Big Ol Pile of Civil War Lead & Brass Broke My Record Today in the Mississippi Woods.

[bonepicker]

Big Ol Pile of Civil War Lead & Brass Broke My Record Today in the Mississippi Woods.

Got out for a Civil War hunt today in the Mississippi woods with a good Relic Hunting Buddy of mine and we hit pay-dirt.
My last few hunts have been slow and I haven't found anything worth posting recently, so I was wayyyyyy past due for a good hunt.
Hunted a hillside near the water and broke my record with 32 confirmed Fired Minnie Balls. Was sure hoping for one drop, normally that's about all I find, but not at this site.
If only these bullets could talk, I wish I knew the story as I had lots of ideas running through my mind today. Fired in the dirt or a skirmish......
Also found 2 Bullets inside of a large piece of lighter Knot and 2 more bullets in smaller pieces of wood (didn't count these in my total). Kinda want to know for sure if they are minnies, but I hate to destroy the pieces of wood as I think its pretty cool finding bullets lodged in wood.
I don't know much about Minnie balls, but I was told some confederate items were found in this area and there was supposed to be a confederate camp in the area.
These Minnie balls had 3-rings, but the rings were UNUSUALLY LARGE compared to the ones I have found in yankee emcampments in the past. Was wondering if these might be confederate.
I enclosed a couple photos of one dropped Minnie I found in the past, beside the minnies I found today for camparison purposes.. Please advise.
Also found some unusual pieces of brass and was wondering if anyone could help with ID on them. At first I thought these were modern bullet jackets, but now I don't know.
And found a lot of smaller caliber bullets as well, but who knows. Most of them don't have the patina the Minnie balls have, but if someone can id any of them it would be most appreciated.
Maybe this embankment was the local firing range for years....
All in all it was a great day and I cant wait to go back, sweated my butt off, but it was well worth it.
Really hopeing these are confederate, because all the Minnie balls ive found along with the buttons have been damn yankee....
This Relic hunting has been more fun than the coinshooting... lol. Im already planning my next trip to this site......

 

[Gridwalker306]

Wow Bone, that's a LOT of lead. Congrats, and I hope you didn't throw your back out carrying that home!

 

[firemac]

Great hunt!

 

[bonepicker]

Wow Bone, that's a LOT of lead. Congrats, and I hope you didn't throw your back out carrying that home!

Thanks J cache. Most lead ive ever dug in one day. I actually walked my buddy out and unloaded at the truck once. Dang belt and pouch were pulling my shorts down. Went back in after he left and hit it a little more.
Didn't throw my back out, but my hands were crampin a little on the ride home.

Great hunt!

Thanks Firemac. Was a good day.

 

[parsonwalker]

Your brass items are indeed modern bullet jackets, if I'm seeing them right. Your lead bullets . . . I'll be watching this thread. I found some of these on a known battlefield and was told they were "early" modern muzzle-loading bullets, used by re-enactors and blackpowder enthusiasts in the 1960s (centennial). Mind you, I'm not saying they ARE modern . . . just that older relic hunters SAID they were. I hope (for both our sakes) those guys were wrong. I'll be interested in what the pros have to say . . .

 

[coastal_digger]

Your brass items are indeed modern bullet jackets, if I'm seeing them right. Your lead bullets . . . I'll be watching this thread. I found some of these on a known battlefield and was told they were "early" modern muzzle-loading bullets, used by re-enactors and blackpowder enthusiasts in the 1960s (centennial). Mind you, I'm not saying they ARE modern . . . just that older relic hunters SAID they were. I hope (for both our sakes) those guys were wrong. I'll be interested in what the pros have to say . . .

Reenactments though, they are only allowed to use powder and cap, no lead- so you have the sounds of battle without accidentally shooting someone. Shooting competitions would be the only thing where they would be using actual lead- but these are not normally done at re-enactments, at least not in this area. Did any of them say why they felt your battlefield finds were not original, parsonwalker?

 

[CASPER-2]

 

[cjon455]

that's an amazing pile of lead!, awesome finds for sure!!

