Myers Depot Metal Detectors

Found a bullet at a playground today.

T

twistidd

Full Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2006
Messages
247
Location
Chicago
I have found casings and shells but today found a whole bullet, about an inch under the wood chips at the bottom of a slide where children would come down. I am not a weapons or bullet expert so here me out. It's about two inches long, give or take, copper or bronze colored metal, and at the bottom it is stamped "LC 97". It looks like a bullet that could be made into a keychain (I had one as a kid) but there are no holes or anything else that would lead me to believe that it was anything but a straight-up bullet that someone lost. Also, it it dangerous to keep or would it be safe to put with my other found stuff?? As of right now it is in a safe place. Thanks.

Joe
 
Headstamp tells that the round came from Lake City ammunition plant, 97 is most likely the manufacturing year.
As for the calibre, unless you can give some accurate dimensions it'll be just a guess but as it is an Army ammo plant I think the round is a 5,56mm Nato round.

It is not especially dangerous, although I would not keep it cluttered among other objects where something just might to hit the primer... Does the bullet have a coloured tip? If yes, then it is a special round like tracer or incendiary. Those are bit more dangerous. Should I find such a round, I would keep it. Come to think of it, I've found couple live 9mm rounds and I still have them. However, it is a live round so use common sense in storing it. Keep it out of reach of children. Also I dunno about your laws, here it is illegal to own ammunition without an approprite permit.

Voriax
 
Voriax, much thanks for the info! The tip of the bullet is somewhat darker in color than the rest of it, more of a rich gold than the coppery yellow of the "body".

As far as the exact dimensions, it is 2 and a quarter inches long including the tip. The tip is 1/2 inch long. The bottom round part is about 6/16 of an inch across. If you can let me know exactly what it is, that'd be great. Thank you so much.

Joe
 
Heh, I'd be much more comfortable with metric measurements but those figures come close enough of the 5,56mm cartridge that I'm pretty certain it is that. Btw, commercially it is known as the .223 Remington.
Case length is more important than the full length in determining the calibre, as bullets vary or the bullet may sit deeper in the case than it did originally. In this case the case length should be 44,5 millimeters or 1 3/4 inches
As for the bullet colour, the case is brass and the bullet jacket is copper so they are of different colour. Should it be a special round the top 1/3rd of the bullet itself would be painted.

Voriax
 
Voriax,

Thanks for the info. The only ruler I have is only inches. I figured metric would be easier (especially because you're not in the U.S.), but lo and behold, there are none in this household. I appreciate the info. Now, if only I could figure out how it got into a kiddie playground in the middle of Chicago...

Joe
 
It sounds like a M16 round and 6/16? is denoted as 3/8?. If this is not it, is the end of the bullet round? If not, post a picture.
 

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Ant,

The bullet I found didn't have that much of a notch in it at the base but otherwise looks just like the one you posted. I don't have it anymore because, to be frank, I was kinda scared of it. I just imagined keeping it in my drawer and then slamming the drawer without realizing the bullet was in there, just to have it blow up and shoot someone. I'm glad I got it out of that playground. I tried doing something nice by bringing it to the police station, but none of these hardened Chicago cops were very nice to me.

Anyway, thanks a lot for the help. I've found other bullets and shells and stuff, next time I'll come here to have them identified again, you guys know your stuff.

Joe
 
My guess would be that its not real. I have never seen a cartridge without the caliber stamped on it/5.56mm/.223/30.06/7mm and so on. As for LC there is a round called .45 long colt (LC) but I would still treat it as real until you find out different. As for it going off and hurting you, It needs a gun barrel to go thru to do that.
 
sandyfeet said:
My guess would be that its not real. I have never seen a cartridge without the caliber stamped on it/5.56mm/.223/30.06/7mm and so on. As for LC there is a round called .45 long colt (LC) but I would still treat it as real until you find out different. As for it going off and hurting you, It needs a gun barrel to go thru to do that.
Click to expand...

HI sandyfeet.
Just for the record:
Not all small arms ammunition will have a head stamp delineating the caliber. You can in one of the pictures I just posted. The blue arrows are pointing to the 2 rounds that aren?t marked. The small round is a 17HMR (.17?) and the other one is a .223? round (the larger one), everything else has a head stamp.


PS
The older looking rounds I don't shoot.
 

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Ant said:
sandyfeet said:
My guess would be that its not real. I have never seen a cartridge without the caliber stamped on it/5.56mm/.223/30.06/7mm and so on. As for LC there is a round called .45 long colt (LC) but I would still treat it as real until you find out different. As for it going off and hurting you, It needs a gun barrel to go thru to do that.
Click to expand...

HI sandyfeet.
Just for the record:
Not all small arms ammunition will have a head stamp delineating the caliber. You can in one of the pictures I just posted. The blue arrows are pointing to the 2 rounds that aren?t marked. The small round is a 17HMR (.17?) and the other one is a .223? round (the larger one), everything else has a head stamp.


PS
The older looking rounds I don't shoot.

[/quote
Hey Ant
Do you think those 2 are from brass bought for handloading? All the handloading I ever do is from factory ammo I buy and save the brass to load later :?:
Click to expand...
 
sandyfeet said:
Ant said:
sandyfeet said:
My guess would be that its not real. I have never seen a cartridge without the caliber stamped on it/5.56mm/.223/30.06/7mm and so on. As for LC there is a round called .45 long colt (LC) but I would still treat it as real until you find out different. As for it going off and hurting you, It needs a gun barrel to go thru to do that.
Click to expand...

HI sandyfeet.
Just for the record:
Not all small arms ammunition will have a head stamp delineating the caliber. You can in one of the pictures I just posted. The blue arrows are pointing to the 2 rounds that aren?t marked. The small round is a 17HMR (.17?) and the other one is a .223? round (the larger one), everything else has a head stamp.


PS
The older looking rounds I don't shoot.

[/quote
Hey Ant
Do you think those 2 are from brass bought for handloading? All the handloading I ever do is from factory ammo I buy and save the brass to load later :?:
Click to expand...


I can tell you that they sell gobs of factory ammo without caliber head stamps. This may vary from state to state. The .17 HMR round is new, from the factory. And the .223 round is a new Military tracer round. I only see a slight different on the head stamp of .223 round I posted, from the one that twistidd described ("stamped "LC 97"), and mine is stamped LC 86.

His description is very close to an AR15 .223 round. I'm not the first one to notice this in this topic.

twistidd wrote that the bullet head measured 1/4" (225/1000), that?s just 2/1000 off of a .223 (223/1000) bullet. That part of how I came to my deduction as well as the length and thickness of the base he described.

HH
Click to expand...
 
The round of ammunition will be safe to handle. In a chamber its a different story. Illinois State Law requires you to have a firearms licenses to purchase ammunition. Check with your local gunshop to see about disposing of the round.
 
Don't keep it in with heavy blunt or sharp metal materials. a nice jolt to the centerfire/or rimfire could make for a bad day. keep it separate or get rid of it. shake it to hear if there is gunpowder in the casing. That will tell you if it's real and able to make some noise. good luck.
 
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