What kind of bullets are these?

[pjroo33]

Can anyone give me an idea of what kind of bullets I've found? Approximate age?

 

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[ivan salis]

40-65 winchester lever action round (in both blackpowder and smokeless types)--- started in 1887 --- last listed in winchesters ammo catalog in 1935 ---there was also some sharps made in this odd old caliber --

 

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[Charlie P. (NY)]

Maybe this will help out a little.

The image that shows the knurling in the grooves puts them 1890's or later. That's a swaging process from bullets formed by machine from lead wire and not cast in the mold.

You can still buy molds that throw a Civil War or 1870's buffalo hunter era bullet. Every weekend thousands and thousands of lead rounds are fired by reenectors and target shooters (I hunt deer with a .54 flintlock that throws a Revolutionary War era patched round ball). It's easy to draw a "No Earlier Than" line but almost impossible to draw that "No Later Than" line.

 

[cam9457]

We were pretty excited to find any type of rounds in the battle of Germantown site. I think we got "digging fever"

 

[pjroo33]

This bullet does not have the striations in the grooves and the bottom of the bullet is concave but much more shallow. Would this bullet be a little older than the ones with the striations?

 

[pjroo33]

It also looks like it might have a seam on the edge if that helps.

 

[Montana Jim]

I think Charlie's last post articulates best the age thing...

YOU know where you found them... when could they have been fired there at that location and why? Have you settled on an ID yet based on all the information you've read here? Just curious.

 

[pjroo33]

I think Charlie's last post articulates best the age thing...

YOU know where you found them... when could they have been fired there at that location and why? Have you settled on an ID yet based on all the information you've read here? Just curious.

He said "knurling in the grooves puts them 1890's or later" so I would agree with his ID. The bullets were found on the site of a Revolutionary War encampment although they are not from that time period. I was just wondering about the bullets without the knurling or striations. I do appreciate all of your feedback.

 

[SomeGuy]

Absence of knurling indicates cast bullets, rather than swaged, but as Charlie said, they are still made and used today. It's easy to assign a "not earlier than" since we can know when a technology was invented, but as long as that technology remains, it is difficult or impossible to assign a "not later than".

 

[Monty]

The ones without the gnurled marks from swaging may be older but I don't know how you would ever be able to tell. I heartily agree the swaged bullets are contemporary. Monty