 

[against the wind]

Wow,, that's a lot of lead. If this metal detecting thing don't work out, you have enough sinkers to go fishing. lol
Congrats on your new record

 

[Vino]

Great job on all the lead. One thing I can say is, you sure know what lead sounds like now!! Lol
Dont know if there the real deal or not. But im sure they were alot of fun digging.
They look like the real deal though..
George

 

[parsonwalker]

Reenactments though, they are only allowed to use powder and cap, no lead- so you have the sounds of battle without accidentally shooting someone. Shooting competitions would be the only thing where they would be using actual lead- but these are not normally done at re-enactments, at least not in this area. Did any of them say why they felt your battlefield finds were not original, parsonwalker?

Coastal - At the CW centennial (1960-1965) safety and gun PC was not as big a deal. You are of course, correct, re-enactments of battles would have just used cap, powder and wadding. But they often (at least in Cold Harbor, VA) would shoot a few "live" rounds at targets and even TRENCHES (Gah!) to show the tourists what a .58 cal could do. At one CH park (OK, the ONLY CH park back then) they had a small 6 lb Cohorn (?) mortar chained to a pine tree. They would fire a solid ball once a day for the bus loads of school children. I REMEMBER the ranger would fire the piece (very high arc with low powder charge) and he would wait to hear it hit between the trench lines. He'd wait a few seconds, give the all-clear, and kids would rush down to try and be the kid who could find the ball and bring it back! They waited a few seconds, because sometimes the ball would come down through a pine tree and break off a limb. Even then, they tried to keep the tourists alive!

As for WHY they said these were "early-modern" muzzle-loading slugs . . . no idea. I'm guessing it was (1) They'd never seen an original ball that resembled these, (2) The field I was hunting was known to have been used in the centennial for Muzzle-loader enthusiasts, and (3) well, you know this one: If MD guys don't know what something is . . . if THEY found it, it's a rare variant. If somebody ELSE found it, it's modern junk!

 

[bonepicker]

Your brass items are indeed modern bullet jackets, if I'm seeing them right. Your lead bullets . . . I'll be watching this thread. I found some of these on a known battlefield and was told they were "early" modern muzzle-loading bullets, used by re-enactors and blackpowder enthusiasts in the 1960s (centennial). Mind you, I'm not saying they ARE modern . . . just that older relic hunters SAID they were. I hope (for both our sakes) those guys were wrong. I'll be interested in what the pros have to say . . .

Thanks for replying Parson. Gosh I hope those older Relic hunters you mentioned were wrong. That was a lot of work yesterday for modern bullets.
I agree with the tiny brass and small caliber bullets being modern, but still think the larger minnies might be CW era, hopefully others will respond.
The reasons why im leaning period. I have found lots of bullets, but that white patina on these is comparable to bullets being in the ground for a very long time.
I have found lots of bullets in Mississippi. Seems like drinking beer and shooting guns is a common past-time in our state, as I find many a beer cans as well, but most of the bullets I find don't have that white patina, only the really old ones do.
Also there is known civil war activity in the area they were found. I don't want to give out a ton of details, but my buddy said they found a confederate button along with many other campsite items in very close proximity to where these bullets were found years ago.
Im not trying to argue and I do appreciate your advice and opinion, just trying to state why I believe these might be period, hopefully others will respond.
Thanks again.

 

[parsonwalker]

Thanks for replying Parson. Gosh I hope those older Relic hunters you mentioned were wrong. That was a lot of work yesterday for modern bullets.
I agree with the tiny brass and small caliber bullets being modern, but still think the larger minnies might be CW era, hopefully others will respond.
The reasons why im leaning period. I have found lots of bullets, but that white patina on these is comparable to bullets being in the ground for a very long time.
I have found lots of bullets in Mississippi. Seems like drinking beer and shooting guns is a common past-time in our state, as I find many a beer cans as well, but most of the bullets I find don't have that white patina, only the really old ones do.
Also there is known civil war activity in the area they were found. I don't want to give out a ton of details, but my buddy said they found a confederate button along with many other campsite items in very close proximity to where these bullets were found years ago.
Im not trying to argue and I do appreciate your advice and opinion, just trying to state why I believe these might be period, hopefully others will respond.
Thanks again.

