✅ SOLVED Projectile or Something Else?

[Bumpy Road]

Found this item that looks like large caliber ammo, but might be something else. It is solid steel, is 3.25" long and .75" diameter, has a .5" deep hole (non-threaded) in the base and is heavy. Very fine striations in the body looks like it could have been machined. Any ideas?

 

[huntsman53]

Definitely not a bullet or a detonator pin on the front end of an Artillery Shell as neither would have a gear on the them!


Frank

 

[4x4x4]

.....Geeze , I know I've seen one like it. First thought was a hydraulic shuttle (valve) with the O ring land at the end....a spring would be in the hole to take it to the manifold valve and the pointy end might be the area a operators handle might engage(it's worn)..the"gear"Is A Water Drain gutter lining up to a hole in the host body..... whew ! Simply a guess . Hope someone has a better idea.
Mark.

......not finding any in ancient tractor parts.....sorry.
M.

 

[Oddjob]

It is the bit to a Ditch Witch.

10 years ago I found many of these just like the one in the picture; they would change them out about every 2 kilometers and just leave them right on teh ground. You could pick up about 90 of these every two miles.

Then once they got into some much softer stone they switched over to a lead bit, again you would find them about every 2 clicks or so but about 200 at the time.

The cable route went through about 70 kilometers of forest, the machine was cutting a channel about 2 foot wide and 14 feet deep.

Bits steel bits all total only landed me about 1400 Euro in scrap, the lead ones however brought in a ton of money.

I would suggest that where ever you found that used one you should consider looking around for more, or look for a path that would show signs of a large machine having though the area. Has there been any major cable laying in the area, or perhaps a large pipes laid.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Oddjob seems pretty sure that it is a Ditch Witch bit... but I have to say, it has several very-specific characteristics of a 20th-Century "minigun" cannon projectile. The flat tipped nose is an armor-punching form, the 1/2-inch deep hole in the base would be for the Tracer chemical, the "knurled" (having multiple parrallel ridges) groove would be where a (present when manufactured but now missing) copperbrass sabot/driving-band gripped the projectile's body, and the rounded groove just above the base would be where a metallic propellant-powder cartridge was crimped onto the projectile's body. Perhaps those four characteristics are just coincidental... but I can't help but wonder what the purpose of each of those four characteristics is on a Ditch Witch bit. Anybody got any photos showing one of those bits "in place" on a Ditch Witch? We're all still learning something new every day in this forum.

The photo below shows an artillery projectile with its copperbrass sabot/driving-band nestled in the wide groove, and the cartridge-crimping groove just above the projectile's base.

 

[taz42o]

Sure not like any trencher tooth ive seen , also never heard of a lead trencher tooth.

 

[Bumpy Road]

My first inclination on this was an artillery projectile, as it certainly has many of the characteristics. This was found on an old farm dating back to the 1800's in the adirondack mountains in northern NY, so I am more inclined to think it may be tractor or farm related as suggested by "4x4x4". Dont there was any ditch witching going on here at this location, plus it doesn't look like any bit pictures I have seen. Could be something else entirely. Thanks to those who have responded so far.

 

[DCMatt]

Oddjob is on it.


It's a bullet bit from a trencher.

 

[Icewing]

While I'm not sure of its ID, if it seems exceedingly heavy for its size it's likely tungsten

 

[NOLA_Ken]

Not a bit for a ditch witch, it is an unfinished 20mm solid shot tracer projectile. The "gear" section is where the driving band would be if it had been installed. The "teeth" are to grip the band and keep it from slipping in the rifling of the barrel.

These were lathe turned which is what the striations in the body are from, if it had been finished those striations would have been polished down a bit and the "nub" on the tip would have been milled to a point or flat and the band installed, as well as a tracer element in the base. it would likely have looked like this finished :

 

[Bumpy Road]

Thanks NOLA_Ken, you nailed it!