Myers Depot Metal Detectors

Shrapnel?

JNimons

JNimons

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Aug 29, 2015
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Location
Beacon Falls, CT
Went to one of my farm permissions yesterday and hunted some thawed southern exposed hillsides. Dug this piece of metal. I have dug 2 similar pieces in the past month. Have to dig through my junk bucket and see if I saved them. This is after 24 hours in the tumbler. It looks like shrapnel of some sort. Any Ideas?











 
I believe its brass...not 100% sure honestly. I recognize that I found other pieces by the fine ribbed lines.No luck finding the others. ..must have tossed them
 
Unless you found it near an artillery range, the chances of it being shrapnel are pretty much nil. Farm equipment can really tear up softer metals like brass. It might have been more useful to see it before you tumbled it.
 
It looks like there maybe rifling on the opposite side of all the little groves. I wonder if it was a steel core FMJ bullet. The outside would have been copper and if shot at a steel plate the copper jacket would peel off the steel core.
 
It is the rifling type marks that make me think this is shrapnel of some sort. I just don't really have an explanation for it being there. This area and farm in particular have history pre revolutionary war. The original farm house was built in 1717
 
It's a shrapnel,I guess
 

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It just doesn't look like shrapnel to me. Does your scale actually say 344 grams? It says it has a capacity of 50 grams. A shard that size cannot weigh 3/4 of a pound.
 
worm12ga said:
It just doesn't look like shrapnel to me. Does your scale actually say 344 grams? It says it has a capacity of 50 grams. A shard that size cannot weigh 3/4 of a pound.
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I do believe it says 344 GRAINS which = roughly 22 grams. But I have NO idea if it could be shrapnel or not.

I thought most larger shells were made of iron not brass.
 
ScubaDetector said:
I thought most larger shells were made of iron not brass.
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They are, and I think this is where the confusion lies. An artillery shell usually has a band of soft metal which grips into the rifling in the barrel. This is called "The driving band" and is designed to impart spin which increases accuracy and distance. It's non ferrous so detectorists find bits. The brass piece on Rammjäger's keyring is a lovely example. The picture of a Brutish WW 1 howitzer round shows a driving band on situ.
http://rustywarrelics.co.uk/products/inert-ww1-british-45-inch-howitzer-shell
 

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bodkin said:
They are, and I think this is where the confusion lies. An artillery shell usually has a band of soft metal which grips into the rifling in the barrel. This is called "The driving band" and is designed to impart spin which increases accuracy and distance. It's non ferrous so detectorists find bits. The brass piece on Rammjäger's keyring is a lovely example. The picture of a Brutish WW 1 howitzer round shows a driving band on situ.
http://rustywarrelics.co.uk/products/inert-ww1-british-45-inch-howitzer-shell
Click to expand...

Very accurate .Thank you bodkin
 
bodkin said:
Sorry about the spelling.... A long day!:roll::lol:

Did you find your piece?
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Yes,
there are tons of them in the fields and forests.It is like the pest :lol:
I guess those found in England are from British anti-aircraft artillery?
 
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