Minie ball help

mojoman58

Cadet
Joined
May 23, 2019
Location
Northeastern Massachusetts
I posted in the welcome forum and asked about a recent find I had metal detecting in southern New Hampshire. A couple of folks in the welcome area confirmed my feeling that this is a 2 ring minie ball. What it was doing buried in some woods in New Hampshire is beyond me. One person said that some soldiers kept their Civil War rifle after the war and it could have been used for hunting. Another talked about enrollment camps and the possibility maybe that could explain it. The ball looks to be cut in half right down the middle and he said they would be doing that in one of those camps. Why would a soldier be cutting a piece of ammo in half? I've been digging around on the web searching for answers but I'm not having any luck. This was found in woods in Pelham, NH if that helps. I'll repost the photos and my rough measuring of the ball is 20 mm across the widest point, 34 mm in length and 24 grams in weight. I'll be hitting the area again this weekend and hopefully I can find more clues in the area. Thanks for any help.

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CW soldier were well known to carve minie balls as a past time of to make things they made need such as chess pieces ect so its not that uncommon to find them in camps.
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Anybody could buy Minie-style ammunition at the time, didn't have to be military issue. Perhaps not much of a mystery why such spent ammo would be found in N.H. or anywhere else with access to a hardware, general store or jewelry store.

It seems to be sheared in half, to notice the lagging edge bumps at the base. That could have happened in flight, hitting a metal structure, or hobby-fashioned as you suggest. Guys carve stuff.
 
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Regardless....you certainly found a civil war era piece of ammunition. Congratulations. Definitely go back and search that area to see what else might be in there.
 
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