Bone - Arguing would be FINE if you were. I learn a lot reading the banter between the guys on this forum. I wish Cannonball Guy would chime in on your bullets. I agree with you, your patina looks spot on. From all appearances, very old slugs. Like I said, I hope YOU are right and they are wrong. (We'd BOTH have some good bullets!) Like I said, I'm watching to see what others think. I honestly am dumb as a bucket of sinkers on this. Just repeating what I was told. best of luck, man!

 

[bonepicker]

Reenactments though, they are only allowed to use powder and cap, no lead- so you have the sounds of battle without accidentally shooting someone. Shooting competitions would be the only thing where they would be using actual lead- but these are not normally done at re-enactments, at least not in this area. Did any of them say why they felt your battlefield finds were not original, parsonwalker?

Thanks for replying Coastal Digger. I used to do CW re-enactments when I was a teen back in the late 80s, early 90s. Kinda lost interest in high school when I started feeling like I was missing out on High School Stuff.... lol.
I remember hearing stories about old-timers saying during reenactments/battles saying they would hear something whizzing over their head. Very rare.........
I remember buying powder by the pound and rolling my own cartridges, I used to add a little extra powder to make it loud.
I agree anyone would be a fool to use lead during a re-enactment, but as parson just suggested maybe they could have done a demo with lead not during the actual battle.
I did a lot of reenactments and don't ever remember any live fire demos, but perhaps that could have been done before my time.
3rd Mississippi Co E. "Biloxi Rifles"

 

[bonepicker]

Wow,, that's a lot of lead. If this metal detecting thing don't work out, you have enough sinkers to go fishing. lol
Congrats on your new record

Thanks against the wind. "lol" go fishing...... Was sure hoping for a button or plate, maybe next time.

 

[bonepicker]

Great job on all the lead. One thing I can say is, you sure know what lead sounds like now!! Lol
Dont know if there the real deal or not. But im sure they were alot of fun digging.
They look like the real deal though..
George

Thanks Vino. Yeah I got them beer cans and lead dialed in. We had a blast yesterday. I wish I could find a silver spot like this lead spot.
Read your post this morning and it made me laugh with your lead sounds comment.
I hope theyre the real deal, as I put in 6 hrs yesterday of digging everything. I didn't show the junk junk beer cans etc.
I agree that they look legit, just a little unusual. Im far from an expert on CW lead or anything, as I just started digging CW this year

 

[bonepicker]

that's an amazing pile of lead!, awesome finds for sure!!

Thanks Chris. It was definitely a load. Not finding many mid 1800's coins around here, so I have to settle for lead.
All in all it was a fun day, and hope to get back there soon and dig more relics.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Really hopeing these are confederate, because all the Minnie balls ive found along with the buttons have been damn yankee

The war's been over for 150 years. Time to let your anger over losing The Civil War go...

As for the bullets, this "yankee" thinks they look like they were used for target practice. Too many flattened in the same manner. Just my opinion...

 

[bonepicker]

The war's been over for 150 years. Time to let your anger over losing The Civil War go...

As for the bullets, this "yankee" thinks they look like they were used for target practice. Too many flattened in the same manner. Just my opinion...

Im just going to assume you are joking, but you kind of come off as arrogant and cocky. "A proud to be Yankee".
I was just teasing when I said damn yankee, lol. Maybe you couldn't handle that..
I have no anger over the South losing the war, but I do believe states have the right to secede, and im not really proud of how the Northern states went about winning the war.
Im not going to get into politics much, but there is a lot more to it than what your high school text books tell you.

 

[longcut]

bonepicker .... From what I have experienced in detecting battle sites , you find a lot of drops .. If you find spent Minnies centralized , that means soldiers were there and getting shot at .... These soldiers were firing back and there should be drops .... just my experience.... And I agree with you that the 3 ringers have larger rings than what I normally find... I am no expert , however .............