45-70 Krag?

[fyrffytr1]

I found this bullet a week or so ago and didn't think much of it because it has cannelures (sic). But, I got to thinking that it may be a 45-70 from the Spanish-American war camp across the road. My digital calipers crapped out on me but I was able to get a diameter of .44.02"s before they died. It is almost .75"s long. I haven't seen a base like this one before. It has a smaller flat recess in it.

 

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[GMD52]

The Krag caliber was 30-40, not 45-70. Hope you find out what you have.....HH

 

[fyrffytr1]

The Krag caliber was 30-40, not 45-70. Hope you find out what you have.....HH

I knew that but my mind forgot it! And, my postal scale gives it a weight of about 16 grams. That converts to about 247grains.

 

[BosnMate]

I knew that but my mind forgot it! And, my postal scale gives it a weight of about 16 grams. That converts to about 247grains.

The bullet has been fired, so there could very well be a loss of lead, but 247 grains is way less than any 45-70 bullet. Also the .4402 measurement is
way to small for the bullet. I hand cast 405 grain 45-70 bullets with the hollow in the base just like yours, then I size them to .457. If the soldiers at the
Spanish American War camp were armed with 45-70 Springfield's (some were) the bullet would be a 405 grain. Just my swag, perhaps you found a .44-40
bullet.

 

[fyrffytr1]

The bullet has been fired, so there could very well be a loss of lead, but 247 grains is way less than any 45-70 bullet. Also the .4402 measurement is
way to small for the bullet. I hand cast 405 grain 45-70 bullets with the hollow in the base just like yours, then I size them to .457. If the soldiers at the
Spanish American War camp were armed with 45-70 Springfield's (some were) the bullet would be a 405 grain. Just my swag, perhaps you found a .44-40
bullet.

I can't say that the diameter is correct because my digital calipers are messed up. I will get another measurement tomorrow with a better caliper and report back.

 

[fyrffytr1]

I checked this bullet with a good set of calipers today. It measures .448"s diameter and .6825"s in length. The recess is .072"s deep. I also weighed it on another scale and it gave me a weight of 273.44 grains.
I found this at Wikipedia. .45-70 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia If I read it right there was a 300 grain bullet made in this caliber. Couldn't being fired explain the loss in weight?
The heaviest 44-40 is 225 grains with a diameter of .427" so I don't think this is one.

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

Ammo question

might be Spanish...?

 

[fyrffytr1]

Dang, if I had a brain I would be dangerous! It just struck me that I had found 3 or 4 shell casings across the road from where i found this bullet. So, I went to the closet and pulled out my plastic box of finds from this site. Sure enough there they were but there was also a modern 45-70 cartridge that i got from a gun shop years ago when I first found the casings. My bullet fits snugly in the end of the casing. The head stamp has a 4 at the 8 o'clock position, a P(I think) at 11 o'clock and 98 at the 4 o'clock position. One of the three casings has a 97 instead of the 98.

 

[BosnMate]

.448 is too small for a .45 caliber bullet. The heavy weight, (273 plus grains) pretty much rules out a .44-40 caliber rifle/pistol bullet.
The fired 45-70 case you have will have expanded a bit from the simple fact that it was fired and pressure expanded the case, so your .448
bullet would fit into the case with finger pressure. It takes a press to insert a properly sized bullet into a properly sized case. A 300 grain
45-70 bullet is a civilian load, and you said the site is military. The smallest .45-70 bullet would be a paper patched and that would
measure .45 exactly, with two wraps of paper which would increase the diameter to .458. But again that was/is a civilian load.

 

[fyrffytr1]

I didn't mean to mislead you about the location of the find. It was found across the road from the military site. I tried to insert the bullet into a spent 45cal. colt casing but it would not go.