Bullet Identification Help

[PapaReb]

Friend found this with his metal detector several years ago and gave it to me. I've done searches but haven't found another one with a sprue/tail like this. Any thoughts?

 

[UCVRelics]

Its a Williams cleaner bullet with the base missing. There are 3 types of what I call the bullet that no one wanted to fire. It was designed to clean the musket barrel when fired.

 

[PapaReb]

Thanks! Never heard of them. Why the bullet no one wanted to fire?

 

[UCVRelics]

Due to the fact that they were not very accurate and did not preform well. The troops hated them and would throw them away which is why they are found in large numbers. By the last 2 years of the war they were pulled from front line troop issue, also they cost a lot more to produce.

 

[Tin cup]

The Williams Patent Bullet

It's pretty much inevitable -- if you're metal detecting a Civil War site, you're going to come across a bullet quite different from the sta...

touchthepast.blogspot.com

Kevin Dally

 

[PapaReb]

Very interesting read. Thanks for posting it.