Bullet Id help

[EC.Mason]

My wife found this today in a field where there was a Civil War camp. Anyone know If this would be Civil War? Any help would be appreciated!

 

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[smokeythecat]

What is the caliber and length? It's a "maybe" without measurements.

 

[KeyaPaha]

If it has a solid flat base, my guess is a 9mm. pistol round.

 

[EC.Mason]

Thanks guys! Here’s some more pics of its size. Not sure how to figure out caliber

 

[EC.Mason]

Here’s a couple of the base. Don’t mind my dirty nails just got in from detecting lol

 

[NOLA_Ken]

without knowing an exact measurement there's not much we can do, I'd guess .32 long just compared to your fingers and early 1900's maybe

 

[EC.Mason]

Hey man forgot to attach pictures of me measuring it but I edited my post and they are on here now . QUOTE=NOLA_Ken;6447567]without knowing an exact measurement there's not much we can do, I'd guess .32 long just compared to your fingers and early 1900's maybe[/QUOTE]

 

[Duckshot]

View attachment 1809349 View attachment 1809350 Thanks guys! Here’s some more pics of its size. Not sure how to figure out caliber

Caliber is just the diameter in 100ths of an inch. That bullet looks to be about 3/8" which would be .375 caliber. You can measure the diameter with a caliper. If you don't have a caliper you could a pair of 1/2" square sticks along each side and your tape measure to get an estimate in 1/16ths of an inch. Without a diameter any answer to your question will be pretty much a guess.

I used my caliper and your tape measure in the photo to guess it is about .375", which could have been fired from a .36 caliber pistol but I wouldn't get my hopes up because both 9mm and .38 caliber modern cartridges also measure 3/8".

 

[EC.Mason]

Thanks for the info and help !

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Duckshot wrote:
> Caliber is just the diameter in 100ths of an inch.

Duckshot, I'm not fussing at you, I'm just posting an Educational correction for anybody else here who does not already know. Caliber is NOT "just the diameter in 100ths of an inch." Caliber is the diameter of the gun's bore. (For example, a .44-caliber bullet was made to be fired from a gun whose bore diameter is .44-inch.

A bullet's diameter is almost never the same as its caliber. The difference is important for correctly identifying a bullet. If the bullet was made to be loaded into the front end of the barrel (a "muzzle-loader"), the bullet's diameter is usually about .01-to-.02-inch smaller than the gun's bore diameter. If the bullet was to be loaded into the back end of the barrel (a "breech-loader"), the bullet's diameter is usually about .02-inch larger than the bore's diameter.

Ever since the late-1800s, ALL bullets which have a metal cartridge are loaded into the back end of the gunbarrel.

ALL of the civil war "Minie-bullets" were made for use in muzzleloading guns... so a .58-caliber Minie is about .56-to-57" in diameter.

Examples of civil war breechloader bullets:
Colt .44-caliber Revolver bullet's UNFIRED diameter measured about .46-inch. Being fired through the gun's .44"-diameter bore squeezed the bullet to that size.
Sharps .52-caliber Carbine bullet's UNFIRED diameter was about .54-inch.​