Old lead bullets ? How old ?

[pl8man]

Hey everyone ,
My Son and I found these last summer up in the Sierras . The area dates back to WWI . Anyone know how old and what type ?
Thank you for your help
Glen & Carson Davis

 

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[kuger]

Thats hard to say,gonna need some more details.I would venture to say they arent antiques

 

[DigginThePast]

Yeah, will need at least the diameter.

I'm thinking various .38 specials though.

 

[pl8man]

Here is another picture showing it's about a 1/4 inch wide .
Thanks
Glen

 

[ivan salis]

those are about 3/8th in size -- .375 of a inch --so 38 cal roughly

2 flat ended types are wadcutter style --the other pointed one is "round nose" type.

38 cal revolver type pistols were common during the WW1 era and still are today --its a highly popular pistol round --hard to date them time frame wize exactly due to their being used back then as well as currently.

 

[DigginThePast]

Ivan is spot on.

 

[MitchelN]

I have found some old bullets in the Santa Clarita area in the Los Angeles National Forrest. Can anyone give me any idea about these?

 

[ivan salis]

yes see the one in the photo above the "3" inch mark --it has a hollow base and 3 closely spaced "gas seal rings" around it --commonly called a "3 ringer" * its a old black powder type round that has this design so that the gasses expanded the outer rim of the bullet to make a good gas seal * told style blaclkpowder was much slower burning than todays "hotter & faster burning higher pressure " smokeless powders -- so it was vital that you got a good "expanding gas seal at the bullets rear end-- newer modern type bullets often have a soid base and copper jacketing to prevent lead fouling.

 

[MitchelN]

Thank you. I didn't realize the pictures were so bad. That is actually the bullet that I was wondering about because it was hollow under. I have found some other bullets in Arizona around Rich Hill that had a hollowness to them also. Many of these bullets in these pictures 'pooled' together in a dry wash coming down a steep slope. I dug several pieces that had collected together but there wasn't a gold nugget with any of them but where there is trash there is potential treasure! Thanks for the prompt reply. I grew up near you in North Florida. Did you ever shoot Olustee?

 

[IndianaM]

The bullet on the right may be of interest to you since it looks to be of a similar type, and it is marked 1906 on the bottom, so that might give you a hint of a possible date on your bullets. I've seen bullets from the 1850s to the early 1900s of the same type, but never anything older. However, then I haven't really looked for anything older.

 

[ivan salis]

casing marked 30 06 -- was original for the military 30 cailber - 1906 springfeild bolt action rifle * thus 30 ( caliber ) - (19) 06 -- 30 - 06 -- thirty- ought six

 

[Monty]

Just for the record, all flatnosed bullets aren't wadcatter bullets, nor are the ones in question here. A wadcutter bullet is completely flat all the way across the diameter of the nose of the bullet. The bullets in question here are of what is commonly called a "Keith " style bullet, or semi-watcutter, and the flattened area on the nose is designed to create a larger wound cavity than on a regular round nose bullet. Also, some lever action rifles required a flattened nose on their bullets to prevent a "chain fire" in the tube magizine of the rifles. A sharp nosed bullet was found to move forward during recoil and hit the cartridge in front of it and cause it to fire in the magazine. Monty