Old Bullet -Civil War maybe?

[Colorado-Guy]

Found this back in the late 90's or early 2000's.

Any info on this? Age/make/worth/history/replica. Anything is helpful.

Found in Denver, Colorado -Capitol Hill

 

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[EccentricInTexas]

.56 Spencer is what it looks like.

 

[Colorado-Guy]

Thanks.. I'll research that bullet.

 

[TNGUNS]

Knowing the diameter is the key. You can get good digital calipers for around $20 that will help on coins, bullets, buttons and a host of other items. (reminds me mine needs battery). Looks like a large caliber, and guessing a spencer, but without diameter, hard to say. HH

 

[Colorado-Guy]

Maybe some of these pics will help

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

No, it really doesn't help to know what the top 20% of the rim measures.

But based on what I see I'd guess it to be a .56-52 Spencer round.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

It is a .52-caliber Spencer cartridge, but the one in your first set of photos having a brass casing means it was manufactured after the civil war ended, because all which were made during the civil war had a copper casing.

Also, some of your first-set photos show a punch-mark a bit below the casing's upper rim. That punch-mark was a "stop" to prevent the lead bullet from getting pushed too far down into the casing. That wasn't done on Spencer cartridges until after the civil war's end.

The one shown in your second set of photos appears to have a copper casing, and no punch-mark is visible. If there is indeed no punch-mark anywhere on the copper one, it MIGHT be from the civil war era. That is why we do need precise caliper measuring (in 1/100ths-inch) of the diameter of the copper casing's top. All of the civil war Spencer casings measured .56-inch at the top of the casing. If yours is smaller (let's say .52-inch) it is from after the civil war.

Remember, no matter the casing top's diameter, if there is a punch-mark near the casing's top, it was made sometime after the civil war.

I do not see any kind of marking on the casing's flat base in any of your photos. By around 1885, most rimfire casings had a maker's-mark at that location. So, I would estimate the time range of your punch-marked but blank base casing(s) at sometime between the late-1860s to mid-1880s.

If have interest in learning more about Spencer cartridges, go here:
.56-56 Spencer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
and here:
The American Civil War - Login

 

[Colorado-Guy]

Thanks for your feedback, I will see about getting precise diameter.. The bullet I show in all images is the same.. It's the only one I have, so not two different ones.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

The casing's metal's color looks like brass in some of your photos but copper in others. As I said, the punch-mark just below its top means it was manufactured after the civil war. If your punch-marked Spencer casing is copper it dates from sometime in the second half of the 1860s into the early-1870s. If it is brass, it dates from the latter-1970s into the 1880s.