✅ SOLVED Is this a Nessler bullet? No clue on this one.

[FreeBirdTim]

Found this today in the middle of the woods. Thought it was a .69 caliber musket ball, until I cleaned it up. It has a hole in the base, so it's definitely not a musket ball! The only bullet I could find that was this short with a hole in the base is a Nessler bullet. Is that what it is?

This bullet almost looks like a walnut. It's short and rough on top and out of round. It obviously hit a target, so I can't really measure it accurately due to the distortion of the bullet.

Any help would be appreciated. If it isn't a Nessler, throw some ideas at me. Thanks!

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

It is a fired "rifled" shotgun slug, from sometime in the 1900s. Your base-view photo of it shows the deep base-cavity with very thick walls, and the "multiple" rifling-ridges are visible on the outer edge. The photo below shows one of the modern varieties of rifled-shotgun slugs, made by Remington.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Thank you for the quick ID! I never would have guessed that. I've found at least 100 shotgun shells, but never a slug. I learn something new every time I come here! Thanks again for your help.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

You're welcome.

I forgot to mention, here is why your fired shotgun slug "looks like a walnut":
It smacked into a treetrunk and the toxic Lead Oxide which formed on the slug intruded a little bit into the tree's wood. Lead Oxide is so toxic to micro-organisms that it killed any bacteria which would usually have eaten the wood as the tree rotted -- which preserved the wood touching the bullet. You've found what we civil war relic diggers call a "fired bullet in wood." Those are scarce, but we do find them occasionally, especially in swamps or "low ground."