WOOHOO!!! First CW bullet!

[Nashvegas]

I have been detecting for about a month now, going out almost every day for a couple hours or so. My dream has been to find a civil war bullet because I am fascinated by the history of the civil war and I'm in Nashville where some decisive battles took place in the area. But so far I've just found clad, a couple cool older iron things like a horseshoe, and a couple wheats. Over the weekend my boys and I tried a baseball field and only found clad, but this morning I woke early and went there again by myself. Was getting signals jumping all around, so I just dug everything. Tons of old nails. Then this... and my heart literally stopped for a few seconds.



I am so thrilled. I can't believe my luck. I would love some help identifying the caliber. Here are pics with measurements.




I also found this earring and tiny pendant somewhat nearby. I'm thinking these are modern right?

 

[Busch0704]

So flippin awesome!!! Congrats...i too hope to find a CW bullet or rev war musket ball or the alike

Samsung S8+

 

[RVRoamer76]

Congrats on your CW bullet. A great find for anybody...very cool..

 

[Carolina Tom]

Congrats on your first three ringer. Those Northern scallywags dropped that one, whilst running from the men in gray coats!

Best of luck to you sir.

 

[relic nut]

Great find! You'll never forget your first. Looks like a 69 Cal Mini ball to me. If you can mic it with digital calipers then you can tell for sure. Looks right to me. Congratulations [emoji106]

HH, RN

 

[dirtlooter]

what a pretty one to find, congrats

 

[UnderMiner]

Congrats! Civil War bullets are really cool to find because you know the last person to hold them before you were the soldiers who were fighting the war!

 

[vpnavy]

I pulled this from another TN thread...

Civil War Bullet ID Chart (Sep 05, 2013)http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/civil-war/374406-civil-war-bullet-id-chart.html

 

[romeo-1]

Nice find...I still love finding old bullets like that!

 

[Nashvegas]

I think 69 caliber minie ball is probably right. Those .58 calibers look too narrow

 

[Davers]

Great find! You'll never forget your first. Looks like a 69 Cal Mini ball to me. If you can mic it with digital calipers then you can tell for sure. Looks right to me. Congratulations [emoji106]

HH, RN

It look's like a 'Big .69' to me as well , with a Neat looking Cavity 'gonna look closer at that one' ; Very nice patina as well.

Funny.....My first Civil War Bullet ( a-'Suspect' fired .31 cal was the first) but my first for Sure bullet was found on a Softball Field , it was a fired Williams Type 3 Cleaner W/O it's Zinc post.

You will always remember the First & of hopefully many more , You got a Nice 'First'.

P.S IMO your Jewelry pieces are modern .
Davers

 

[trapperart]

Congrats on the old bullet

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Congrats on your first CW bullet As others stated, it looks like a .69 caliber dropped. The calibers for Civil War bullets are in imperial values. So .69 Caliber is 0.69 inches wide. So best to measure them in inches and not in millimeters (unless you convert millimeters to inches after) After you dig a few more of them, the common widths like .45, .54 and .58 will be easier to eyeball. That .69 is a big bullet and it being dropped is a good sign, so hit that place hard.

 

[Daryn]

I have a question about CW bullets. I too have found a 3 ringer and some mini balls and I can close my eyes and picture some battle. My issue is that this type of ammo was used before, during and way after the CW for civilian use. How does one determine when and for what reason the ammo was used?

 

[Carolina Tom]

I have a question about CW bullets. I too have found a 3 ringer and some mini balls and I can close my eyes and picture some battle. My issue is that this type of ammo was used before, during and way after the CW for civilian use. How does one determine when and for what reason the ammo was used?

Minie is the last name of the French guy that invented the bullet... all three ringers are Minie balls.

These were NOT used much prior to the CW, and were not used afterwards. Minie balls are the quintessential CW relic. For the most part, they were only used to shoot people during the CW.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minié_ball

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/quintessential

I couldn't resist...

 

[Diggin Dude]

Wow! Awesome CW 3 ringer!! Still on my bucket list. Congrats and HH

 

[diggervet]

Great find, congratulations! you'll never forget your first one!

 

[sutphin]

69, 58, CW BULLET IS A NICE FIND.

 

[Kurios1]

That is one FINE specimen of an old white patina Civil War dropped bullet. Well done. Quintessential civil war relic.

 

[Nashvegas]

Thanks for all of the congrats, everyone. I've been thinking today that I've never quite felt the emotion I felt when I turned over the plug and sifted through and found the bullet shaped item and then quickly rubbed it off and realized it was a civil war bullet. The shock and awe, after finding mostly clad for my first 30 days of detecting, must be like when someone realizes they've got a winning lottery number. Of course, I wouldn't mind a winning lottery number too.