Chewed Bullet

[RiverRat3]

Hello, I found the below picture Williams Cleaner bullet last week at a farm I have been hunting since Fall. The bullet was chewed by something. The farm I have been hunting appears to either have been a staging area or an encampment. I have found a few pieces of melted lead which lead me to believe they were melted in a campfire. The bullet was found in the field approximately 300 yards from the woods. Between my friends and I we have found about 40 bullets there. I believe this is the first chewed. But I wonder if the bullet got in the way of a ground hog. Any comments would be helpful. Thanks for reading. HH

 

[Bavaria Mike]

That's special find RR! Looks like molar chews, maybe from a soldier being operated on, like having his lower leg sawed off without anesthetics. Nice find and congrats. HH, Mike

 

[kuger]

I see a lot of "chewed",bullets and most are left to the imagination,but that one is pretty strong!I have often thought I bet more of them were just carried in the mouth as a nervous thing and chewed in the heat of battle rather than medically speaking,but who knows?

 

[RiverRat3]

I see a lot of "chewed",bullets and most are left to the imagination,but that one is pretty strong!I have often thought I bet more of them were just carried in the mouth as a nervous thing and chewed in the heat of battle rather than medically speaking,but who knows?

I also think soldiers chewed on bullets to calm themselves. I know when I am stressed, chewing on sunflower seeds or gum always seems to help. I guess they werent worried about lead poisoning back then. They had much more to worry about. Thanks for the post.

 

[VOL1266-X]

Nice find RR3!!! I have probably dug over a hundred chewed bullets but never a Williams Cleaner. Most of mine have been chewed on by hogs, ground squirrels, etc. HH.

 

[kuger]

I see a lot of "chewed",bullets and most are left to the imagination,but that one is pretty strong!I have often thought I bet more of them were just carried in the mouth as a nervous thing and chewed in the heat of battle rather than medically speaking,but who knows?

I also think soldiers chewed on bullets to calm themselves. I know when I am stressed, chewing on sunflower seeds or gum always seems to help. I guess they werent worried about lead poisoning back then. They had much more to worry about. Thanks for the post.

Exactly!

 

[wobax]

I have found a couple of chewed bullets also. I lean towards being chewed by hogs rather than humans but you never know.

 

[Dixiedigger]

I have found a couple of chewed bullets over the years. Always wondered the history behind them.

 

[Burdie]

Congrats on a neat find RR. Good luck finding some buttons or coins there.

Burdie

 

[Golden1]

I see a lot of "chewed",bullets and most are left to the imagination,but that one is pretty strong!I have often thought I bet more of them were just carried in the mouth as a nervous thing and chewed in the heat of battle rather than medically speaking,but who knows?

Yup!That would be my guess. To many marks on it for an amputation.

G1

 

[Dman]

I have found a few chewed bullets. I think a ground hog got them.
Dman

 

[claymation]

I had read in an old journal that sometimes the Indians would chew a musket ball down to fit his own musket. Wonder if this might be the sort of thing they were talking about ?

 

[Breezie]

Yep, either chewed by man or beast or both. It looks like a Williams Cleaner. Neat find, Breezie

 

[Des from down under]

man that is interesting to read...if it was a soldier..at least he had a good set of teeth..for awhile

 

[civilman1]

Not the "chewed bullet" thread again Great find....gotta be some button's and brass somewhere.Keep diggin'

 

[possumheaded]

Cool bullet RiverRat!! I've often read post about chewed bullets but I have never found one until a couple of weeks ago. I figured mine was probably chewed by a hog.
Good luck finding more stuff!

Ed