Hello, I found this out metal detecting.Does anyone have any idea how I could I'd it?
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Hello, I found this out metal detecting.
you need to give some measurements - weight approx diameter - from the single photo my best guess is hollow base wad cutter
je suis charlie
It is better to live one day as a LION than a dozen days as a Sheep.
Thomas Jefferson Quotations:
"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."
Place a ruler under it for an idea of its scale and post a second photo. Also the the aforementioned weight and approximate diameter.
Location found might be of use. If found in an area of a battle or other incident that might help.
Keep your powder dry,
Scharf
Yeah it could be from a .38 or a .577 Minie - need some scale
je suis charlie
It is better to live one day as a LION than a dozen days as a Sheep.
Thomas Jefferson Quotations:
"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."
From the looks, with no scale or weight, it looks just like my old 505gr .58 Minnie balls.
Thank s for the replies. Was found in the west near the Rockies.
I will post measurements tomorrow. Thanks for the help
Ok heres a pic on a ruler. It certainly hit something. There was a lot of Buffalo here years ago
Certainly looks to be 50 calibre and thus possibly a military 50/70 or maybe one of the big Sharps projectiles. It that's the case, the heyday of the big fifties was perhaps the late 1860s to the end of the 1870s. If it's from a muzzle loader, it would date to before that, but the lubrication grooves look to be from the center fire period. Other than the military using Mine boolits of 54 and 58 calibre, I'm not too sure that the big 50 muzzle loaders of the trapping period in Colorado used an elongated projectile. I'm pretty sure that the trappers used round balls, so that, at least in my mind, weighs against a muzzle loading projectile.
Can you determine the number of rifling grooves and the boolit weight in grains? Also, where in Colorado (near what town, river confluence, etc.) did you find it? Just west near the Rockies covers a lot of ground. Is there any proximity to a frontier settlement or other frontier landmark? Many of the Indian battles in Colorado were up in the north eastern corner of the state, although were small fracases throughout the state. And as you mention, buffalo and other hunting may well account for it.
If (a big IF at this point) it is from a 50 calibre center fire rifle, that would narrow down the list of possibilities significantly. Weight and rifling would help reduce the number of possibilities and allow a better SWAG (scientific wild a$$ guess).
Last edited by Scharfschuetze; 08-03-2014 at 07:27 PM.
Keep your powder dry,
Scharf
Thank you for the great information. I am not able to see the rifling grooves clearly. I will have to get a small scale to weigh the bullet. It came from Montana
Hollow base? Definitely 50 cal, but lots of them out there in those days,
military and civilian. May have hit nothing more interesting than the
ground. Fur era muzzle loaders were patch and ball, at least all that I
have seen and read about. Minie came out just before the Civil War.
As to quantities of guns, .50-70 Trapdoor is a prime suspect. Compared
to that the Sharps were far fewer. Rem RBs in .50-70 were fairly common
back east, specifically the NY Militia rifle.
Bill
If it was easy, anybody could do it.
If you can make out three wide rifling grooves, then it is quite probable that it came from a military rifle of the Rolling Block or Trapdoor persuasion such as these two examples from my collection.
As an aside, the 50/70 in the Trapdoor Springfield was famously used at the Wagon Box fight near Fort Phil Kearny south of Sheridan, Wyoming and the Hayfield Fight just over the border in Montana. Several 50/70s have been documented at the Little Big Horn and possibly later at the Wolf Mountain fight. Lots of action in the 1860s and 1870s in South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana against the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne tribes and the 50/70 was in limited use by both sides. General Custer's favorite rifle was reportedly a customized 50/70 Trapdoor and, my memory is a but fuzzy here, a Rolling Block in the calibre too.
The 50/70 was replaced fairly quickly by the 45/70 in 1873, but many soldiered on in the hands of scouts, Indians and as personal weapons of various soldiers. The weight of the bullet should give us a further clue or confirmation of its pedigree.
Last edited by Scharfschuetze; 08-04-2014 at 02:45 AM.
Keep your powder dry,
Scharf
Thank you, I lost that one years ago, you can ship it to me....
Go now and pour yourself a hot one...
What an awesome reply. I will post the weight etc as soon as I can .I could also send it to possibly or take some macro images
I got 27 grams and .9 oz. The scale I used isn't a fine scale. There looks like the top might have been chewed by a varmint.
We use grains to measure boolit weight
27 grams = 416.673676 grains
got a picture of your varmint marks?
je suis charlie
It is better to live one day as a LION than a dozen days as a Sheep.
Thomas Jefferson Quotations:
"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."
I didn't know the math conversion and the scale only shows grams n oz. I will post more pics.
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