Old Bullet found at school yard/totlot

mhallack

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I found this at a local school yard with a public ballpark and totlot next to it. The school is over 50 years old and was looking for silver (and hopefully jewelry) but never expected this bullet :?: It's about the same height as a penny. This is my first old bullet found, well besides a musket ball found elsewhere not near this park. Is there any way to guess about how old it is? I was real excited finding it though a bit baffled because of it's location. HH everyone.
 

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My Thoughts.

Good dig, if the bullet is .44 caliber than it was probably for the Colt Army pistol. If it's .36 caliber then it was probably for the Colt Navy pistol (both were revolvers). They were both civil war period and were, of course, used post war as well. With no scale or measurements listed, it's kind of hard to tell.

I've dug a a large number of these bullets here in Virginia over the last 28 years of detecting. The bullets I've dug were both dropped and fired and it looks very consistant with the period Colt bullets. They're mostly found in Yankee calvary camps.

The killer or a quick identifier of post civil war bullets is the vertical striations found in the horizontal grooves. This usually means that it's post war. Don't see that here. Also, some folks think that just because a bullet has turned white from oxide that it's civil war period; not always so.

Also, don't let an "off the wall" location make a disbeliever out of you. Things can end up in crazy locations. A lot of Yanks brought their old Colts back North.

Like I said, if your measurements are close to .44 or .36 caliber, then I'd say it's a safe bet that you dug a bullet that was at least fired from a civil war period Colt.
 
I added a few more pics for clarity if needed
 

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