Quick! Re-Patina of Civil War Era Bullets

[Davers]

I was digging some minie Ball's yesterday-( large Coils in trashy areas Don't pin-point well), Daaaaaa.
&
I managed to graze a couple of the minies with my shovel , and i,m wondering 'other than re-burying them for another 150 years.
If there is a "Quick" way of making the fresh Grey marks ,match the patina on the rest of the
bullets.
They are small marks ' if the shovel was 1 centimeter away the minie's would not have been touched.

I thought about a dab of 'flat white/ Bone paint but don't know.

I,m aware that I worry too much but these minies came from a new Site & would like them to
look good in a display with the couple other minies from that Site.
Thanks for any help....

The OCD Perfectionist Davers..............

 

[Davers]

I think Ill Spray Paint All My Minies/ Round Balls White ,So they will have the LOOK I desire.

 

[Jason in Enid]

They aren't going to look right and will look like complete fakes. You are better off leaving the marks.

 

[Davers]

They aren't going to look right and will look like complete fakes. You are better off leaving the marks.

Was only kidding about the paint.
Actually everybody tells me that worrying about the little stuff is going to kill me.

Ill just rebury 'such' minies in the garden and check on them every few years.

 

[Diver_Down]

Was only kidding about the paint.
Actually everybody tells me that worrying about the little stuff is going to kill me.

Ill just rebury 'such' minies in the garden and check on them every few years.

Davers - here is to your continued health. I had a thought that if you were unable to recover the relics that a future dectectorist will uncover them and suspect CW activity in their backyard. That future detectorist will go crazy researching CW activity trying to pinpoint their newly found relics with possible CW activity.

 

[Davers]

Davers - here is to your continued health. I had a thought that if you were unable to recover the relics that a future dectectorist will uncover them and suspect CW activity in their backyard. That future detectorist will go crazy researching CW activity trying to pinpoint their newly found relics with possible CW activity.

I hear ya.
I have come across a few CW Bullets over the years in unexpected places , making me wonder if they were once given to someone ( A kid) then lost in their yard , you never know.

I actually stuck it in a potted plant , hmmm ---Witch one ...Oh yeah the Maple Tree.
Found new things to worry about now, think my Xanax has Quit working

Off topic but My Mom & Grand Farther Grew up in Platka Fl, and are Buried there.
St. Augustine is a beautiful Place.
Davers

 

[Slingshot]

Battery acid from an old car battery will oxidize lead, be careful!

 

[gunsil]

Davers - here is to your continued health. I had a thought that if you were unable to recover the relics that a future dectectorist will uncover them and suspect CW activity in their backyard. That future detectorist will go crazy researching CW activity trying to pinpoint their newly found relics with possible CW activity.

After the war the military switched to breech loading weapons and most of the muzzle loaders were sold off as surplus and used by civilian hunters for years, right up to the end of the century in some poorer rural ares. CW style minie balls are found all over the country, I think most veteran MDers know this and have found them far from any battlefields. When I was a kid I bought some dug .69 round balls and shot them from my 14 Ga. muzzle loading shotgun. (that was so long ago I also bought US oval dug belt plates for three dollars each). Davers, I have minies I cast 30 years ago and I coated them in mutton tallow mixed with beeswax like they did long ago, and they are now showing some white patina. Maybe just try some bacon fat on scratches for a while.

 

[Davers]

Thanks for your time & info

After the war the military switched to breech loading weapons and most of the muzzle loaders were sold off as surplus and used by civilian hunters for years, right up to the end of the century in some poorer rural ares. CW style minie balls are found all over the country, I think most veteran MDers know this and have found them far from any battlefields. When I was a kid I bought some dug .69 round balls and shot them from my 14 Ga. muzzle loading shotgun. (that was so long ago I also bought US oval dug belt plates for three dollars each). Davers, I have minies I cast 30 years ago and I coated them in mutton tallow mixed with beeswax like they did long ago, and they are now showing some white patina. Maybe just try some bacon fat on scratches for a while.

Yea I often wondered how long folk used 3 Ring & Ball type bullets after the war, as I have found a few 'dropped & Fired ' off the main path.
I suppose Spencers & Henry's Were used even longer.

It seems the Shotgun was the Preferred Weapon of the late 1800 and early 1900's as their Brass hulls are everywhere. What type of "Shot" was mostly used I don't know.

On the patina subject , I was a the lake a while back and notice many of the more modern 'Sinkers'
were starting to show the white-ish look , So I been thinking about getting a small bucket of that lake water & mud to keep the Scratched Minies In .
Oh well Time will eventually do the Job , as you said.

p.s I also have an older friend who said " I should have bought 100 of those Breast, US type plates when they were $10 each."

Enjoy the New Year
Davers