🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Anyway to ID this fired bullet

[Nathan W]

Found awhile back and curious about it. Old homesite spot.

 

[UnderMiner]

Neat, she's an oldie, pistol for sure, but what kind, I don't know. Someone here will know. Look at that layer of patina though, wouldn't surprise me to be Civil War era. It looks to have experienced a moderately hard impact, likely against a tree or patch of hard earth/rock, and skimmed off - making that well know "peeeow!" sound.

 

[Almy]

From the diameter measurement (.25"), which has been taken at a slightly expanded place, and the look, I think it is a fairly modern .22 long rifle. A weight would help ID it.

 

[Jack873]

Like Almy, I'd say could be a .22LR (if expanded) or it could possibly be a .25ACP.

 

[BAW]

The first picture seems.to show a line circling the bullet a short distance above the base. If close examination proves that it does, it may indicate the “heel” of a “heeled” bullet. A “heeled” bullet is one which has a reduced diameter at the base where it fits into the case, whereas a non-heeled bullet does not have this reduced area. The simplest way to illustrate this would be to compare a .22 rim fire cartridge to a .38 or .45 revolver cartridge. With the .22 the heel fits inside the case but the bullet diameter increases above the case mouth to the same diameter as the outside of the case, while the .38 or .45 bullet diameter is not increased above the case mouth.
By far the most common heeled bullet is that for the .22 rimfire, which is nominally .223” in diameter. The fact that your’s now measures .25 is no doubt caused by expansion and distortion after hitting a hard object.

 

[Hendrix]

Might be an old .25-20 bullet. If you can measure it in thousandths then .25-20 was .257".

 

[Picketwire]

It could also be from a Stevens 25 rimfire, long or short. If you can weigh it in grains, it would narrow it down. 65 to 65 rains would indicate the rimfire, the 25-20 used 82 grain bullet.