US Army camp in Wyoming

[Papa Bear]

The early morning of 11 July 2012 saw me crossing the border into Wyoming to hunt. Having secured permission from the property owners a month ago, while returning from North Carolina, I arrived at the property at about 9am. I was soon being driven around and shown some points of interest.

One spot was rocks that formed a square, suggesting a building approximately 40 by 20 feet. I hunted this area first. At first there were plenty of iron to include a stove door. I also found some small window glass fragments. I had been out there about an hour or so when I found an 1862 Indian Head Penny!! I was pretty stoked about that even if it showed that the area I was in had been occupied after the 1850's. With the assistance of the property owners young granddaughter, who had stated that she had always enjoyed surface hunting and asked if she could assist, I dug up a nicely decorated suspender clasp, over half a dozen underwear buttons,an old safety pin, small doll and a clay marble. Quite honestly her eyes were better at mine at finding the buttons and other none metallic items. Even though I had not found any military items I was still enjoying the relics I was finding.

The granddaughter had another obligation and left, and I hit another spot that had been pointed out by the property owner. I had not gone 50 feet from my truck when I got a solid tone which meant only one thing.....a lump of lead. I cut out the plug and stuck in the bottom of it was a .58 caliber minie ball. It's appearance suggested that it had been rammed hard into the barrel. In the same hole I found a .54 caliber minie ball with the exactly same appearance. These two minie balls also looked like they had fired. Not two feet away I found another .54 caliber minie ball. This had been loaded but not fired, yet there was no indication that it had been pulled. I continued on and in short order found two fired 45-70 bullets and a spend 45-70 shell.

The head stamp on the casing, starting at the top around the percussion cap: R (top), 8 (right), F (bottom), 6 (left).

Anyway a good day over all. I showed the property owners and the other family members what I had found. They were all very interested in what I had found. I let the granddaughter keep the IH Penny and I have placed the majority of the items found at the old building site in a display case for the granddaughter seeing as she found most of them.

I have been told to come back anytime and I shall be returning to this location next week.

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[milk86]

I like that little figure with the missing arm.

very nice

[Papa Bear]

I like that little figure with the missing arm. very nice

Definitely not what I was expecting. The clay marble and doll were in the same hole. There was a lot of evidence that the building had been used into at least the 1860's. I think the location where the bullets were found will lead to military buttons etc. I am still curious about the two bullets that look over rammed. If anyone can confirm that, I would appreciate it. Also, both bullets had 7 grooves of rifling on them.

[TheCannonballGuy]

Papa Bear wrote:
> The head stamp on the casing, starting at the top around the percussion cap: R (top), 8 (right), F (bottom), 6 (left).

The R designates the cartridge was intended for use in the Rifle version of the .45-70, instead of the Carbine version.
The F designates it was manufactured at the Frankford Arsenal (Pennsylvania).
The numbers on the left and right are the month and year of manufacture. There definitely was originally a second digit in the number on the right (for example, 82). As the number on the right is incomplete, all I can tell you is that your cartridge-casing was made in June of a year in the 1880s.

> I am still curious about the two bullets that look over rammed. If anyone can confirm that,
> I would appreciate it. Also, both bullets had 7 grooves of rifling on them.

Having very closely examined many thousands of dropped, fired, "hard-rammed" and "pulled" minies during the past 30-something years, I am quite certain your guess is correct, those two minies are hard-rammed/over-rammed.

You say one of them is a .54-caliber and the other is a .58-caliber. Did you measure them with Digital Calipers, of are you just making an approximate guess? I'm asking because we need super-precise measurements of their diameter to be certain about their caliber, and thus figure out which type of rifle your minies got rammed into.

It's very odd for a Minie to have 7-groove rifling marks. As you already know, the hard-ramming means they were being used in a Muzzleloading firearm, not a Breechloader. The only 7-goove Muzzleloading .58-caliber in my rifling-lists is a Confederate rifle, made by the Dickson Nelson in Georgia.

The .54 Perry Carbine had 7 goove rifling, but it is a Breechloader ...so, nobody would be ramming minies into one of those.

Muzzleloading .54-caliber with 7 grooves are:
USA Model 1804 Rifle
USA Single-Shot Pistol, Model 1843

Muzzleloading .56-caliber with 7 grooves:
Bavarian Tige Rifle

The .56 Colt Revolving Rifle technically is neither a Breechloader nor a "typical" Muzzleloader rifle. It had a cylinder, and a (very short) ramrod was used to load bullets into the front of the cylinder. So, the .56 Colt Revolving Rifle may be responsible for one of your hard-rammed/over-rammed minies.

[Papa Bear]

Cannonball Guy,

I will have to look at the minies again. I will count slower. I will look at the head stamp closer and get a date for you.

Thanks for the info,

The head stamp is 82, so that would be June 1882? I still need to look at the minie balls

PB

[metalev4]

Nice recoveries. I have hunted similar western sites and you should be close to some good buttons and insignia.

[DaleGM]

nice assortment of relics Papa Bear......... love the way ya set them up in a display case

[leprechaun]

Very nice finds for sure.

[nov2101]

I let the granddaughter keep the IH Penny and I have placed the majority of the items found at the old building site in a display case for the granddaughter seeing as she found most of them.

A class act and nice finds.....

[Papa Bear]

Thanks all. I hope to be out there again in a few days.