✅ SOLVED Old shotgun slug - Civil War era?

[DCMatt]

Found this slug in Virginia near a major CW battlefield. At first I thought it was pulled. After cleaning it looks made that way. It has a very nice white patina like the CW bullets dug around Virginia so it has been in the ground a long time.

I can't match it to the CW. Now I'm thinking early 20th C shotgun slug. 20 gauge?

Can someone confirm or deny?



Thx

DCMatt

 

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[Ant]

I'm a modern day rifleman, that doesn't look like a shotgun slug. Shotgun slugs do not have a hollow as deep as that, and they donthave a hollow point hole that looks like that, and a 12 gague bore is for the mst part .500 (1/2"), 20 gague is smaller than a 20 gahue. It could be a cleaner ball (bullet) .

 

[Ant]

I'm a modern day rifleman, that doesn't look like a shotgun slug. Shotgun slugs do not have a hollow as deep as that, and they don't have a hollow point hole that looks like that, and a 12 gague bore is for the most part .500 (1/2"), 20 gague is smaller than a 12 gague. It could be a cleaner ball (bullet) .

 

[gunsil]

I'm a modern day rifleman, that doesn't look like a shotgun slug. Shotgun slugs do not have a hollow as deep as that, and they don't have a hollow point hole that looks like that, and a 12 gague bore is for the most part .500 (1/2"), 20 gague is smaller than a 12 gague. It could be a cleaner ball (bullet) .

12 guage is most certainly not .500" it is .729", and I used to shoot .69 round balls from my 14 guage muzzle loading shotgun and they fit perfectly.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Agreed on the 12 bore being 0.729" (12 round lead balls to the pound). 20 bore (20 to the pound) is 0.615"

I know slugs existed prior to the rifled (modern) variety but I can't come up with a time-line. You can still buy molds for smooth slugs.



I defer to the CW projectile guys. WAYYYY more intricate than my reference and memory includes.

 

[Red James Cash]

Its a fairly modern slug,before there were slugs there were what was called pumpkin balls.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...RwXS1ObBO53mgASSiRyOZA&bvm=bv.102022582,d.cGU

 

[Dr. Syn]

Went to look at the Pumpkin ball and what do you know? Right beside it was listed a Foster slug.

Looks just like the one in the first post. Well, a little cleaner.

Foster Slug 12ga .678 375gr (25/pk)-Ballistic Products

 

[Ant]

I should have written that without a Federal permit only .500 Caliber projectiles are legal for centerfier rifles. I though that applied to centerfire shotgun slugs and sabots too.

 

[releventchair]

Went to look at the Pumpkin ball and what do you know? Right beside it was listed a Foster slug.

Looks just like the one in the first post. Well, a little cleaner.

Foster Slug 12ga .678 375gr (25/pk)-Ballistic Products

I looked up Greener and Norton pre mini ball projectiles.
Pumpkin/round balls and the evolution to Foster's. Some turned rounds too from the civil war, smooth ,no rings.
You go and turn up what appears a near match with an fancy style foster! Despite it's recent "improved" state I'd bet it has a history.
Good job..
Keep yer stuffin dry.

 

[Tedyoh]

It's an old shotgun slug, probably a paper cartridge, the manufacture added the "grooves" into the slug to impart spin on the slug for smooth bore shotgun barrels - this was done, obviously, before rifled shotgun barrels were invented. The groves on your slug were not made from the gun barrel.