Hunting a trail between Indian Wars Forts

CJZKU93

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Kansas Jayhawk living in DFW
I was metal detecting a field that was crossed by a trail between two old west frontier forts. The trail was in use between 1860's and 1880's. I found one Minie Ball, another rifle bullet and a pistol bullet. The specs on the bullets are as follows. Measurements are in inches and weight in grains.

Minie Ball: .577 diameter, .996 length and weighs 442.5 grains

Lead rifle bullet: it is deformed but runs from .498 to .520 diameter, .928 length and weighs 406.4 grains. I think that part of the base may have been broken off over decades of being in a worked farm field. Im thinking it might be from a 50-70 government round.

Pistol bullet: .441 diameter, heeled base is .425 diameter. Length is .760. weighs 229.6 grains. Im thinking it might be the bullet might be from a 44 Remington Center fire cartridge for the Remington 1875 revolver.
 

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Those are some cool finds! Sounds like you're on to a great location, too. :thumbsup:
 
Looks like the start of something good. Now go get the brass.

Duggap I was hunting in that general area during the winter and I did find a piece of brass that I believe is a 50-70 Government round. Sad thing is when I dug it up I didn't get a GPS position tag on where I was. It was frozen in a ball of mud. I just thought it was a piece of brass from a modern rifle and being cold and tired I chucked it in my dump pouch and headed for the Jeep. Wasn't till I got home and the mud ball melted did I realize what I had. This piece of brass is what really got me going on this site.
 

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Ok. Now your next objective is to hunt the fort-sites themselves.

"Trails between forts" are bound to have random targets. But those #'s can never compare to where the soldiers actually lived/slept/drank/ate/played, etc.....
 
Would love to be able to hunt the fort sites however since they are now either National Parks or State Historic Parks it is greatly frowned upon to metal detect them.
I actually didnt start hunting the site looking for traces of the military traffic on the trail. I started out looking for a Post Office and general store that had been set up where the military trail crossed a creek.


Ok. Now your next objective is to hunt
the fort-sites themselves.

"Trails between forts" are bound to have random targets. But those #'s can never compare to where the soldiers actually lived/slept/drank/ate/played, etc.....
 
I made it back to the field where I found the lead and found that it now has a crop growing in it so I wont be able to hunt it again till after harvest in Sept or Oct. I went about a quarter mile away to hunt one of the areas that might have been the site for the general store and post office that I started out looking for. I found and iron patch that was some kind of building that I will have to do more work on.
I did find some more lead while I was hunting in this other field. I didn't find any more Minie Balls but I did find two 50 caliber size lead bullets and a round pistol ball. The first bullet I found was the lead bullet with two rings on it and reminds me of the Sharps bullets that I have seen. The base on the bullet measures between .495 and .505 and the length is approximately .825 and it weighs around 330 grains. That seems kind of light for a 50-70 goverment round and I cant find anything giving the weight of a Sharps carbine in 50 cal.
The next bullet I found had put a pretty good hit on something. the base on it measures between .500 and .515 and weighs 433 grains.
The round ball measures .448 to .455 around the band created from what I guessing is where it was sized being pushed into the cylinder of a pistol. it weighs in at 140 grains. That would put it at the correct size for a 44 cal percussion cap revolver.
The lead that I am finding this general area is very interesting to me. I cant be sure the lead comes from the military traffic going over the road. There isn't any record of skirmishes with Indians in the area. It very well could be buffalo hunters that worked the area in the 1870's.
 

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I got a chance to hunt the military road again and even though I cant find the general store site I started out looking for I keep finding things that might have come from the troops moving up and down the trail. I found another 44 cal revolver ball, and lead ball that put a good hit on something. The last time I had hunted the site I found 50 cal Spenser bullets and this time I found some 56-50 Spencer casings. I also found another 50-70 Government casing.
 

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