✅ SOLVED Old Bullet

[Imigorski]

Hey all, found this over the weekend at an old home site in New Hampshire. I've found some old musket balls and modern lead and newer 3 rings but I'm thinking this is a bit older, would appreciate help identifying the age. Looks like the real deal to me, but I could be wrong.

Actually found this IN an old cellar hole, and I'm trying to piece together a little bit of the history of the area. Kinda wish it could talk.

 

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[Tedyoh]

Post civil war....the rings in the cannelure or grooves dates it no earlier than the late 1870s..

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[Imigorski]

Thank you for the help Tedyoh! The site in question appears on an 1871 map but is gone by 1893. At least I have something potentially from the correct time period.

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[ecmo]

I'm thinking post 1900 hollow base wadd cutter bullet. From the roughly 7/16" diem. it's probably .45 cal. Should be measured with a caliper and be .454-456" for 45. Modern jacketed ones are more like .452.

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[TheCannonballGuy]

The closest match I can find for your fired bullet, which appears to measure about .44 or .45-inch in diameter, is the Winchester .44-40 bullet, made for use in the legendary Winchester Model-1873 Rifle. But it was also used in Marlin rifles. Because your fired bullet shows impact damage from hitting something solid, I can't be 100% certain of the ID, but the undamaged part doess seem to match a .44-40 bullet from the late-1870s into the 1890s. Yedyoh is right, the earliest "reeded groove" (or "knurled cannelure") bullets date from about 1877. Your bullet has that type of body-grooves (multiple tiny parallel ridges inside the body-grooves).

 

[Imigorski]

Thank you all for your input. I love finding stuff like this, and really appreciate this community helping me put this story together.