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Minié ball madness

EmuDetector

EmuDetector

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Been hitting a private spot for a while now that seems to be a hilltop that was ambushed (~15 minié balls on one side). In the past I made out with a couple pocket knives in addition to the MBs, but couldn't find much else. Today I hit the other side of the hill and I could not stop the detector from singing. 64 minié balls in about a 20' square, with every hole producing more than one. Including a unique one that looks like it was fired into the bottom of another one; guessing double load?. The surrounding hill tops in range have found a couple scattered balls, but nothing to indicate that whatever this skirmish happened was was equal in any way. I love finding minié balls, but I got to the point where I started skipping those signals in the hopes of finding some variety....I guess there's always more time to check it out in the future.

Has anyone else ever found such a large quantity in a single small location? What throws me off is that its on a steep hill face with no large trees for cover. So it seems like an extremely poor fighting position to remain on for any length of time to produce the quantity, unless maybe a large rifle team was doing the firing?
 

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Digger70pa said:
Firing range? I hunted a spot like that before. Shot bullets everywhere. Nothing else though. Nice finds though. Looks like fun. HH
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I thought about that too. The hugely ball'd spot is all the same caliber, the other side of the hill was very mixed and spread out. It is surely a mystery to solve.
 
EmuDetector said:
Been hitting a private spot for a while now that seems to be a hilltop that was ambushed (~15 minié balls on one side). In the past I made out with a couple pocket knives in addition to the MBs, but couldn't find much else. Today I hit the other side of the hill and I could not stop the detector from singing. 64 minié balls in about a 20' square, with every hole producing more than one. Including a unique one that looks like it was fired into the bottom of another one; guessing double load?. The surrounding hill tops in range have found a couple scattered balls, but nothing to indicate that whatever this skirmish happened was was equal in any way. I love finding minié balls, but I got to the point where I started skipping those signals in the hopes of finding some variety....I guess there's always more time to check it out in the future.

Has anyone else ever found such a large quantity in a single small location? What throws me off is that its on a steep hill face with no large trees for cover. So it seems like an extremely poor fighting position to remain on for any length of time to produce the quantity, unless maybe a large rifle team was doing the firing?
Click to expand...
I hunted a Union Army spot years ago...Bermuda Hundred Campaign...and dug 22 fired bullets out of one hole. Coulda been target practicing. Some pretty good shooting if you ask me.
 
Double Check

Double check those 2 Minie Balls and make sure that they are not mid-air collision bullets.

Not uncommon to double load a musket in the heat of battle; firing one into the rear of the second. If its a firing range area it's possible that they are ground impacts bullets

I saw a 2-ringer that collided into a 3-ringer perfectly; nose to nose. I mean they were perfectly dead ahead. Both bullets flattened out to the size of a half dollar. A collector in Chesterfield, VA bought it off some digger. It was in the eighties and I didn't have the $450.00 to buy it from the fellow back then. I would now.

The gent who had the collision bullets was Wayne Alridge , Old Wolf probably knows of him.

Talk about two lucky soldiers.
 
Waterhead said:
Double check those 2 Minie Balls and make sure that they are not mid-air collision bullets.

Not uncommon to double load a musket in the heat of battle; firing one into the rear of the second. If its a firing range area it's possible that they are ground impacts bullets

I saw a 2-ringer that collided into a 3-ringer perfectly; nose to nose. I mean they were perfectly dead ahead. Both bullets flattened out to the size of a half dollar. A collector in Chesterfield, VA bought it off some digger. It was in the eighties and I didn't have the $450.00 to buy it from the fellow back then. I would now.

The gent who had the collision bullets was Wayne Alridge , Old Wolf probably knows of him.

Talk about two lucky soldiers.
Click to expand...

I was so hoping it was a mid air collision, def want one of those. But one round is clearly up inside the bottom of the other, so I am thinking its a double load. The top round also has a major ram rod mark on top which would line up with the idea of a fast load where someone might skip to a double, I actually found several with the same stamping, so someone was loading harder than everyone else.
 
Waterhead said:
Double check those 2 Minie Balls and make sure that they are not mid-air collision bullets.

Not uncommon to double load a musket in the heat of battle; firing one into the rear of the second. If its a firing range area it's possible that they are ground impacts bullets

I saw a 2-ringer that collided into a 3-ringer perfectly; nose to nose. I mean they were perfectly dead ahead. Both bullets flattened out to the size of a half dollar. A collector in Chesterfield, VA bought it off some digger. It was in the eighties and I didn't have the $450.00 to buy it from the fellow back then. I would now.

The gent who had the collision bullets was Wayne Alridge , Old Wolf probably knows of him.

Talk about two lucky soldiers.
Click to expand...
. I know Wayne... purchased the Nautilus 2b from him back in the 90's. Nice guy.
 
Nice batch of fired lead. You may want to search out the camp . I'm sure there is one in the area, nice finds and keep us posted.
 
MoBob said:
Nice batch of fired lead. You may want to search out the camp . I'm sure there is one in the area, nice finds and keep us posted.
Click to expand...

I know of a for sure calvary camp that was about ~1 mile away, there's modern homes on it now though. There's zero documentation that I can find for battles or skirmishes in the area, which I feel is weird since it's so close to DC. Still gotta keep hunting though!
 
EmuDetector said:
I know of a for sure calvary camp that was about ~1 mile away, there's modern homes on it now though. There's zero documentation that I can find for battles or skirmishes in the area, which I feel is weird since it's so close to DC. Still gotta keep hunting though!
Click to expand...

You bet . Good luck on your search.
 
Man that would be a dream site for a lot of guys. That's amazing that there was so much lead there you started skipping those signals.:lol: I totally understand wanting to find some other stuff though. And like you said, you can always check it out again in the future.
 
Waveoff said:
Man that would be a dream site for a lot of guys. That's amazing that there was so much lead there you started skipping those signals.:lol: I totally understand wanting to find some other stuff though. And like you said, you can always check it out again in the future.
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A dream for sure! I have to add to the collection though, now I am sitting on a few personal items and over 100 fired rounds of several calibers. I want some coins! hahaha
 
If the enemy was not an issue in area they would unload into the ground near camp entrance after Pickett duty on the way back in. It was much easier than pulling to unload. I had a camp both entrances were all fired Minies.

Even a tompion with a bullet lodged into it.

There is probably a mid sized camp nearby. Usually within 200 yards.
 
Spectra1 said:
If the enemy was not an issue in area they would unload into the ground near camp entrance after Pickett duty on the way back in. It was much easier than pulling to unload. I had a camp both entrances were all fired Minies.

Even a tompion with a bullet lodged into it.

There is probably a mid sized camp nearby. Usually within 200 yards.
Click to expand...

That sounds like a really good hint to the area, thanks for the info. I'm guessing the heavy area of minies might have a different date and purpose compared to the other mixed ammo I found in the area. The heavy spot is all matching in caliber, the other side of the hill is a mix of a half dozen calibers and types.

Today I hopped a few hills over to a small creek and found some buck and ball, so I was happy to mix it up!
 
So far there's zero I can find for history, I've been searching like crazy. Some camps a few miles away, but nothing that documents anyone shooting or being shot at. Maybe such a quick skirmish it never made history? No bones so far!
 
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