Lead filled weekend...bullets spanning 400 years!

[HomeGuardDan]

This weekend began with the ending to a long business trip and a wet one with that. I had planned to hit a few good spots on the way back home on Friday, including initially staying over a few nights to extend the week. Mother nature did not corporate and I was left with a Friday dig in a small creek that was a bit high, though slowly dropping.

I had hit this stretch before and decided to check out the old area and after digging just one fired bullet, I decided to call it quits and walk back out. Funny enough as I approached the truck, a fellow digger was there waiting. We chatted for a few and decided to dig a little while longer together and am I glad I did for when I went the opposite direction I ended up digging some decent CW stuff.

First I managed the CW musket barrel (in two pieces and missing about an equal segment) and then a rotted CW bayonet blade. Finally a .69 three ring bullet popped out and then finally a patch of dropped .54 three ringers. My take for that trip was an even dozen bullets! The copper wire came from the area the .69 was found and looks intentional - though probably modern.

Today I decided to head out to my favorite little local hole and explored a bit. I found a nice little patch of heavy iron and immediately began picking items out. This site is FULL of lead as I dug 17 musket balls (.40-.70) and another dozen or so smaller calibers. I even managed to get into a patch of modern dropped .22 longs...odd for this site as there is very little modern trash. You can say it was a lead filled weekend with over 40 dropped bullets in a little under 9 hours of total digging.

I also managed four buttons with two being quite early today (the pewter scalloped and domed button) with very crude and long shanks. Buckle pieces and other odds and ends evened out the day, including an early counter weight of some sort.

Next weekend I will be back at it.

HH

Dan

 

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[kingskid1611]

Wonderful Finds!

 

[Evolution]

That's a lot of lead. Your pockets must have been heavy. Nice finds.

 

[Greylock]

Some nice looking buttons for the collection. Good luck next time and I hope the weather cooperates.

 

[The Patriot]

Great pile of old lead!! Gotta love it!!

 

[CASPER-2]

 

[HomeGuardDan]

That's a lot of lead. Your pockets must have been heavy. Nice finds.

I was a bit weighed down...mostly due to all the iron I also had in my pouch

 

[sutphin]

HGD BOY YOU ARE DIGGING SOME GREAT FINDS, MUSKET BARREL AND BUTTONS AND DIFFRENT BULLETS OF STYLE AND SIZE,NEAT GROUP YOU FOUND THERE ,THE ONE IN THE LAST PIC LOOKS TO BE A SCALE WEIGHT,VANZUTPHEN

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

That's a lot of nice keepers Dan, but it looks like you might have cleaned all the silver out of that place last year . At least you were about to get out which was surprising considering we had 4+ inches of rain last week plus the tides were running really high. I'm sure you're not giving up on that spot as we both know it's just a matter of time before something amazing pops out there. And BTW - I'm getting my fill of snakes here at the house without having to follow you into the water. Killed a water moccasin and 5 ft black snake a week or so ago. So I've been snake-ified already.

 

[HomeGuardDan]

That's a lot of nice keepers Dan, but it looks like you might have cleaned all the silver out of that place last year . At least you were about to get out which was surprising considering we had 4+ inches of rain last week plus the tides were running really high. I'm sure you're not giving up on that spot as we both know it's just a matter of time before something amazing pops out there. And BTW - I'm getting my fill of snakes here at the house without having to follow you into the water. Killed a water moccasin and 5 ft black snake a week or so ago. So I've been snake-ified already.

Yea man the rain def made it tough to get out inland, I hunted a high but normally shallow creek so it was diggable and the tides yesterday were tough which relegated me to the shallow areas. More silver will come, only one this year but four coppers...so maybe this will be the year of the copper.

Yea the rain will bring the snakes out, saw quite a few yesterday hanging from trees and plopping in the water ha

 

[HomeGuardDan]

Great pile of old lead!! Gotta love it!!

thanks man - I had fun. It is always interesting to dig coastal waters and inland waters during the same weekend as the technique and mindset is different