Sinker? or smething else?

[snaps]

Hi everybody, sorry for the lousy pics, looks like the soldier fashioned a hole directly on top, stuck some material down, and "crimped" it in. Can't tell what is made of could be leather. I've found fairly obvious field- made sinkers before, but not like this. Thanks an happy hunting snaps

 

[sawmill man]

Well ,that is interesting.

 

[relic nut]

Cool find! Carved lead is one of a kind. No telling what he was thinking.

 

[what]

Total longshot but this reminded me of something I read about ages ago and have not been able to find a good citation besides one guy's forum posts...so take it with a giant grain of salt. Wrong end of the bullet too but its all I can come up with.

Now, if you're talking an incendiary round (that may perform sometimes like a tracer), it's turpentine soaked cotton that is stuffed into the bottom of the minie ball. When my book is released, it will be in chapter 13.

Finally one Confederate figured out to put a bit of turpentine soaked cotton into the base of his minie ball. He fired it into the cotton and after a while, it smoldered. Other men joined in and despite the Union soldiers' best efforts to extinguish it, their cotton clad car caught fire.

Edit: Found a couple more sources...just had the wrong search terms I guess. This thread seems to have the original source cited: https://civilwartalk.com/threads/confederate-incendiary-bullets.131413/ Pg247-248: https://archive.org/stream/asouthernrecord00tunngoog#page/n248/

 

[sawmill man]

Just thinking here but it could be a homemade watch fob or end for a drawstring the guy made.

 

[snaps]

Thanks for replies Relic nut I agree its hard to beat a carved bullet its either artwork or a mystery or both, What that is awsome! Never heard of that before, Sawmill I like your thinking those are solid possibilities I hadn't thought of.... Snaps