Missouri_John
New member
Another day at the civil war camp i've been hunting for a while. The finds are getting harder and harder to get, but i managed a .69 caliber 3 ringer and a bunch of nails
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Today's Civil War camp finds
- Thread starter Missouri_John
- Start date
I often wonder about all those found bullets..
I assume those are ones that missed, being they
aren't distorted much.. :/
I don't seem to see many squished up bullets, which
leads me to believe most that found their mark, stayed
put..
I bet those rusty nails hit like hot quarters, half dollars...
Rust is usually real conductive.
MK
I assume those are ones that missed, being they
aren't distorted much.. :/
I don't seem to see many squished up bullets, which
leads me to believe most that found their mark, stayed
put..
I bet those rusty nails hit like hot quarters, half dollars...
Rust is usually real conductive.
MK
Missouri_John
New member
this was a camp site i was detecting at, so the bullets i've found were dropped
[size=small]Yeah. As most undoubtedly know, the bullet part of the rifle load was a loose item. Normally, there was a paper cylinder full of the powder charge, wrapped much like a cigarrette, with the bullet tied to the top by string. This made up the "cartridge," 4.5" long or so, with the bottom end twisted and folded over to make a tail of paper. The "gov'ment cartridges" were bound, tied top and bottom with string. These "rounds" would be carried bullet down, in a cartridge box - a block of wood with 20 of the correct sized holes drilled in it. This was encased in a leather pouch and carried on the waist belt.
But, supplies were not always good and often a soldier had to make up his own cartridges from loose components while in camp. This was a serious occupation for the encamped trooper, one he didnt avoid doing - which is why camp finds usually include unfired bullets. These are the un-distorted, fully-formed bullets you'll often find in CW camps. Too, sometimes they were forced to cast their own bullets and large camps or those that existed for more than a few days usually hold lead "lumps" from bullet casting operations and half formed bullets from poor casts, as well.
Sometimes, they didnt always have the time to do even these critical tasks, say, if they were on the run. In that case, although it wasnt preferred, they used loose components in battle. This was especially so for the Seccesionist soldiers. As the war ground on in the later years, they had a hard time just getting supplies and found themselves on the run more and more.
Either way, in a cold winters camp or in the heat of battle, it was easy to get the "dropsies" and lose a bullet or two.
Fired bullets are easy to tell, too, as they bear the impressions of the lands and grooves from the rifling in the weapons barrel. And dont think for a moment that all the bullets fired found their mark. For each bullet fired at the enemey, there were many that went astray, to lodge in trees or the earth. These normally show pretty severe distortion - "squished" and almost crumpled looking.
Finally, there is a third category of bullet - the ones that found their mark.
A .50-.60 caliber bullet of pure lead is as large as your thumb from the middle joint out. It wasnt fast, 1500-1800 fps. But, it carried unbelievable penetrating power. It would smash into the body of its victim and jackhammer its way through any bone it encountered, smashing it to pieces as it passed.
Soft tissue was pummeled with the hydrostatic shock of the projectile, turning it to hamburger in an instant.
Either way the hapless soldier who was shot was badly injured, real quick.
Instantaneous tissue and bone destruction, subsequent massive blood loss and the rapid onset of shock were the inevitable outcome. The lucky ones were hit in the arm or leg...what was left of those could be hacked off by the sawbones and you might stand a chance with the remainder of your limb. If infection and gangrene didnt kill you first, that is.
The unlucky ones were torso shot, punctured through and through - opened up, in most cases. Death came fairly quickly, with blood loss being the main killer, although a man could linger for some time in the mud created by his own blood and bile before expiring.
The bullet, for its part in this grisly work, USUALLY went on through by its own massive momentum and fell to earth down range. These are found, distorted, particulary with only the nose deformed from bone impact, rifling grooves standing out prominently.[/size]
[size=small]"It is the curse of War that old men start them, while young men fight and die in them."[/size]
But, supplies were not always good and often a soldier had to make up his own cartridges from loose components while in camp. This was a serious occupation for the encamped trooper, one he didnt avoid doing - which is why camp finds usually include unfired bullets. These are the un-distorted, fully-formed bullets you'll often find in CW camps. Too, sometimes they were forced to cast their own bullets and large camps or those that existed for more than a few days usually hold lead "lumps" from bullet casting operations and half formed bullets from poor casts, as well.
Sometimes, they didnt always have the time to do even these critical tasks, say, if they were on the run. In that case, although it wasnt preferred, they used loose components in battle. This was especially so for the Seccesionist soldiers. As the war ground on in the later years, they had a hard time just getting supplies and found themselves on the run more and more.
Either way, in a cold winters camp or in the heat of battle, it was easy to get the "dropsies" and lose a bullet or two.
Fired bullets are easy to tell, too, as they bear the impressions of the lands and grooves from the rifling in the weapons barrel. And dont think for a moment that all the bullets fired found their mark. For each bullet fired at the enemey, there were many that went astray, to lodge in trees or the earth. These normally show pretty severe distortion - "squished" and almost crumpled looking.
Finally, there is a third category of bullet - the ones that found their mark.
A .50-.60 caliber bullet of pure lead is as large as your thumb from the middle joint out. It wasnt fast, 1500-1800 fps. But, it carried unbelievable penetrating power. It would smash into the body of its victim and jackhammer its way through any bone it encountered, smashing it to pieces as it passed.
Soft tissue was pummeled with the hydrostatic shock of the projectile, turning it to hamburger in an instant.
Either way the hapless soldier who was shot was badly injured, real quick.
Instantaneous tissue and bone destruction, subsequent massive blood loss and the rapid onset of shock were the inevitable outcome. The lucky ones were hit in the arm or leg...what was left of those could be hacked off by the sawbones and you might stand a chance with the remainder of your limb. If infection and gangrene didnt kill you first, that is.
The unlucky ones were torso shot, punctured through and through - opened up, in most cases. Death came fairly quickly, with blood loss being the main killer, although a man could linger for some time in the mud created by his own blood and bile before expiring.
The bullet, for its part in this grisly work, USUALLY went on through by its own massive momentum and fell to earth down range. These are found, distorted, particulary with only the nose deformed from bone impact, rifling grooves standing out prominently.[/size]
[size=small]"It is the curse of War that old men start them, while young men fight and die in them."[/size]