4 different bullets for ID

Randy769 · Mar 18, 2014

Can you please give me an educated guess on these bullets :

#(1) 9/16 of an inch

#(2) 9/16 of an inch - solid Base

#(3) speaks for itself ...looks like it has some rings

#(4) 13/16 of an inch

Hawkeye35 · Mar 18, 2014

How are you getting the measurements? The last one is a modern jacketed flat base bullet.

Randy769 · Mar 18, 2014

Measuring across the bottom...is there another way....The first three were found around the same area.

TheCannonballGuy · Mar 18, 2014

We need additional photos of bullet #1 with all the dirt washed off, to see whether or not it has any body-grooves. At the moment, it APPEARS to be a fired civil war .577-caliber Enfield minie-bullet (used by both sides).

Bullet #2 is definitely a civil war yankee .50-caliber Smith Carbine bullet.

Bullet #3 seems to show some body-grooves, and thus appears to be a fired civil war bullet that a bored soldier (or somebody else at that time) chopped up with a large knife or hatchet. I've seen some like it that were dug from battlefields and army campsites.

At first glance, "bullet" #4 does look like a modern-era copperjacketed bullet... but that kind of bullet does not have a rim encircling its flat base, which the photo seems to show. Need more photos.

Hawkeye35 · Mar 18, 2014

Randy769 said:
Measuring across the bottom...is there another way....The first three were found around the same area.

Well I was just asking because if bullet #4 is 13/16" then it would be an unusually large caliber. Now, you might be measuring the diameter of the entire expanded bullet. Just measure the diameter of the base which isn't deformed as much.

I think that rim around the base is just an optical illusion. It just looks rounded off like it should be.

Randy769 · Mar 19, 2014

Better Bullet Pic and new one for ID

Thanks for your help....I washed the first one alittle better and it does show some grooves in it. The last one I measured wrong....its 7/16 ..big difference. The edge is flush with the rest of it. The first was just a bad angle.

What do you think about this one...5/16 wide

Hawkeye35 · Mar 19, 2014

That one looks modern as well to me. Being that it's fired and not badly deformed I'm guessing it's a handgun bullet but I really can't say for sure. Probably .30 or .32 caliber based on your measurement. The crimp groove looks like what you would see on a modern jacketed rifle bullet. Also, it doesn't have the thick layer of oxidation that lead gets after it's been buried for a long time. I can't help much with the older bullets.

About the one you measured wrong...7/16" puts it between .40 and .45 caliber making it a handgun bullet. Because of the way it expanded I'm gonna say it's a hollow point.