bullet and button find-need help on ID Please

cwdigger · Oct 21, 2007

Found these today with about 180 more all bullets and balls are the same size and only 1 button could anyone tell me the caliber,year,and how much these sort of bullets sell for.

And I just got done cleaning the button it says "WHITMAN, NEWYORK, and what looks like "LESHER" it is about the size of a us nickel if possible the year, and how much it is worth if anything, hell it maybe modern I know nothing about buttons, any help would be greatly app.

Thanks matt
HH

tymcmurray · Oct 22, 2007

Spectacular story and finds.
Since nobody has offered yet, let me be the first.
If you need any help, Myself and one other friend
wil come down and help you dig, he!! we will even
let you keep every other bullet and button!

Just let me know.
...........................................It's worth a shot.

brnn53 · Oct 22, 2007

Thats a hellva day's diggin'! Did you find any Enfield bullets or are they all 3 ringers? If ya'll need any help, I'm 1 hour away!LOL!
Mike

civilman1 · Oct 22, 2007

I'd be hard pressed to dig 18 in a day now....Unbelievable day!!!!Thank's for the pic's and the story of this place.Hope you took break's to unload those guy's from time to time.Great Job..

cwdigger · Oct 22, 2007

brnn53 said:
Thats a hellva day's diggin'! Did you find any Enfield bullets or are they all 3 ringers? If ya'll need any help, I'm 1 hour away!LOL!
Mike

honestly i dont know the difference could you send me a link to the diff varities there are lots in the bucket that are not the same

tsgman · Oct 23, 2007

Nice going on the finds and the persistence you had to not give up. My hunting buddy and I were searching for a camp and when we finally found it I dug a US plate and over 100 bullets the first day. Looks like your bullets are 54 cal. 57 and maybe a few 69's. it's hard to tell for sure in your pics.
Most of the dropped {unfired bullets}will range from 3 to 5 bucks if no digger damage on them. Don't forget to look for picket area's. A good place to check are area's near your site where you cannot see well, as in a hill above the site or a blind spot from the main site.
To me it appears you found a camp and not a battle site. If it were the actual site of the battle you would have fired rounds and probably not the quantity of drops that you have. The soldiers liked to use the powder from the cartridges to start the camp fires and they would just toss the bullet away, or sometimes into the fire. Another sign of a actual campsite is melted lead everywhere.
I always draw out a grid and keep track of what I found and where on the site. After several trips it will give you a better understanding of what happend there. Another great tool for this is a GPS unit . Keeping track of the finds and the gps position and then downloading on your computer will help. Good luck. Tim

brnn53 · Oct 23, 2007

Here's a page from a site that I visit. This guy actually has a lot of items listed that may give you an idea of price. (only 1 hour away!) HH!
Mike
http://www.relicman.com/bullets.htm

cwdigger · Oct 23, 2007

tsgman said:
Nice going on the finds and the persistence you had to not give up. My hunting buddy and I were searching for a camp and when we finally found it I dug a US plate and over 100 bullets the first day. Looks like your bullets are 54 cal. 57 and maybe a few 69's. it's hard to tell for sure in your pics.
Most of the dropped {unfired bullets}will range from 3 to 5 bucks if no digger damage on them. Don't forget to look for picket area's. A good place to check are area's near your site where you cannot see well, as in a hill above the site or a blind spot from the main site.
To me it appears you found a camp and not a battle site. If it were the actual site of the battle you would have fired rounds and probably not the quantity of drops that you have. The soldiers liked to use the powder from the cartridges to start the camp fires and they would just toss the bullet away, or sometimes into the fire. Another sign of a actual campsite is melted lead everywhere.
I always draw out a grid and keep track of what I found and where on the site. After several trips it will give you a better understanding of what happend there. Another great tool for this is a GPS unit . Keeping track of the finds and the gps position and then downloading on your computer will help. Good luck. Tim

Yea we have dug a S**T load of weird iron and other metal pieces all diff sizes and weights maybe your right it was a camp not a battle

BuckleBoy · Oct 23, 2007

Now THAT's a LOT of LEAD!! Looks like ya beat my record for number of bullets in a single day--mine was around 100--but a buddy and I did get over 30 in an hour here recently.

Great work!

I would imagine there will be some old coins there if it is a campsite--dig carefully, and good luck!

-Buckleboy

ModernMiner · Oct 23, 2007

matthewh05 said:
brnn53 said:

Thats a hellva day's diggin'! Did you find any Enfield bullets or are they all 3 ringers? If ya'll need any help, I'm 1 hour away!LOL!
Mike

Click to expand...

honestly i dont know the difference could you send me a link to the diff varities there are lots in the bucket that are not the same

Matt,
Here's another bullet ID site:
http://www.baymediapro.com/collection/bulletsearch.htm

-MM-

AeroMike · Oct 23, 2007

WOW! I would love to find just a 1/4 of those bullets. I have only found about 4 so far but hey, I just started really this year.

Great job and thanks for sharing!

BureFreak · Oct 23, 2007

You are going to have to tell how long it took to find all of those at once? That many Civil War bullets at one time is a one in a million chance! The biggest congrats to you! That is unbelievable!!!

I'm feeling nothing but envy right now...

Nathan

Jason in TN · Oct 23, 2007

Looks like you have found a Likely Union camp to many dropped bullets to be your skirmish sight. I do a lot of relic hunting. Looks to be a virgin camp. You have found something very special and should be very quite about the location unless of course you want to invite me down to hunt I am just across the line here in TN. Good luck and hope you finds are great.

cwdigger · Oct 23, 2007

BureFreak said:
You are going to have to tell how long it took to find all of those at once? That many Civil War bullets at one time is a one in a million chance! The biggest congrats to you! That is unbelievable!!!

I'm feeling nothing but envy right now...

Nathan

all day from 8 till faint

SgtSki in MI · Oct 24, 2007

Now that is a MESS of bullets!!!

I know very little about them, but it looks like a Spencer case near the top of the f2nd of the 2 pics taken of them on the USPS box.

OUTSTANDING!!!!

HH,
SgtSki

BuckleBoy · Oct 24, 2007

If you will clean (with water and a soft toothbrush) the unusual ones that aren't the regular .58 cal. minieball (three ringer), and post them in the what is it thread, someone will help you ID them. Looks like some .44 cal pistol ammo in there too...

-Buckleboy

carolinachief · Oct 26, 2007

Matt,

Great digs!! If you need another hunting partner to help you with that site I am in Vanceboro and would love to hunt a site like that. Good luck on future digs.