What period is my bullet from?

[Magonk]

Hello everyone - we are new to this site (this is our first post). My 23 year old daughter (the one actually typing this out) and I got really into metal detecting about a year and half ago and now we finally feel like we can make a post on here! It all started from a surprise Christmas gift from my daughter - an Ace 300. Ten months later I purchased an AT Pro and now my daughter uses the Ace. We are mainly relic hunters (yay history!). On a recent couple mile hike into the woods, my daughter dug up this bullet just a few yards away from where she found her first button on the previous trip (obviously she started to do a button dance - we kept saying, "it has to be something other than a shell casing eventually"). She actually thought the bullet was going to be a tin can because she had just dug one up not a foot away and the signal sounded the same and the machine's pinpointer thought it was another large target. But she was pleasantly surprised! When she first told me she had found a three-ringer, I assumed it was a more modern one like the one I'd recently found and didn't look at it right away. But then when she pulled it out a couple evenings later to show her mom, I noticed the large divot in the end and started to wonder if she had actually found something quite old and cool. As you can see, it is quite mangled, but we think there are three separate rings and grooves of a bulbous nature. We weighed it and it evened out at 27 grams. Any educated guesses on what it is? Obviously it's not actually from the Civil War, but could it possibly be from someone's musket someone brought back from the war? Or is it from a later time period? What would Aquachigger say? Let us know what you think. Thank you!

 

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[mirage83]

Not able to tell much about scale but in general terms it looks to be a dirt-impact .58 CW era 3-ringer. Always a nice find.

 

[smokeythecat]

I'm with mirage83. It looks like a fired Union Civil War period minie ball. After the war, lots of the rifles made it "home" and were used for hunting.

 

[Magonk]

As far as scale goes, mangled as it is, it is about the size of my thumb - knuckle up. Thank you for your input and response! It is very much appreciated!! Definitely happy to find it.

 

[Magonk]

Well awesome. Thank you very much for your response!

 

[Reanm8er]

Welcome Magonk! Concentrate more on the diameter of the base. It doesn't look like there's enough lead in the nose
for a 3 ringer. Could be a large caliber wadcutter or a shotgun slug. 27 Grams is over 400 grains. The popular unit
of bullet weight. That's a large projectile.

 

[Joe-Dirt]

Looking at the patina I’d say maybe not very old. .58 caliber minie balls come in a variety of sizes and are popular with black powder hunters up here in New England (I hunt with one) there is a 315, 345, 400, 435, 485, 500, 510 and 525 grain bullets you can buy molds for. I use a 315 grain “flower pot” wadcutter that still has three rings but a reduced size nose. But, you never know, it could be period, nice find!!!!!

 

[A2coins]

Welcome to the addiction great fun excersize cool coins relics and everything you can imagine great find
Hope to see more posts from you 2 this is a great site. Tommy

 

[Bodkin]

"What would Aquachigger say"? "Hold your breath"!

 

[Magonk]

Thank you everybody for your feedback. Though it is rather varied, it's still nice to be getting other people's opinions on it. And certainly, the more information the better for future references!

 

[Reanm8er]

Well said Magonk! I've found that whether or non it's valuable it's always fun. You get that little rise in your
pulse rate and then it's what, who, how and when. Ain't had so much fun since the hog ate my mother in law!