parsonwalker
Bronze Member
Most Unusual Civil War Relic I've Ever Found, + Flying Eagle Cent From the Trenches!
I didn't see it until I got home and was cleaning my bullets. This certainly looks like a common 3-ringer, and it is.
Note - no ramrod marks, no impact marks, but it doesn't appear to be "dropped". It obviously hasn't been "pulled".
Or HAS it?? Turn it over, and this bullet was "pulled" . . . but from the BOTTOM! This bullet MUST have been mistakenly loaded UPSIDE DOWN. That's the only explanation I can think of. I imagine in the confusion of the heat of battle, some terrified boy shoved this bullet in his musket the wrong way! It misfired, and he had no choice but to "worm" it out.
I suppose this is not the only time this ever happened among the millions and millions of bullets loaded in the civil war, but I've yet to show this to a relic hunter who has seen one before. I'd be interested to know if any of you have. Of course, I have an alternative theory: This bullet was fired by a sharp-eyed yankee and it went straight down the barrel of a Confederate's musket! He of course, had to remove it. Yeah, well . . . it's a MUCH better story.
I had a good hunt. Two other pulled bullets, an iron buckle, a thin brass strange little buckle of some description, a half a gun main-spring, some shell fragments and a Flying Eagle cent from the trenches. I'm told they were made from 1856-1858, but the date is unreadable. I MIGHT see a "7". If anybody can ID the thin brass item, far right center, I'd like to know. No holes or rivets, very thin and springy.
Digging buddy had a good bullet day, also some frags, and some flat buttons - and what appears to be a salt-shaker top. The stars are actually holes.
Mudduck dug a lot of bullets too, a flat button, and a very unusual gun wrench which was probably the find of the day. But I am really knocked out by that rear-pulled 3-ringer.
I didn't see it until I got home and was cleaning my bullets. This certainly looks like a common 3-ringer, and it is.
Note - no ramrod marks, no impact marks, but it doesn't appear to be "dropped". It obviously hasn't been "pulled".
Or HAS it?? Turn it over, and this bullet was "pulled" . . . but from the BOTTOM! This bullet MUST have been mistakenly loaded UPSIDE DOWN. That's the only explanation I can think of. I imagine in the confusion of the heat of battle, some terrified boy shoved this bullet in his musket the wrong way! It misfired, and he had no choice but to "worm" it out.
I suppose this is not the only time this ever happened among the millions and millions of bullets loaded in the civil war, but I've yet to show this to a relic hunter who has seen one before. I'd be interested to know if any of you have. Of course, I have an alternative theory: This bullet was fired by a sharp-eyed yankee and it went straight down the barrel of a Confederate's musket! He of course, had to remove it. Yeah, well . . . it's a MUCH better story.
I had a good hunt. Two other pulled bullets, an iron buckle, a thin brass strange little buckle of some description, a half a gun main-spring, some shell fragments and a Flying Eagle cent from the trenches. I'm told they were made from 1856-1858, but the date is unreadable. I MIGHT see a "7". If anybody can ID the thin brass item, far right center, I'd like to know. No holes or rivets, very thin and springy.
Digging buddy had a good bullet day, also some frags, and some flat buttons - and what appears to be a salt-shaker top. The stars are actually holes.
Mudduck dug a lot of bullets too, a flat button, and a very unusual gun wrench which was probably the find of the day. But I am really knocked out by that rear-pulled 3-ringer.
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