Need help with ID US bullet

T

treshkin

Established Users
Hello!

I am new here.

Some time ago I've got this lead bullet from USA. It came from California, and may be was found there.
I don't have a great experience in US Civil War bullets. I have about 20 or 30 specimens of US bullets in my collection. Here, in Ukraine we collect Crimean War bullets generally.

I suppose that this is .69 cal. Austrian 3 groove rifle|musket bullet, but I am not sure

So, please help me to make the correct identification of this bullet: caliber (.69 or .70), weapon, if possible - manufacturer and troops, which used it

Thanks for any info
P1076977.jpg
 
Very nice picture,and good measurements.
Did you buy the bullet from a dealer in California?
Civil War bullets are far more likely to be dug up from the eastern half of the USA, than California, but it is possible. Early in the Civil War, both North and South were short of firearms, and employed about anything they could acquire, including many 69 caliber muskets, often from Europe. Many of those were smoothbore, as well as rifled.
The rifling marks are difficult to see, if they are there. The nose appears to have been indented by an ill fitting ramrod.
I am not enough an expert on Civil War bullets to make a solid identification, but several people that come here are. I'm sure they can identify it for you.
 
Thank you, Jack
I didn't buy this bullet - it is a present from my old friend. He had had this bullet for a long time and don't remeber where he got it. He is cartridge collector, not lead bullet collector. I like and collect lead bullets, so he decided to present me some.
 
Treshkin, your bullet is definitely a typical civil war era (1861-65) US-made (not Austrian) 3-groove Minie bullet for .69-caliber rifles. Close examination of the photo shows your bullet has been fired. It has the circular impression of the ramrod's mouth on its nose, and its sides show rifling-marks. Although it was fired from a .69-inch bore, it measures .697-inch in diameter because of the height of the rifling-grooves on it. (As you probably already know, its diameter was approximately .67 to .68-inch when manufactured, but it expanded to fill the rifle's bore and rifling-grooves when it got fired.)
 
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