Old bullet? Or new bullet?

WBKilburn

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I found this vintage bullet-like thing while metal detecting a local park today. I know nothing about vintage bullets, but it looks a lot like pictures I’ve seen of old ammo. The weird thing is, that the area I found this in isn’t all that old (relatively speaking). The first European homesteaders came to the area in the early 1860s. No history of armed conflict in the area (that I know of at least). Could this be a modern bullet made for primitive firearms?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
 

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It looks like a old spark plug terminal nut with the terminal wire prong broken off from the wire ?

I've not seen a wad cutter bullet swag cut from the side in its casting. Any way, if indeed it is a bullet, it would not have been fired with the cut piece would have remolded within the barrel rifling, so a dropped bullet if in fact a bullet instead of a spark plug terminal nut.

I have been wrong before but that is what I think you have found.
 
Thanks, bibelot, a spark plug terminal would make a lot more sense, given the context of the area I found it in.
 
Looks like a more modern cast bullet.
Diameter is far more important than length to determine what it might be, and the measurement needs to be accurate. Use dial indicators or a micrometer to get usable numbers.
 
What kind of metal is it? I don't see it being a spark plug cap, it's not threaded internally.
 
What kind of metal is it? I don't see it being a spark plug cap, it's not threaded internally.

I believe it is lead. I’m using a Bountyhunter Tracker IV, so I don’t have I’d numbers to go by, just the tone it gives when I pass it by the coils. That being said, I tried to scratch it with my fingernail, but couldn’t.
 
Looks like a more modern cast bullet.
Diameter is far more important than length to determine what it might be, and the measurement needs to be accurate. Use dial indicators or a micrometer to get usable numbers.

This^^^
 
It's modern in the sense that it's post-1900. With cast handgun bullets like that it's almost impossible to put an exact age on them. Could be 80 years, could be 20 years.
 
I believe it is lead. I’m using a Bountyhunter Tracker IV, so I don’t have I’d numbers to go by, just the tone it gives when I pass it by the coils. That being said, I tried to scratch it with my fingernail, but couldn’t.
The bullets that I cast are hard enough that they don't mushroom....they break. Weight would be a better indicator of what the material is.
Of course, melting point would be another good means of knowing what it is, but I'm pretty sure that you don't have the necessary equipment to make that determination, at least not safely.
 
Hardness maybe a another way to at least determine possible lead alloy verse a harder alloy.

Cast bullets are lead alloy- spark plug cap would be brass or steel.

Try cutting/scratching to bottom with a knife/Exacto. If it cuts easy and internal color light grey then lead.
If not look at color-
 
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