39 Unfired Rifle Cartridges

[Ed144]

I hiked into the Canada del Oro canyon north of the Santa Catalina Mtns (Tucson) with a friend today to do some detecting. We hiked south of the CDO and up a ridge into a remote gulch to detect the area. On the ridge we found a prospect pit about 5' deep that was following some quartz vein material. I detected 39 unfired rifle cartridges about 6" deep in the bottom of the pit. Found were: 19 REM-UMC SPRG 30-06, 11 WCC 41 30-06, 1 REM-UMC 35 CF, 7 Peters HV .22 long-rifle, one REM-UMC 45 ACP, one 30-06 five round stripper clip, one Buss SFE 20 Amp glass fuse, an 8-32 stainless screw and a 10-32 bolt and nut. All of the cartridges were unfired and showing no miss-fires.

The prospect pit is up a remote ridge, out of sight and off trail. Sure a strange find.

 

[russau]

Thankyou for picking up that bottle cap from the second photo between the spade andthe dark brown peice of old wood before you took the picture ! Interesting find ! I would like to hear the back story behind that variety of bullits and why ! So far it'll be up to anyones imagination !

 

[jewelerguy]

Very odd. That's a head scratcher for sure

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

We used to dive on the wreck of a WW1 Heavy Armor Cruiser war ship years ago.
We brought up lot's of rounds of unfired ammo.
I had them in a pile on my workbench till the following Winter.
Due to expanding gases, two of them went off and stuck in the wall.
I'd have someone pull them apart and dump the powder out or just get rid of them.

 

[Almy]

Most appear to be big game hunting cartridges. They have soft point bullets.

 

[Tesorodeoro]

Most appear to be big game hunting cartridges. They have soft point bullets.

Maybe every year the tag went unfilled the tradition was to empty your rifle in the pit

 

[releventchair]

Could be an O3-A3 stripper clip.
( Stripper clips can allow carrying a few extra rounds without rattling in a pocket too.)

US 1903 03-A3 Rifle Stripper Clips 5 - Liberty Tree Collectors | Collectible Military Firearms, Parts and Accessories | Located in Corinth, ME

This offering is for a set of 5 of our vintage US 1903 03-A3 Rifle Stripper Clips . Like the ones pictured all are in good used condition. Made of stamped sheet steel with a parkerized finish, minor stains and grime from long storage. These clips wills have most end tabs intact but some will be...

www.libertytreecollectors.com

 

[Trezurehunter]

Maybe people doing target practice and dropped a few ? Or hunters who dropped them ?

 

[oldmxrat]

That's a different kind of hunt.

 

[Digger54]

Bet that signal gave your heart a skip.