A question on Civil War rounds

[SwampHunter]

Most of the Civil War rounds I see found are white in color, however some of the pictures I see on the internet are not white in color. What's the deal? Are these folks cleaning their rounds or do some types of soil just not turn the rounds white?

Thanks!

 

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[cryptodave]

The soil oxidizes the lead bullets, however, with that being said, none of the bullets I have dug around here have been white.
The very first 3 ringer I dug was brown, almost every round ball I have dug is greenish/brownish in color.

 

[Ronin9868]

I agree with cryptodave. It does depend on the soil conditions. Most of the mini's I dig are White in color but I have on area were the soil is more clay like and most if not all the mini's I dig are greenish and even grey from the lead. The amount of moisture in the soil may have an effect. I really don't know the technical reason.

HH- Ronin

 

[brnn53]

On my farm they are brownish but 5 miles down the road, they are white. Depends on the soil. I have sand here but the white minies come from black heavy soil.
Mike

 

[stoney56]

It's possible that fertilizer has a part in it as well since a lot of the fields are now farmland.

 

[cwbullet]

Submerged bulllets from water or damp soil are black to blue in color.

 

[{Sentinel}]

You have to be CARFUL though too, there are ALOT of fakes going around that look brown, and bronze in color. These are easy to spot as fakes to the trained eye but for the unsuspecting person wanting to buy in on some American history, they can often be swindled. There ARE variations but USUALLY, they will have a White patina. But there are circumstances as my friend Ronin said, where the bullets can be different colors from the soil.

Here is a great website that illustrates some of those FAKE bullets. Notice the bronze minie:
http://www.civilwaroutpost.com/Fakes.htm

Here is a sample of some of mine. They havent been cleaned off yet so still have the dirt on them...but you can see the white patina coming through. The ones that look dark grey have been dipped in olive oil.

 

[Gribnitz]

Depends on the soil they came out of. I have some that come out with a brown patina (which easily comes off, but still white beneath. Hard to get the dirt off and still leave that pretty brown), some that are pink (due to the iron in the ground mixing over time with the white patina), and some that almost look like lead, but you can still see the light white color. Then again, I have found .22's, .38's, and a host of other smallet bullets that have turned white over time, obviously with rifling, so they aren't that old. Sometimes you can tell the age by the impression left by forcing the bullet down a hot/dirty musket. The CW bullets were monsters compared to today's normal hunting rounds. A .69 is literally the size of the top joint on a grown mans thumb, a .58 is just a bit smaller.