Need lead ID help

Rock22

Full Member
Sep 9, 2013
109
95
Erie Pennsylvania
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Tejon
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
IMG_0447[1].JPG

Please help ID these lead items I found on my land. I know nothing about guns so I am wondering what type of gun may have shot the lead balls. The lead wads are also confusing. Also the piece of rolled lead, what may it have been?

Thanks, Bill
 

The three lead balls on top could be modern lead buckshot pellets of varying size, triple ought buck shot(000) will weigh about 4.5 grams and be .36 caliber, double ought buck shot (00) will weigh 3.5 grams and be about .33 caliber, and single ought buckshot (0) will weigh around 3.1 grams and is .32 caliber. They also could be as old as a black powder "buck and ball load" hard to tell. The next one down on the left has the appearance and size of a .22 rimfire round with cannelure rings for seating in the brass casing. The two deformed lead hunks and the rolled up piece of lead, no idea.
 

Upvote 0
If you are in Civil war land the bigger ball could be Ball ammo The rest looks like slag and double 00 buck shot
 

Upvote 0
I've never seen or dug round balls like yours that are dimpled and so out of "round", the older ones I dig have a raised band around them and on the opposite axis of the band there's a ram rod mark - I'm not sure if yours are musket balls but not sure what else they could be, the slug below anywhere from 1880's to present.
 

Upvote 0
I am not on civil war land. I live up in Erie Pa. I have researched the land and it was 1st settled in 1840. I have air photos from the land from 1938 and there was nothing here but open farm land. I have also researched the family that 1st lived here and the land was clear back in the 1800's and used as cattle land so I guess I was thinking the lead was older than 1850 or so but after the comments I may not have found very old lead?
 

Upvote 0
Is there any way to date these blobs? Any guesses? I also wonder about the lead wrap over shaped piece. I think I have seen native American items that look like this.
 

Upvote 0
lead that has been buried for a significant amount of time has a white coating of oxidation covering exposed surfaces in most soil conditions
 

Upvote 0
The chunk in the middle looks like a piece of ingot (bar lead). I think the items are from different time periods. Tony
 

Upvote 0
Purely a guess, but the larger lead item could be a piece of the sabot off a Hotchkiss shell. We all find the lead "pencil" on civil war sites, but what they were used for is anyone's guess. I never could get them to write. The other piece looks like melted lead. Another common find in the camp sites.
 

Upvote 0
Does this mean that the lead was poured out to make bullets of some kind and I found what spilled out?
 

Upvote 0

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Discussions

Back
Top