✅ SOLVED Is this a bullet?

[Sager8130]

Is this a bullet? - SOLVED

I'm new to metal detecting and have found it to be a great way to spend time with my 7 year old son and also a very exciting hobby. I've found a few things, a couple of cheap rings, some modern coins, and some other junk, but this has me puzzled.

I live in Southern Maine on land that used to be used for just about everything from farming, to logging and granite cutting. There has also been a lot of hunting on this land. The ground has just thawed out enough to be able to dig in some places so my son and I got out on our property with the metal detector for the first time on Saturday for about an hour.

Right on the side of the main trail not to far in we found this piece of what I believe is lead. My first thought was that it was a fired bullet but it seems like it could be a musket ball or something. It has some rough scratch marks on it and looks like the could be a seam in it too.

Does anyone know what this is?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

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[GMD52]

It looks to me like a fired round ball from a blackpowder rifle. They usually will mushroom in that fashion. Looking at it in reference to the penny, it could be a 40 or 45 caliber.

 

[Sager8130]

It looks to me like a fired round ball from a blackpowder rifle. They usually will mushroom in that fashion. Looking at it in reference to the penny, it could be a 40 or 45 caliber.

Thanks for the quick reply. Any idea how old that might make it? It was caked with dirt and very dark so I washed it with an old toothbrush.

 

[BosnMate]

It looks to me like a fired round ball from a blackpowder rifle. They usually will mushroom in that fashion. Looking at it in reference to the penny, it could be a 40 or 45 caliber.

I'll add that it will be very hard to tell how old it is, because there was a resurgence of interest in shooting and hunting with round ball muzzleloaders, especially about the time of the bicentennial in 1976. So unless there is a very thick white patina on the lead, you really don't know how old it is. I have recovered lead balls out of deer that I shot that look just like yours, so that ball hit something quite hard, probably close range, like 25 to 50 yards.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Muzzleloaders never went out of production in some areas. I hunt deer and grouse with flintlocks still. And after five or six years in the ground - depending on the soil - a pure lead projectile will be covered in lead oxide patina. You have to judge the age by what is found nearby.

But remember, a ball will bury itself if it has energy left on the trip earthward.

 

[Sager8130]

Thanks every one. I did some searching through Google images and found pictures of fired round balls that look almost exactly like what I have found. I also know that one of my neighbors who has lived here for a long time is a muzzleloading enthusiast. So, I think it's safe to say that I've recovered a fired ball from a muzzleloader that was probably fired sometime in the last 30 - 40 years. The next time I see him I'll ask him if he's ever shot round balls before.

Looking forward to getting out on the rest of the probably to see what else I can find. I'm sure I'll be back soon with something else I can't identify.