Indian wars projectiles ID needed....lead shot and cartridge cases

[jagdpolizei]

Hello......I am new to this site and relatively new to detecting, however have become addicted to this hobby. I just have a couple of questions regarding my finds. I found a gilt military button and the 5 'round' shot in the same 5 square foot spot. The lead composition shot were all scattered in the same 2' area and look exactly alike. The 2 copper cartridge cases were found nearby and spec. out to 50-70; however they are missing the heads/rims.....the other 2 slugs are typical 45-70 fired slugs.
My questions: 1) the lead round 'shot' are all elongated and have multiple sprue-like flats about each ball......were they just bad cast attempts or were they fired as canister shot causing the flats as the rounds compressed during firing?? See pics.....wondering if anyone else has found lead shot/round balls like this? 2) never seen the cartridge cases missing the heads/rims and wondering if anyone else has recovered the copper shells like this? Could Nat. Americans have altered them as jewelry? Any examples or ideas? See pics.,....thanks so much in advance for any help

 

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[TheCannonballGuy]

Answering your quetions:
1- Yes, we civil war relic diggers occasionally find fired Case-Shot and Canister balls which were "compressed" against each other by firing or explosive blast, causing flat-spots on them. About the ones you found being "elongated"... unlike musketballs/pistolballs, Case-Shot and Canister balls didn't need to be super-carefully manufactured as a perfectly-spherical shape. So, often, they were out-of-round.

2- The approximately .50-inch diameter "headless" casings you found could be .50 Maynard casings which have lost the base-disc that was soldered onto the bottom of Maynard casings. If that's what they are, there will be a pinhole in the center of the casing's bottom.

 

[jagdpolizei]

Answering your quetions:
1- Yes, we civil war relic diggers occasionally find fired Case-Shot and Canister balls which were "compressed" against each other by firing or explosive blast, causing flat-spots on them. About the ones you found being "elongated"... unlike musketballs/pistolballs, Case-Shot and Canister balls didn't need to be super-carefully manufactured as a perfectly-spherical shape. So, often, they were out-of-round.

2- The approximately .50-inch diameter "headless" casings you found could be .50 Maynard casings which have lost the base-disc that was soldered onto the bottom of Maynard casings. If that's what they are, there will be a pinhole in the center of the casing's bottom.

Very good info....will be looking at these items with this is mind......thanks a bunch

 

[vpnavy]

Simply amazing how someone on TN can (and will) identify just about anything posted - amazing!