Scored a Confederate Sharpshooter Bullet...I Think

[garren]

When I first got my Equinox 800 back in March I took it to the skirmish site where I dug my two James shells. The second day of that trip I was swinging where the Confederates had their Artillery set up and dug a three ringer and what I thought was an elongated Enfield. After looking at Enfield variants on the net trying to figure out why this one was extra long I came across the Confederate sharpshooter bullets or Whitworth variants. I took some caliper measurements and compared to some in the books and on the net. Mine are close but don't match any particular listing. This past month I set up the booth for our detecting club at the Texas Treasure Expo and had my CW stuff on display. One of the veteran relic hunters here in Texas came by our booth and saw my bullets. He said "oh, you found one of those Confederate sharpshooter bullets". I explained my doubts because of the caliper readings. His thoughts were that with so many variants the measurements may not match perfectly and is confident that this is a sharpshooters bullet. I'm liking that determination since these are fairly uncommon!

About 481 grains 1.25" long and approx. .50 cal.
What are your thoughts?

 

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[HI-McDunnogh]

Unable to weigh in on your question, but great find! Have you been back to that spot and found any similar?

 

[garren]

Unable to weigh in on your question, but great find! Have you been back to that spot and found any similar?

Thanks HI-McDunnogh! After this trip we ended up getting permission to hunt a nearby Union campsite. We have been spending all of our time there but I do plan on going back to the site where the bullet came from.

 

[A2coins]

Sweet finds wish I could hunt there lol

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

Great Finds man!

I'd love to run across some CW here in Texas....Just too far north I guess

 

[garren]

Great Finds man!

I'd love to run across some CW here in Texas....Just too far north I guess

Thanks! We are a little too far! It's a 4 hour drive for me!

 

[smokeythecat]

All the Whitworths were .45 caliber, fyi.

 

[ToddsPoint]

I don't think that slug is from a Whitworth target rifle. Here's what Whitworth bullets look like. The flat sides on the slug match the unusual rifling in the Whitworth bore. Gary