Real bullet or toy bullet? - UPDATE

[Jaichim24]

I found this at a house that dates to the 1860's, it's also on a main road, so it has produced older relics. It doesn't seem like the shell is made out of brass, but almost pot metal. Not sure if that comes through in the pictures. It does seem to have a lead bullet on the top. It is a "hollow point" not sure if they had those back then. The bottom has a hole it in that seems too small for a percussion cap. As you can see from the pictures there is now a hole going from the top all the way out through the bottom. I thought I remember that there used to be pin fired bullets? The other thing that strikes something in my memory is the over all shape of the bullet, it is wider up at the top by the bullet and more narrow at the base. It reminds me of an old bullet but I can't date it.

I'd like help determining if this is real or a fake/toy bullet. I would also like to try and date it if possible.

Thanks in advance for the assistance.

UPDATE ****See my last post, found something similar, what do you think?

 

[willie d]

Re: Real bullet or toy bullet?

It doesn't look like any bullet that I've ever seen.

Maybe an older torch tip?

 

[Rasputin]

Re: Real bullet or toy bullet?

It looks like a morse taper to me.

 

[Broken knee]

Re: Real bullet or toy bullet?

Not a bullet, it seams to be made out of pot metal or pewter.
Broken Knee

 

[sniffer]

Re: Real bullet or toy bullet?

are you sure it's not a plumb bob?

 

[NHBandit]

Re: Real bullet or toy bullet?

Does the hole in the "bullet" end go all the way through ? Ballpoint pen or mechanical pencil comes to mind. About the one thing I am sure of is that's it's not a bullet.

 

[Jaichim24]

Re: Real bullet or toy bullet?

The hole goes all the way through, 2nd and 3rd to last pictures should demostrate that.

If it's not a real bullet could it have been a toy one? It's pretty heavy.

I don't think it is a plumb bob or the end of a torch.

It was definately manufactured so that you'd see a difference in the tip (that looks like a bullet)

This is really bugging me, I feel I should know what this is!

Thanks again all for looking and providing feedback.

Jai

 

[watercolor]

Re: Real bullet or toy bullet?

Looks like a toy, pot-metal bullet from the Early 1960's (missing the brass shell casing).

The brass casing was about half the size of the core (note the stepped taper on the core).

Back then, kids would put a round cap, similar to Mattel's "Greenie Stick-um Caps", inside the brass casing.
The hollowed-out core (which you have) would force the smoke from the fired cap out the end of the barrel
for a more realistic effect.

I had a cap pistol that used these types of bullets when I was a kid. . . it was always a bear to scrape the
fired caps/residue out of those brass cases :P

(BTW, that pointed tip to the left of the "bullet" might be a target arrow tip)

 

[Jaichim24]

If you go to this website, you can see a bullet similar to mine.

http://www.nps.gov/history/seac/mc-archweb/ch5/index.htm

Here's the pic from the website, you can tell what I was thinking of. I know someone posted that they had the same type of toy bullet as a kid, but I found this and thought I would share and see what you all though.

So to sum, it appears to be a "burnside cartridge" (at least the shape), whether it is real or a toy I'm still not sure.

Jai