Explanatiion of why it is so hard to ID Civil War bullets!

Monty · Dec 13, 2010

Time after time I see suspected CW bullets posted in What Is It with just a picture and nothing else. Usually a person gets several answers and the true type of bullet is only marginally identified. So, this is why.

According to the book "Civil War Projectiles II" by McKee and Mason Jr, at the beginning of the war issued arms were scarce, especially in the south. Many soldiers furnished their own rifles and ammo until both the Union and the Confederacy began purchasing rifles and ammunition from abroad. Only in the later part of the war was guns and ammo pretty much standardized for both factions. They estimate, and have identified over 370 different types of firearms in 65 different calibers that were used in the Civil War. The calibers ran from .22 to .858 caliber. Also, during the war the Union purchased over one billion rounds of ammo in various calibers from countries abroad. The Condederacy purchased some 200 million rounds of ammo from over seas countries. This does not even take into account the millions of bullets that were produced by individuals or by armories of both sides.

So, that is why bullets of the era are so hard to identify exactly. And that is why it is so important to furnish several different views of the bullets as well as width and height as well as weight if at all possible. The more information you are able to give, the more precisely the bullets can be identified. Monty

steelheadwill · Dec 13, 2010

that's a whole lotta lead :laughing7:

Silver Searcher · Dec 13, 2010

Sounds like we need a separate thread for this Monty :dontknow:

SS

Bigcypresshunter · Dec 13, 2010

Keep up the good work Monty.

Silver Searcher · Dec 13, 2010

I have some massive lead bullets, that could have been the type that were supplied for the CW, I will post some later :icon_thumleft:

SS

curbdiggercarl57 · Dec 13, 2010

Monty said:
Time after time I see suspected CW bullets posted in What Is It with just a picture and nothing else. Usually a person gets several answers and the true type of bullet is only marginally identified. So, this is why.

According to the book "Civil War Projectiles II" by McKee and Mason Jr, at the beginning of the war issued arms were scarce, especially in the south. Many soldiers furnished their own rifles and ammo until both the Union and the Confederacy began purchasing rifles and ammunition from abroad. Only in the later part of the war was guns and ammo pretty much standardized for both factions. They estimate, and have identified over 370 different types of firearms in 65 different calibers that were used in the Civil War. The calibers ran from .22 to .858 caliber. Also, during the war the Union purchased over one billion rounds of ammo in various calibers from countries abroad. The Condederacy purchased some 200 million rounds of ammo from over seas countries. This does not even take into account the millions of bullets that were produced by individuals or by armories of both sides.

So, that is why bullets of the era are so hard to identify exactly. And that is why it is so important to furnish several different views of the bullets as well as width and height as well as weight if at all possible. The more information you are able to give, the more precisely the bullets can be identified. Monty

You also didn't take in the account of poorly photographed and hand-drawn posted questions in regards to dug bullets. Kidding, kinda.
Damn fine explanation, very informative. Never heard of the .858 caliber, gonna Google that after this post. Might have to check on the book you mentioned, as well.
Carl

Montana Jim · Dec 13, 2010

Awesome Monty... great post, and, in the right area.

KJW · Dec 13, 2010

Hi Monty, I have what I think is a Civil War or Mexican War Solid Shot/Artillery Shell. I started a thread about a week ago on this forum and have not received many comments. Not even many guesses. I took plenty of pictures and described it well but still no comments. Is this because Solid Shots are harder to identify? Or do I need some other information? Thanks, Kris

Montana Jim · Dec 13, 2010

KJW said:
Hi Monty, I have what I think is a Civil War or Mexican War Solid Shot/Artillery Shell. I started a thread about a week ago on this forum and have not received many comments. Not even many guesses. I took plenty of pictures and described it well but still no comments. Is this because Solid Shots are harder to identify? Or do I need some other information? Thanks, Kris

I looked for hours online to match that arty shell... had no luck. :P

Breezie · Dec 13, 2010

Breezie

ModernMiner · Dec 14, 2010

Great info Monty. :thumbsup:

Thanks,
MM

Monty · Dec 14, 2010

KJW, the book I mentioned also had a section on CW artillery and I looked but could not find anything remotely like the pictures of your particular find. I saw some that were close, but they were just enough different to say they weren't the same. I don't know that much about artillery, but I imagine there were dozens of different types of cannon in the CW much the same as bullets. If it is from a Mexican cannon, I do not know of a source to ID it. You may have to do a lot of investigating on your own and even at that you may not ever definately find it. Monty

KJW · Dec 14, 2010

Monty said:
KJW, the book I mentioned also had a section on CW artillery and I looked but could not find anything remotely like the pictures of your particular find. I saw some that were close, but they were just enough different to say they weren't the same. I don't know that much about artillery, but I imagine there were dozens of different types of cannon in the CW much the same as bullets. If it is from a Mexican cannon, I do not know of a source to ID it. You may have to do a lot of investigating on your own and even at that you may not ever definately find it. Monty

Thanks Monty, I will move on to something else and let this go for a while. I appreciate all of the time you spent on it and hope I can help you out someday. I am going to start hunting the ground for buried treasures next year as soon as spring gets here. This site is pretty cool, I found the Meteorite Forum and can't wait to start searching for those and anything else cool I can find. :icon_thumright:

Kris

BioProfessor · Dec 16, 2010

I looked for the shell as well. I'm not sure it is a shell. It's hollow therefore it's not a solid shot. It's hollow to hold powder but no fuze that I could see so not a timed shell. With the side groves and the "decorative" top, it may be the doorstop.

Daryl