This is way beyond me.

[Loco Raindrops]

So today I was out sweating like a hog doing some woods detecting here in SW Pa. I have never pulled so many bullets in my life lol.

...also pulled a few ticks.

Anywho o ne sparked my curiosity because it is really white. Not powder covered. Like white white.

Bullets outside of 2 & 3 ringers and current brass I am familiar with but this is way above my paygrade.

Any clues as to what I am looking at here? The area also has a 1700s cabin not all that far away that was also inhabited during the 1800s, etc. I know it isn't 1700s old as it would be round but I'm just trying to gain any info/knowledge I can get.

Thanks in advance folks.

Hope you all are getting out there nailing the finds of your dreams.

....be well.

 

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[smokeythecat]

From what I can tell by the photos its a modern, fired rifled slug from a shotgun. It looks 12 gauge.

 

[Digger RJ]

Nice!! Congrats!!

 

[ToddsPoint]

Lead takes quite a while to turn that white. I'd say it's got some age to it, whatever it is. Gary

 

[Trezurehunter]

I agree with Smokey. You can see the spiral rifling in your top picture. Looks like it came from a shotgun, and because of the rifling on the bullet, its not that old. Probably from a deer hunter. I have hunted deer for 36 years, and am familiar with that type of slug, although I still use a smooth bore shotgun, that does not have the rifled barrel.

 

[Loco Raindrops]

Yeah but that white?

 

[Loco Raindrops]

Im not so sure that the rifling means it isn't old. Some firearms such as the Endield 1853 used rifled barrels.

....also the place where I was is now and has been a public park for a bit.

 

[gunsil]

Im not so sure that the rifling means it isn't old. Some firearms such as the Endield 1853 used rifled barrels.

....also the place where I was is now and has been a public park for a bit.

Rifled shotgun slugs are not fired from rifled barrels, the slugs themselves have rifling on them to try to impart spin and more accuracy. The lead oxide (white stuff) forms at different rates in different areas depending on soil. I have dug a couple .54 minie balls I fired some 45 years ago and they were already white. A few in my old hunting pouch which have sat for forty years with a home made lube of beeswax and tallow have a thin white coating now, likely a reaction from acids in the tallow. Fertilizer such as used in park lawns will also likely accelerate the process. The modern American rifled shotgun slug came out in the 1930s, so yours if indeed a shotgun slug which it appears to be could be 80 years old.

 

[Loco Raindrops]

It was found in a heavily forested area so I see no possibility it was exposed to fertilizer. I'm familiar with the rifling on the slug itself.

 

[Joe-Dirt]

I’d have to agree, it think it’s more than likely a rifled slug. As to the white patina, I dig .22’s and .32’s on a regular basis here in Massachusetts with a nice white patina. I’ve found that the older bullets I dig (mid 1800’s and earlier) have a very very thick coating of patina that will rub off in your hands. Like stated before in this post, I have dug minie balls I have fired 10 or 15 years ago that have turned white, I think it all depends on your soil composition. I also think you’d be hard pressed to find a 19th century rifle with that many lands and grooves.

 

[Loco Raindrops]

Appreciate the input. I know basically nothing when it comes to bullets of this type.

I don't hunt deer with slugs(700 BDL 30-06) so they are uncharted territory for me.

 

[FloodcityTom]

Definitely a rifled slug from a shotgun 12 ga most likely....lot of Pa deer hunters used these "punkin balls" to hunt deer....I did back in the day