Civil War?

[Cantstopdigging]

Hello Forum,

Most of these items appear to be 1920's era. Are there any items that could be older?

 

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[Cantstopdigging]

The penny is 1907

 

[Cantstopdigging]

specifically, are the ringed bullets civil war era? in the center of the picture are those percussion caps, and are they Civil war era? Are the clips military back pack clips?

 

[NOLA_Ken]

need close up pics of those specific items. The percussion caps could be, they are the large type for muskets. One bullet looks like it could be a minnie ball...

 

[Spats]

The percussion caps may be percussion caps but they may be blown out cartridges that have split. It's hard to judge size but based on what I see. My guess is they are probably cartridges. A percussion cap should have an outside diameter of 6 to 7 mm. If they measure that diameter, they may be.

 

[Cantstopdigging]

Here is a different picture, and a couple of additional mystery items.

 

[dfallis1]

Here is a different picture, and a couple of additional mystery items.
View attachment 1407736

Looks to be 2 civil war era mini ball with 2 percussion caps. The hook at the top is also used in civil war. Part of a knapsack set.

 

[Spats]

I hope I am wrong, but those don't look like Civil War bullets or percussion caps to me.

 

[Dug]

I hope I am wrong, but those don't look like Civil War bullets or percussion caps to me.

I agree, bullets look much later and the "percussion" caps are copper jackets from modern bullets.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Spats and Dug beat me to answering, but here's confirmation for anybody who needs it. Dug is right that the "percussion caps" are the copper jackets from modern bullets, which got stripped off by hard impact. The two large-caliber bullets with three WIDELY SEPARATED body-grooves appear to be modern repro Lyman Mold Minie-bullets, made for Blackpowder Rifle shooters. In addition to having the widely separated body grooves, they can be distinguished from civil war original ones by having a very wide, thin-walled, extra deep base cavity. A well-focused closeup of those two bullets' base-cavity would to definitely identify them.

Although it SEEMS like there's no civil war era relics in your finds so far, please do not be discouraged. Keep hunting... preferably in an area which has some documentation of civil war military activity in that area.