First Minnie Ball Ever Yesterday. & a few CW Questions.

[bonepicker]

My detecting buddy put me on a Civ Site yesterday, and I was finally able to find and dig a Minnie.
I ended up finding the 2 on the right and his are the 3 on the left. There were also a couple brass grommet rings found, from a possible tent/tarp/poncho. He actually found 9 to my 2, so I got skunked, but I didn't matter. I was really happy/grateful to have finally had the opportunity to pull one of those beauties from the earth.
Hats off to ya DD...

I have been keeping these on my desk, and it seems like the more I look at em, the more I notice each one has its own distinct characteristics. Some have wider rings, some are pointier or fatter at the top. Each one looks a little different to me.
Is it because they were made with different hand-made molds, or something else/?
Also seems like most of the ones he has, or we were finding were dropped. Any particular reason why were finding only drops, and no fired bullets? Was thinking maybe when the Armies sometimes move out, do they bury/discard ordinances, if they cannot pack it all out.?
There were 2 brass grommets found. The larger one has the number 4 stamped on it. Is this a possible period grommet?
Found one peculiar piece of melted lead in the same area. It is kind of shaped like an ear or a bean. Melted Minnie? Or discarded when they were possibly making bullets.
Any ID would be appreciated.

 

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[mirage83]

Congrats on your first CW-era minie. The first is always a thrill, then you try to find a different variety of one for your next first, and on and on. But it's a really nice collection of finds your friend put you onto, make sure you return the favor when you nail down a good site.

As to your questions, different foundries and different molds give individual runs of bullets different appearances, not including the nicks, dings, creases and other unique marks picked up when carried by a soldier and then after more than a century under the surface with rocks and other stuff. The bullet on the far left looks to have been rammed, maybe the one next to it as well though I can't tell for certain.

I myself have found more drops than fired rounds by far, not sure if that's the case with most relic hunters or not, but it's certainly true for me. To my mind, it's largely due to there being a lot more camp areas, and training areas, and routes of march than actual physical battlefields, so we're more likely to find drops which occurred anywhere there were troops than fired rounds from battle sites.

 

[Digging Deeper]

Yes I agree you need to hook your hunting buddy up with a great spot when you find one.

 

[parsonwalker]

Congrats on your first CW-era minie. The first is always a thrill, then you try to find a different variety of one for your next first, and on and on. But it's a really nice collection of finds your friend put you onto, make sure you return the favor when you nail down a good site.

As to your questions, different foundries and different molds give individual runs of bullets different appearances, not including the nicks, dings, creases and other unique marks picked up when carried by a soldier and then after more than a century under the surface with rocks and other stuff. The bullet on the far left looks to have been rammed, maybe the one next to it as well though I can't tell for certain.

I myself have found more drops than fired rounds by far, not sure if that's the case with most relic hunters or not, but it's certainly true for me. To my mind, it's largely due to there being a lot more camp areas, and training areas, and routes of march than actual physical battlefields, so we're more likely to find drops which occurred anywhere there were troops than fired rounds from battle sites.

I agree with everything Mirage said. Let me add more: Sometimes you can even identify the origin of bullets (Macon Arsenal, Washington Arsenal, Gardners, Georgia "teets" etc). It has been suggested to me that there was very LITTLE bullet-making by soldiers on campaign. I have found many pounds of melted lead, and I always attributed it to bullet making. But smarter relic hunters and historians tell me I'm wrong. Certainly there was SOME bullet making going on, especially by the guys who brought an odd-calibre musket from home. But I now believe these guys that almost never was anybody making 3 ringers and other common bullets in the field. In the first place, if they had no bullets, somebody would have to supply lead and black powder. If they could supply the troops with lead and black powder, they could almost as easily supply bullets (with powder casings attached). VERY few soldiers carried powder horns or flasks to HOLD the powder once dispensed. (Of course, there are exceptions to every rule) If these guys were carrying loose powder, their fire rate was about HALF anybody who had paper cartridges, and that's if they were REALLY good! Finally, in order to make bullets, you would have to have raw lead, an iron ladle to melt and pour the lead, and a bullet mold. All HEAVY for guys marching many miles a day. Then you still have the powder problem.

I now believe most melted lead is from soldiers tossing a bullet in the fire out of boredom. I have a few piles of melted lead with percussion caps stuck in it. No reason for percussion caps to be in melted lead from bullet making. Anyway, just a theory.

And as to your question about "drops" vs "fired." Mirage put it well. As for us, we hunt battlefields almost exclusively and so our experience is quite the opposite. I would guess we find 8 or 10 fired bullets for every drop we stumble across. So depends on the site. Nice lead, and I would venture a guess that bullets 1, 2 & 3 (from the left) are fired. It appears the rings are mashed. Far right is def dropped (Note pronounced rings) and the one next to it is prob dropped. Somebody will disagree with everything I just wrote, but thought I'd share from my basket of ignorance, as an old prof used to put it!

 

[trdking]

All that well said. There were over 1000 different varieties, variations and manufactures of bullets fired in the CW. It is vast and explains why you are finding so many variants.

Cheers

 

[cjon455]

beautiful pieces of CW lead!, very nice!

 

[Goldiver]

Congratulations on your first CW minie balls, and welcome to a new variation of the addiction!

Steve

 

[bonepicker]

Thanks for all of the great information guys.
Don't worry Digging D, you will be the first to know when I find a new hot site...

 

[Pointman]

I've not found as many fired as I have dropped bullets, but my first was a fired Union bullet at a battle site. I agree that there was very little bullet making going on. Also, some melted lead was because they were starting fires with the powder and it was probably was damp and it needed something to get it going.

I have a few carved pieces that were found in non-Civil War areas, but in those same areas I have found period bullets. I have some pieces that are pounded and look like bullets, but it is very hard to say. The only thing that makes them period is that they are "aged" like the bullets found there.