to have three rings and a concave bottom. Is this a possible "Missouri Guard" bullet or just a modern one? The spot I dug these was a well traveled civil war wagon road, in Missouri about 18 miles north of the Arkansas border.

The other one is a pistol ball of about 3/8" diameter, with a sprue mark and weighs at about 5.9 grams. Any help ID'ing these would be greatly appreciated. Happy Hunting to all, Sub

 

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[TheCannonballGuy]

Unfortunately, your 3-groove .32-caliber pistol bullet has a post-civil-war type of concave base.

The whacked lead ball which you say is about 3/8-inch in diameter could be either a fired .36 pistol ball or a 000-guage buckshot. (See buckshot size-chart below.) But having a casting-sprue on it, I'd lean to it being pistol ball.

 

[Subterranean]

Thank you CannonballGuy, I will keep that chart for future reference. I have found .32 rimfire casings in the area, that would explain the three ringer. Sub

 

[AreYouSerious]

1890s