Found a rare .58 Caliber Gardiner Exploding Bullet

Fullstock

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Oct 14, 2012
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A friend took me to one of his spots today. The place had been hit pretty hard over the years, but it had never been hit with the XP Deus. Didn’t find a lot, but what we did find was deep (12” or more) and I managed to find this exploding bullet. That sure made my day.
 

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Upvote 40

Rhapsody

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They were only made for a short time and only issued to a few units, the soldiers thought they were too brutal to be used against the enemy.
nice find! yeah there was some brutal stuff in the early days of the war found some wicked brass knuckles (broken unfortunately) in Centerville, Va and scrapped them due to ignorance never knew they had em in the war until was too late oh well such is life happy hunting.
 

UnderMiner

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Never knew there was such a thing back then; interesting. Congrats!
They were only used on a very limited basis, Gettysburg and Vicksburg were really the only two places they can be found in any quantity, other than these two battle sites they are very rare to find. Apparently both sides agreed they were too immoral to use.
 

Digger RJ

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A friend took me to one of his spots today. The place had been hit pretty hard over the years, but it had never been hit with the XP Deus. Didn’t find a lot, but what we did find was deep (12” or more) and I managed to find this exploding bullet. That sure made my day.
Very Cool!!! Congrats!!!
 

metrotec

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I think I read years ago that both sides N & S, agreed not to use them after Bull Run.
Great find!!!
Anyone ever find a "catch me grenade"? That's the Holy Grail of ammunition.
 

devldog

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Mar 9, 2012
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Yes sir, down here they are a more rare find than the regular 3 ring Minnie's you find. Out of all the bullets I've dug over the years I have found very few Gardiner bullets.
 

OP
OP
Fullstock

Fullstock

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I think I read years ago that both sides N & S, agreed not to use them after Bull Run.
Great find!!!
Anyone ever find a "catch me grenade"? That's the Holy Grail of ammunition.
Yes metrotec, I’ve also heard both sides disliked them.
 

JohnnyMac

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A friend took me to one of his spots today. The place had been hit pretty hard over the years, but it had never been hit with the XP Deus. Didn’t find a lot, but what we did find was deep (12” or more) and I managed to find this exploding bullet. That sure made my day.
Brutal but interesting piece of history
 

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