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"Got the lead out today" -or- "The Dirty Dozen... + 1"
Riccar
Posts: 789
Today I stumbled on to a site that started providing Civil War era 3-ring bullets (aka the "3-ringer", or "3-ring minie ball"). The first one I dug today was already considered my "prize of the day," but I had know clue that I'd be digging 1 dozen more! I'm not an expert on these, so I'm not sure if these would be 69 or 59 cal. Maybe one of you CW buffs would know.
The two on the bottom left were the nicest ones dug today, and one of those appears it may even be a carved bullet (not sure if it just hit something in an odd fashion). No old coins today, but these told me I was in the right area.
Happy hunting everyone.
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There was a neat article in "American Digger" last month about using fired bullets to determint where the shooter was positioned.
<< <i>Looks like you found the landing spot. You need to find where they were shot from to get the dropped goodies.
There was a neat article in "American Digger" last month about using fired bullets to determint where the shooter was positioned. >>
That's a great idea. The actual firing areas may contain artifacts waiting to be discovered.
How in the world can you tell where a shooter fired from over 140 years after they shot?
Link to article in American Digger?
wes
Too many positive BST transactions with too many members to list.
Thanks for the replies everyone.
These were found in a small area... maybe 20' x 20' and were probably from target practice shooting.
I'll keep you posted if I find any other items show up at this spot...
G.
9 = 1.05 oz, 2 = 1.00, 1 = 0.95 (1.05 being the obvious winner)
mic of 2 from bottom left of pic = 1.5 cm
Dubba-
You got that right! These suckers are HEAVY!
I'm pretty sure that's a "Trapdoor" Springfield Model 1865 .58 caliber. That weapon could fire a projectile up to 500 grain. Since your's weighs in at an ounce - plus or minus a little it's probably a 435 grain.
G Man
Very cool Gary! Thanks!
Lots of fun to tie in more info. and history.
So this wasn't the Custer model, was it?
G.
<< <i>do any of them appear to have any teeth marks? >>
It's tough to tell... all appear to have been fired so I would have a tough time differentiating teeth marks from the normal marks of being shot and hitting a target.
<< <i>How in the world can you tell where a shooter fired from over 140 years after they shot? >>
Well, you've got a 360-degree circle of possibility. If the terrain or other structures block the field of fire from certain directions, then you can eliminate them. You have to guesstimate the range of the weapon. As a former Civil War reenactor who's fired a few .58 caliber Minies from a period weapon, I have a general idea of the range, so then it's just the lay of the land.
In a recent post, I mentioned finding a flattened musketball at the base of a 200 year old brick wall. I even found a matching pockmark on the wall, where it had struck before it bounced off and fell into the soil. That was pretty interesting. And since the wall had obviously been there when the shot was fired, that cut 180 degrees off the circle of possibilities. Some other walls, and large old live oak trees (that were well over 200 years old) were around and would've blocked the shooter from other angles, so I was able to generally guess where the shooter had been standing. The musketball had struck the wall pretty much straight on and was not a glancing blow, but it struck low on the wall, only about a foot or so above the ground, so it had been mostly spent when it hit. It was pretty fascinating stuff to think about. (For me, anyway).
Good question, though- without some of the clues I had in that case, I never would've been able to determine where the ball was shot from.
As to the question about toothmarks- I don't see anything that looks like that on those particular "baker's dozen", above- they just hit the ground at a pretty good velocity. It HAD to be a firing range.
As I said when he posted them over on my Treasure Territory forum, I would have thought I'd discovered a skirmish site if I came across such a concentration of fired Minies here in Georgia. But California is a bit removed from the battlefront.
I did find a concentration of similar size on a site here, but they were all .69 caliber three-rings, and all dropped, not fired. We even found the coiled lead stock they cast them from, and blobs of casting waste, plus a couple of eagle buttons. I speculate that the Yankee troops we had on my site were the famous 54th Massachusetts Infantry- the "colored" troops. Since the Minies I found were unfired, and found in association with buttons and an 1862 dime and clay pipe fragments and other goodies, there can be no doubt where the troops were camped. It was right on a river bluff, at a very strategic site.
Yes, these were found on the side of a hill... definitely target shooting finds!
MDHound-
<<Rick...Now, if you could only find the shooting iron that shot these. Wouldn't THAT be something? When I was 6-7 years old, I lived on a gravel road in Eastern Pennsylvania. I was always out scouting around the woods and creek by our property. One day I found a very old rusty rifle. Man, it was old. My uncle took it away from me so I "woudn't get hurt." I have never seen it since.>>
Yes, that would be an incredible find.
And, concerning your uncle's comment... I've heard that one before!