Whats inside this Civil War bullet?

[Breezie]

What's inside this Civil War bullet?

Hey Gang,
Any ideas on what is inside this CW bullet? It is not dirt, but looks and feels more wood. Why would there be wood inside this bullet? Thanks in advance, Breezie

 

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[fyrffytr1]

Re: What's inside this Civil War bullet?

It looks like an enfield with a rosewood plug. I have one I'll get a picture of for you.
Here are two pictures of mine.

 

[ivan salis]

Re: What's inside this Civil War bullet?

the wooden plugs were to make the rear wall of the bullet expand outward and seal tight against the guns walls / rifling to prevent 'blow by' of the gas's caused by the black powders being fired (which is what propelled the bullet down the barrel ) --if the gas's blew by the bullet, it could get stuck in the barrel

 

[Breezie]

Re: What's inside this Civil War bullet?

It looks like an enfield with a rosewood plug. I have one I'll get a picture of for you.

Thanks fyrffytr1; I carefully removed it, and it is definitely wood. What was the purpose of the rosewood? Breezie

 

[Breezie]

Re: What's inside this Civil War bullet?

the wooden plugs were to make the rear wall of the bullet expand outward and seal tight against the guns walls / rifling to prevent 'blow by' of the gas's caused by the black powders being fired (which is what propelled the bullet down the barrel ) --if the gas's blew by the bullet, it could get stuck in the barrel

Thank you Ivan for the explanation. Did the soldiers use wooden plugs on all CW bullets or just Enfields? Breezie

 

[ivan salis]

Re: What's inside this Civil War bullet?

note in this case the "wood" is a "part' of the bullet as a "artifact" -- thus you should not have removed it --its rare to find one with the wood still intact -- especailly a fired one

enfields are well noted for having the "wooden plugs" -- clearly others could have but I'm not sure 100% if they did or not.

 

[Breezie]

Re: What's inside this Civil War bullet?

its a "part' of the bullet --you should not have removed it --its rare to find one with the wood still intact -- especailly a fired one

enfields are well noted for having the "wooden plugs" -- clearly others could have but I'm not sure 100% if they did or not.

I can put it back in without any harm to either. Breezie

 

[Breezie]

Re: What's inside this Civil War bullet?

Nice bullet fyrffytr1 Thanks for posting them. I can green check this post! Breezie

 

[ivan salis]

Re: What's inside this Civil War bullet?

good put the wood back ( its really a "part" of the bullet , hiistorically speaking) -- a speck of glue to keep them together for the future might not be a bad ideal . --congrats on finding a wood plug enfield fired bullet -- cl;early looks to be a "civil war era' type of item

 

[fyrffytr1]

Re: What's inside this Civil War bullet?

I have not heard of another bullet having the wood plug but that doesn't mean there weren't any. And, I don't think all enfields had the plug.

 

[ivan salis]

Re: What's inside this Civil War bullet?

the wood body plug also allowed a smaller amount of lead to be used in making a bullet --streaching much need lead resources

the highly inventive south thought up many ways to streach what limited resouces it had during the civil war -- basically the southern wooden plug enfeild bullet ---was in effect basically similar to a modern copper "jacketed" lead body bullet--with a outer coat of copper and a inner core of lead --except that in the case of the wooden plug enfeild it was a wooden bullet core with a lead outer casing .

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Re: What's inside this Civil War bullet?

According to each of the four different books I own about civil war bullets, ALL of the wood-plug-in-base type Enfield minies were made in Great Britain. This type was not cast in a mold, but instead was manufactured by a special kind of bullet-making machine. The wood plug was found to be unnecessary, so the Confederates did not bother to manufacture that type of Enfield minie.

Therefore, Breezie, the one you found was carried across the Atlantic Ocean by a Confederate blockade-runner.

 

[ivan salis]

Re: What's inside this Civil War bullet?

wow even cooler then , funny I thought the south made em --seems they did not (britain made em for the south and shipped em in)

-- the south not having the wooden bullet plug making machine would not have made them then ( the south lacked a lot of manufactoring ability ) which was one key reasons it lost the war -- the blockade slowly strangled off the supplies to fight with -- great britian was a huge supplier of arms and such during the war.

the wood in the hole plug type bullet still would be cheaper than making a "solid lead bullet" thus it would be cheaper to make the wooden type bullet in england than a wholely lead bullet --

a southern bullet factory which melted lead & cast the molten lead into bullet molds of course would have made wholely lead enfeild bullets --with no wood at all

 

[Breezie]

Re: What's inside this Civil War bullet?

According to each of the four different books I own about civil war bullets, ALL of the wood-plug-in-base type Enfield minies were made in Great Britain. This type was not cast in a mold, but instead was manufactured by a special kind of bullet-making machine. The wood plug was found to be unnecessary, so the Confederates did not bother to manufacture that type of Enfield minie.

Therefore, Breezie, the one you found was carried across the Atlantic Ocean by a Confederate blockade-runner.

Wow . . .this makes it even cooler! Thanks for the info TCG. Breezie