Box of unfired bullets - I.D. needed

[baspinall]

These have been around since I was a kid. Came from my father way back in the day. Any info appreciated. Cannon Ball Guy?

Weight - 35.63 grams

 

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[Joe-Dirt]

52 caliber Sharpe’s paper cartridges( cardboard tube) would be my guess, or another breech loading civil war era carbine.A lot of people still shoot these in competition.

 

[baspinall]

Guessing they aren't rare then. I do know these particular ones are over 80-90 years old though.

 

[baspinall]

These are smooth with no grooves or rings.

 

[bologna321]

Could be worth $ to a cartridge collector being that old if they are factory not homemade, no makers name anywhere on the box?

 

[baspinall]

No name on box but Im pretty sure they aren't hand wrapped. I remember another box of them being around as a kid. I used to hammer them into square blocks, draw with them ... all kinds of stuff. That was in the late 60's / early 70's Amazed this box made it lol.

 

[kingskid1611]

No name on box but Im pretty sure they aren't hand wrapped. I remember another box of them being around as a kid. I used to hammer them into square blocks, draw with them ... all kinds of stuff. That was in the late 60's / early 70's Amazed this box made it lol.

smashed them with hammers.....

 

[baspinall]

Kids will be kids. No powder in these.

 

[kingskid1611]

Kids will be kids. No powder in these.

It was the thought of bullets and hammers in the same sentence......I couldn't resist.

 

[Mine Shaft]

If it is a Sharps like Joe-Dirt says in my price book which is out dated 1994 says single Sharps .52-.70 R.F. Lead Bullet, Curio goes for $40.00. It also says full box's of rare ammo will command a premium because of the collectibility of the box itself.

 

[baspinall]

Are there smooth sharps?

 

[baspinall]

There was also a Williams Cleaner in that drawer as well as an Enfield. Think I still have the cleaner

 

[Joe-Dirt]

I’ll ask my buddy Jon, he shoots a sharpes in N-SSA competition, the cartridge looks right but I think he shoots a different style bullet. However, a guy in Maryland (I forget his name) fine tunes reproduction sharpes rifles and carbines and custom makes paper cartridge tubes for each gun and those look very much like his style of work.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Baspinall asked:
> "Are there smooth sharps?"

Yes, but only post-civil-war ones, made for use in the Sharps .44-caliber Model-1869 and Model-1874 Rifles.

I don't know why people are guessing your paper-wrapped smooth-sided bullets are .52-caliber when your photo showing a caliper measuring one says .453-inch in diameter. (That diameter would be correct for a BREECHLOADING .44 or .45 rifle.)

Thee are several varieties of smooth-sided paper-wrapped bullets in the .44-to-45-caliber range, all of which are post-civil-war. Some are foreign, such as the British .45 Martini-Henri and Martini-Enfield Rifles, and the British version of the .45 Gardner Machine Gun (circa 1880). The photos attached below show them, in cartridge-casings. Another of the photos shows some Martini-Henry "loose" ones with and without the paper wrap. That one was originally posted here in the What Is It? forum by T-Net member Red James Cash.

For identification, put your cursor over the photo.

For correct identification, it's very important to note that your caliper-on-the-bullet photos also show your mystery-bullets are about 1.53-inches long, which includes the paper wrapped over the bullet's base. Even without the paper, your bullets are LONGER THAN ANY WHITWORTH BULLETS, so that type is excluded. (Also, your bullets are pointy-er" than Whitworth bullets.

Although foreign versions of paper-wrapped smooth-sided .44-or-.45 bullets exist... because yours apparently came from the USA, I suspect it's most likely that they are US-made .44-70 or .44-90 "Buffalo Sharps" bullets. One of the photos below shows six variations of that kind in brass cartridge-casings.

A bit of trivia for you: Matthew Quiqley used a .44 "Buffalo Sharps" rifle in the movie "Quiqley Down Under."

 

[baspinall]

Thanks for all the information. Pretty cool stuff