My favorite find.

hi monte!! Great find!!!! I have a question in the bullett department, I found one the other day and it was my first!! A guy at work said it was civil war, but how do I know? It has 3 rows of crimp marks and is a light grey colour, almost white.

hello paluch545
I am not an expert but here is a 3 ringer that I found several days ago.my firstimpression it is huge.even a relatively minor wound would cause massive tissue damage and trauma shattering bone and a majority of CW deaths were from complication from amputation or infection.But the question ,this seems to be among the most common types it is an enfield 577 which was used by both sides.One of the first websites I refer to is WWW.relicman.com
Oh,do you find a lot of Revolutionary war artifacts there?
So much history to be found.Best regards and happy hunting,Mont

I think the greatest difficulty with identifying a bullet as Civil War is the fact that most of the firearms used in the civil war would have been used for many years after the war for hunting, target practice etc. Indeed even today you can purchase blackpowder enfields and their loads.

So identifying a bullet as being a civil war artifact relies heavily on where it is found, and to some extent the depth it was found at. (although depth can vary greatly depending on many variants) The patina on the bullet also helps to date them, again depending on the soil and conditions it has been in.

However it is possible to identify the caliber and often the firearm the bullet came from from its shape, weight and measurements. There are many experts in this on the relic forums.

I often wonder how many of the "civil war" bullets posted are in fact ones fired in later years by a landowner out filling his larder with his father's old rifle.