Need help with a bullet I.D.

[matt092079]

Hello all, I have a bullet that i'd like to have an I.D. on. I've been detecting this CW campsite area and in one corner of the field there is LOADS of spencer carbine bullets along with a couple other smaller callibur bullets. BUT walking out of that corner to the next corner I find a whole bunch of colt pistol bullets and then there is another bullet I find in this section. It's never oxidized white like the others, but it's silver/gray instead. The photo is below. I wonder why in such a short distance there is different types of bullets found...hardly no spencers are found. It's prob. the length of maybe 2 football fields or better from one end to the other. Just kinda weird to me!

I have a comparison of the bullet with a spencer and a colt.

 

[flyinryan2]

I found two of those one on my last hunt there hope we can find out what they are. Pictured right. it still has some of the caseing on it.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Matt and Flyinryan, your find is a Burnside .54 Carbine bullet. That bullet's brass casing was rather thin, so it is almost always dug with little or none of its casing remaining.

Matt mentioned its grey patina, "not oxidized white like the others." That is because Burnside bullets were made of a mixture of lead with a little antimony, so they would be harder than a pure-lead bullet. Only pure-lead bullets get the white oxidation.

 

[matt092079]

Thanks for the I.D.! Is that why they seem to be a bit more lightweight than the others?

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

The Burnside bullet contained only a very small amount of antimony in the lead, not enough to make a "significant" difference in the bullet's weight. The main reason the Spencer bullet is heavier is that it is longer than the Burnside. According to the book "A Handbook of Civil War bullets & Cartridges", the length of an uncorroded Burnside bullet is .80-inch, and an uncorroded Spencer bullet's length is .92-inch.

By the way, I thought you might like to see a complete Burnside cartridge, so you will recognize the casing if you dig one. The specimen in the photo is "non-dug" condition ...and very unfortunately, somebody has recently shined up the brass casing -- which makes it look like a modern-made Reproduction.

 

[matt092079]

Thanks bud. That's a very interesting cartridge. I mean to each their own on cleaning things, but I personally love the aged look over the new look.

 

[flyinryan2]

Matt and Flyinryan, your find is a Burnside .54 Carbine bullet. That bullet's brass casing was rather thin, so it is almost always dug with little or none of its casing remaining.

Matt mentioned its grey patina, "not oxidized white like the others." That is because Burnside bullets were made of a mixture of lead with a little antimony, so they would be harder than a pure-lead bullet. Only pure-lead bullets get the white oxidation.

Thanks TheCannonballGuy, Its fun learning about the finds.