4 long months, but Im back. Buttons & Bullets. Need help w/a weird one . . .

parsonwalker

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Feb 16, 2013
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4 long months, but I'm back. Buttons & Bullets. Need help w/a weird one . . .

Been too darn hot for an elderly gent to hunt. (Some shoulder and knee problems didn't help) Today was beautiful. New permission yielded zilch, but moved on to find an old favorite spot partially available! So I hit my yankee camp for about 4 hours this afternoon. Two Eagle buttons, a NY cuff, and a couple of cool flat and civilian buttons, plus two rivets with leather made me very happy since my plowed field is usually cruel to relics.

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A Gardener (Precious few in this Union camp), and some 3 ringers rounded out my first hunt since May.

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But what is this weird guy? Appears to be about .69 cal. Shown with standard .58s for scale. I've never run across one of these. Anybody know? (Also posted in "What Is It?")

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Upvote 15
Nice to see you back. What a great hunt to have on you're "season opener". Those last pics look like carved bullets. Maybe game pieces...

Steve
 

Nice digs! I have always wanted to dig one of your mystery bullets. They used to call them Carcano's or Italian Girabaldi's (#199 in the M&M book). But I think there is now new research saying they were made in North Carolina.
 

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Glad you were able to get back out. Looks like you had a real nice outing.
 

Those are some nice buttons and bullets. Looks like you had a great day. :thumbsup:
Its neat to see the leather still clinging onto those rivets.
 

Now there's some nice results for the time spent out, 4hrs is a worthy effort for having some aches and pains. Seen lots of times go 2hrs and it's over for them so you're still doing well, congrats on the first hunt of the fall.
 

Nice digs! I have always wanted to dig one of your mystery bullets. They used to call them Carcano's or Italian Girabaldi's (#199 in the M&M book). But I think there is now new research saying they were made in North Carolina.

Thanks Scrappy, Trez, and Pepper. Yep, I was VERY happy with that start. For me, in 2015, any day with a military button is a good day.

Bone - Couldn't agree more. I guess because of the sandy, well draining soil, and sometimes red clay, we seem to have an inordinate amount of surviving leather and wood (as in gun stocks and bullets in wood). Or maybe it's just that Virginia has so many CW relics, there is a certain percentage where leather and wood survive, I don't know. But man, I LOVE to see a little leather clinging to a rivet. I have found three buckles in my life, and TWO of them had significant leather still on the hooks. So yeah, probably not worth 75 cents a piece, but they'll go in my display case.

STEVE: Thanks man! I have HEARD of the Girabaldi, but didn't know what they looked like. This is the first really "unusual" bullet I have ever found, not counting carved ones. Guess I've just never swung the coil over the right spot. Thanks again!
 

STEVE: Thanks man! I have HEARD of the Girabaldi, but didn't know what they looked like. This is the first really "unusual" bullet I have ever found, not counting carved ones. Guess I've just never swung the coil over the right spot. Thanks again![/QUOTE]

Recent research found these were manufactured by the Raleigh School for the Deaf and Blind and carried by NC troops. So it is no longer considered a Girabaldi or a Carcano for that matter.
 

Nice finds! Congratz!
 

Great finds PW! I have never found one of those bullets. Frank Hammond of VA (brother of Dick Hammond) was a friend who lived about 15 miles away from me in Tennessee and was in our SCV chapter. I had given him some bullets from a nearby battle. He told me that he was returning to VA to hunt with his brother and asked me what I wanted. I said "Frank, bring me back a good bullet". He did. It was a "Carcano" from the Quantico area. WTG & HH, Q.
 

Great finds PW! I have never found one of those bullets. Frank Hammond of VA (brother of Dick Hammond) was a friend who lived about 15 miles away from me in Tennessee and was in our SCV chapter. I had given him some bullets from a nearby battle. He told me that he was returning to VA to hunt with his brother and asked me what I wanted. I said "Frank, bring me back a good bullet". He did. It was a "Carcano" from the Quantico area. WTG & HH, Q.

Thanks Q. I didn't even know what it WAS! Extra fun when you find something you can't identify, and have to be educated. Hope your fall is productive! I visit my daughter in Kingsport from time to time. If you're interested in a hunt ever PM me. I'll bring you some Central Virginia bullets. But you ain't gettin' THIS one.
 

Thanks Q. I didn't even know what it WAS! Extra fun when you find something you can't identify, and have to be educated. Hope your fall is productive! I visit my daughter in Kingsport from time to time. If you're interested in a hunt ever PM me. I'll bring you some Central Virginia bullets. But you ain't gettin' THIS one.

LOL PW. Like Steve of PA, I've always heard they were associated with NC troops. A great keeper. Congrats, Q.
 

good thing your new permission didn't pan out, look what plan B gave ya! awesome old lead!!
nice going on the buttons too!!
 

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