Musket balls, bullet spill & a Military hat pin [?].. best hunt to date

[Minrelica]

Today I had the whole morning to myself so I decided to head back to a hunting spot that I found last year... This is only the 3rd time I've been there and each time I've only had one goal in mind and that is to find at least 1 musket ball... The first couple of hunts produced just a few but today was my best hunt yet...

18 musket balls
5 live rounds stamped "FA 7 02"
1 shell casing stamped "WRA CO. 45/70"
2 bullets
Hat Pin[?]

I'm not going to pretend that I know anything at all about military relics but I'm hoping some of you can shed some light on what exactly I have (other than the musket balls)








The live rounds were all found within a 5' area... I'm guessing the person had possibly fallen since it's rough terrain and I fell myself... The 2 ringed bullets were found very close to each other in the side of a hill so maybe two soldiers were having target practice with 2 different guns?

My questions:

- My finds seem to represent 5 different firearms... What are they and were they all used in the same period in the military?

- Is the "pin" from a hat? I personally haven't seen a military pin that's threaded but I did a quick Google search and saw some hat pins that were.

- Can we tell anything from the pin or is it a generic, military issue for the time?

Thanks for looking and triple thanks to anyone who can answer my questions... Pics or links to the guns would rock...

Thanks again! - WIT

 

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[mirage83]

Well, the FA 02 7 denotes a cartridge from the Frankford Arsenal manufactured in July of 1902, pre-WWI. No idea what caliber.

The WRA Co. 45-70 casing was courtesy of the Winchester Repeating Arms Co, caliber 45-70. That caliber was originally chambered for the 1873 Trap-Door Springfield and was used in many rifles after that.

Not sure about the long-ish cast bullet to the left of the 3-ringer, but I'm fairly confident saying that it's a more modern design than the 3-ringer beside it. The 3-ringer itself is probably .58 caliber of a type very common in the Civil War era.

The hat-pin button-type affair someone better acquainted with such things will have to comment on, but it's an interesting variety of finds from the same area.

 

[wvwildman]

nice finds congrats HH

 

[vpnavy]

Nice finds WIT.

 

[Minrelica]

Thanks mirage83... that sheds a little light on some of the items..

Nobody knows anything about the "pin"? I can certainly post it in the what is it's, I just figured it would be easily identifiable by some of you..

Thanks!

 

[OneWetKnee]

no earlier than 1902 American Military collar disc would be my guess as that's when the "great seal " was first introduced as the official Army button. You will need an expert for dating

 

[goldnrelics]

great hunt!