Yesterdays find, but what is it??

[JakePhelps]

Found this yesterday while out detecting. It looks like a regular bullet, But it has no marks from where the cartridge is crimped on. If it was a minie ball wouldnt it have the grooves they usually have? Maybe it could be an early handmade minie ball made to be put into a musket? Any ideas?

 

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[gldhntr]

one on left looks to be a minie or musket ball. they didn't have grooves, one on the right looks like one that was maybe shot but more likely smashed, or possibly a crude made rifle type projectile.....you can measure across the good one to see the calibre in milimeters..the ones that are long with grooves are sabots, and they go by a couple other names..........................gldhntr

 

[JakePhelps]

Oops forgot to mention that the musket was in there for size I dont think its smashed, it does look rather crudely made though. Could it have been handmade for a musket?

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I have a replica of an antique muzzleloading rifle and it will shoot round balls, but I have to use a patch. I guess minie balls were invented later. I can shoot those also and they need no patch. A patch is just a piece of cloth wrapped around the round ball to make it fit tight.

 

[DigEmAll]

I found an old tackle box dating from the late teens or early twenties, and it had sinkers that were shaped exactly like that. I don't know how long sinkers with that shape have been around, nor do I know how long it takes to build up a layer of lead oxide like that. The ones from the tackle box just had a nice thin layer on them, but they were inside a tackle box in an old root cellar.

Just an idea, but still a nice find Jake!

 

[tailfeathers]

Jake, There were three major lead projectiles in the civil war. Ball with a patch,Maxi bullet all solid with large lubricant groves and the Most used bullet the Minnie. It has a hollow base with small lubricant groves with some that had zero grooves.

The one you have looks and I repeat looks like the ball with patch type. There were a lot of differant calibers used for both pistol and rifle. The southern boys used a lot of personal weapons at the beginning and during the war. The Army on both sides issued .58 for the most part but you will find .69 cal. also. Pistols were .44 issue in maxi and ball both.

Can't tell by the oxide but it is old. Good luck!!

 

[JakePhelps]

Thanks for the info guys! I didnt find it near a civil war area, but it could have been from a war i dont know about here, or hunting in the past. Is there an easy way to measure caliber?

 

[DugHoles]

I was wondering as well if maybe someone was experimenting with a more aerodynamic musket ball design. Or it could be an egg.....

GL & HH,

DugHoles

 

[JakePhelps]

a more aerodynamic musket ball design

Thats exactly what i was trying to say! Thanks Or it could be an early easter egg

 

[sniper19612003]

Back in the civil war the southern boys didn't have the advanced rifles like the north. The southern boys used a musket that was a smooth bore.

 

[junkdigger]

Around about 1835,rifle makers in this country tried to improve the accuracy and range of their rifles by making a longer,more streamlined bullet than the round ball.These rural gunsmiths first tried what were called picket bullets or sugarloaf bullets.For better accuracy,they were started into the muzzle of the barrel with a straight-line seater.They did improve range and accuracy to twice the range of round balls.But after a few years the bullets were made with part of the length having straight sides more like modern bullets.These were called cylindro-conoidal bullets,and were a vast improvement over the picket and sugarloaf types.The bullet in the photo looks like a sugarloaf style of bullet to me.If you want to learn more about this evolution of rifle and bullet development,refer to "The Muzzleloading Caplock Rifle",by Ned Roberts.It's an old book,but might be available from Dixie Gun Works.

 

[JakePhelps]

thnks a ton for the info junkdigger!

 

[dano91]

I think Junkdigger is right on this one.
I did see some shot for Signal cannon's that looked similar.
Dano

 

[JakePhelps]

thanks a bunch! Does anyone know around what time they stopped using sugarloaf bullets? at least i know it could be as old as 1835

 

[junkdigger]

I think that relic hunters have found a fair number of picket bullets,sugarloaf,and round balls on civil war battlefields. So they were in use that long at least. There is a really good website with forum about bullets and civil war relics.Search for "civil war bullet",or cw bullet.org. A friend tried to explain to me how to attach a link to an email,but I haven't had any success doing that.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

To attach a link, just type http://www. in front of it. the rest is automatic. Such as http://www.relicman.com/index.html Works for me. Every letter, . . space, or ww/ / must be exactly the same.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Around about 1835,rifle makers in this country tried to improve the accuracy and range of their rifles by making a longer,more streamlined bullet than the round ball.These rural gunsmiths first tried what were called picket bullets or sugarloaf bullets.For better accuracy,they were started into the muzzle of the barrel with a straight-line seater.They did improve range and accuracy to twice the range of round balls.But after a few years the bullets were made with part of the length having straight sides more like modern bullets.These were called cylindro-conoidal bullets,and were a vast improvement over the picket and sugarloaf types.The bullet in the photo looks like a sugarloaf style of bullet to me.If you want to learn more about this evolution of rifle and bullet development,refer to "The Muzzleloading Caplock Rifle",by Ned Roberts.It's an old book,but might be available from Dixie Gun Works.

Elongating the round bullet also made it larger. A larger, heavier bullet did more damage. A minie' ball did considerably more damage, without changing the caliber.
With a long rifled bore, my muzzleloader appears quite accurate with grease patch and round ball. But a heavier Minie' ball of the same caliber does much more damage.

 

[JakePhelps]

Thanks for all the info guys!! I still cant seem to find a photo of mine, but i niticed after further cleaning there is a line on the bottom that looks like a mold seam, obviously proving it was never intended to be attached to a cartridge.