Sharps Bullet in a Burnside Cartridge!!!

[MonkeyBoy]

Hello All,

Got out today for a few hours with the Pitdiggers! I thought I had finally dug a complete Burnside cartridge but.. after cleaning and with some help it turns out I dug two burnside cartridges stuck together with a sharps bullet inserted into them backwards!! That is how they came out of the ground. If you look at the sharps you can see where the part of the bullet that was inside of the cartridge is not white like the rest of the bullet. I included a few pictures.. together and apart, you can make out the remaining part of the second burnside and see the difference on the bullet where it was in the case versus expose to the ground. I also found a .69 3 Ringer and a few odds and ends type of house site find nearby. All in all.. a pretty cool find!!

MonkeyBoy

 

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[SomeGuy]

Perhaps it was used as an improvised match safe or container of sorts.

 

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[MonkeyBoy]

Well I guess what I'm wondering--and I don't know if anyone else might be wondering this...is if that contraption could've been fired...

Was the black powder still in that burnside casing?


But why do that if you had a usable burnside to begin with? Maybe just the product of boredom in a camp or picket post...


I just saw that they were likely the same caliber and wondered...


-Buckles

Good questions, I would say no.. it was just boredom because it was two burside cases already jammed together with the Sharps in them.. I "don't think" it would have fit in the chamber. The did not appear to be any powder left in it either. This was not found in a camp, it is a cluster of old housesites that we have hunted for years and there has always been a good amount of civil war items found... it is also possible that a signal tower was nearby but I have not found any proof. We had troops moving through this area during the entire war and you hit random CW items anywhere and everywhere, yards, farms, mountains etc.. in the same area as this I have found eagle buttons, VA buttons and the Rhode Island button I posted last year. so I think the troops mainly just scouted out the houses and used the mountian as a lookout/picket post, it has a good view of the roads. There were enough camps close enough that they would have sent troops in that direction. The few things I found this time out were around a large rock.. so my thought was more along the lines of a bore picket keeping an eye on the "locals" There was the .69 a couple feet away and nothing else.

MB

 

[MonkeyBoy]

Perhaps it was used as an improvised match safe or container of sorts.

Huh? Had not thought of that.. it would work..

MB