Need help to ID this cartridge...

DiggerinVA

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Sep 16, 2013
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Shenandoah Valley, Virginia
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All Treasure Hunting
Started hunting a new spot yesterday....had a good idea of a civil war camp in the area. Second target was a minnie ball that i gave to owners son. (not pictured) also found a few other bullets....but this cartridge (center) has me puzzled. It is covered in crud, but seems too fragile to clean. The bullet is around .44 cal and overall length is close to 2 inches. It is rimless and has a rearward tapper.....any thoughts???
 

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Is that the bullet nose sticking out the left side of the cartridge ?
Look's like you have a Burnside Bullet , but that cartridge is def, not for a Burnside. IMO

Are there any small holes on the bottom of it or on the sides near the bottom?
Hmmmm?
 

Is that the bullet nose sticking out the left side of the cartridge ?
Look's like you have a Burnside Bullet , but that cartridge is def, not for a Burnside. IMO

Are there any small holes on the bottom of it or on the sides near the bottom?
Hmmmm?

Yep, thats the bullet....you can see by the bigger diameter that the bullet is half the length of the casing. I beleive it does have a hole in the rear....but not forsure because of corrosion.
 

Maybe dumb question, but is the casing brass? there were some vulcanized rubber casings used . . .
 

Maybe dumb question, but is the casing brass? there were some vulcanized rubber casings used . . .

No...its not brass...not sure what it is....but i found some of those online last night and they are the closest in appearance i have found.....

thanks.
 

of course I could be wrong... it looks exactly like something I found one time that is not a bullet. I realize I'm not giving you any info here, but maybe I can find it in my stuff if I didn't toss it already. mine was also all corroded. I'm thinking it was an electrode for something. I don't know, but If I ever come across mine, I will try to post a pic of it, if this thread is still around.
 

I work for a gentleman who is a Civil War 're-enactor and a collector. He says he believes what you have is a 50 caliber Gallagher, steel casing that originally was covered with paper to prevent corrosion. He said they were fairly rare. Hope that helps.
 

Sears and Robuck token....lol.

Hey don't laugh. Those tokens where made from copper taken from the Statue of Liberty when they did the last referb. Sears was a big sponcer of the restoration. The coins where sent to long time card holders etc. A lot of them where made but still cool.

JimK
 

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I work for a gentleman who is a Civil War 're-enactor and a collector. He says he believes what you have is a 50 caliber Gallagher, steel casing that originally was covered with paper to prevent corrosion. He said they were fairly rare. Hope that helps.

If I recall Correct Gallagher Cases are Kinda shaped like a small Cigar Tube but You never know.
Still trying to ID 'For Sure'.
Maybe You 'OP' can Send a Pic, of it to American Digger Magazine, for the What is it section.
GL
Davers
 

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