Ammo Unusual bullet with unusual explanation

Kelly408

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Mar 23, 2016
Location
Columbia, SC
I picked this bullet up from a local show. The seller said it is an "over rammed" bullet, giving it the interesting shape. I've fired a lot of muskets and I can't imagine ever ramming a bullet down so hard as to deform it like this one, if it's even possible to do so. Any ideas as to what this actually is? It would appear to be .58 caliber.

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I have read of soldiers pushing their ramrods against trees in order to push a round down when the barrels were so fouled from firing that they couldn't do it any other way, maybe this is an example of that. Otherwise, I don't believe that a human has the physical strength to do that to a lead bullet normally.
 
I agree with @BillH its the bottom round of 2 that were loaded. We had a thread on this not long ago.

 
Interesting....I placed another .58 on top of it and guess what, it's a really good fit. But that begs the question, shouldn't a second load of powder cushion the minnie's so that couldn't have happened?
Not if the soldier just shoved another bullet down without the powder.
 
I picked this bullet up from a local show. The seller said it is an "over rammed" bullet, giving it the interesting shape. I've fired a lot of muskets and I can't imagine ever ramming a bullet down so hard as to deform it like this one, if it's even possible to do so. Any ideas as to what this actually is? It would appear to be .58 caliber.

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When you are being shot at and scared to death, no telling how much pressure the soldier put on this bullet.
 
I never heard of soldiers loading two bullets intentionally. How common was this? And I bet those shots kicked like a mule.
I doubt intentionally; years ago I read an article on the muskets picked up after the battle of Gettysburg. A multitude of them had multiple rounds loaded and not fired, IIRC up to 10 rounds were found in some. Under the stress of combat, strange things happen. I have heard and experienced similar strange things happening due to "buck fever" while hunting ( I once tried to load two D cell batterys into a double barrel 12 ga shotgun lol)
 
Anyway it could be a pulled bullet? I would expect a hole bored in the point. It does appear to have a spiral groove around the nose.
I had to add this because I recently bought several bullets and two were pulled----but the seller said it was double loaded. I had the same question about why would one double load without adding powder. My bullets have a ring around the top and a hole bored through center.
 
I doubt intentionally; years ago I read an article on the muskets picked up after the battle of Gettysburg. A multitude of them had multiple rounds loaded and not fired, IIRC up to 10 rounds were found in some. Under the stress of combat, strange things happen. I have heard and experienced similar strange things happening due to "buck fever" while hunting ( I once tried to load two D cell batterys into a double barrel 12 ga shotgun lol)

I've read that report also. I always assumed there was powder between each layer of lead.
 
Anyway it could be a pulled bullet? I would expect a hole bored in the point. It does appear to have a spiral groove around the nose.
I had to add this because I recently bought several bullets and two were pulled----but the seller said it was double loaded. I had the same question about why would one double load without adding powder. My bullets have a ring around the top and a hole bored through center.
The nose of the bullet is nicely rounded. No pull-hole or swag-like bump as shown in the link ucvrelics posted.
 
I don't see any marks. Nothing that's obvious suggesting this bullet was ever fired or hit something off center. The shape is just a little out of round at it's base but not at it's point. Interesting question. I had assumed all along it was dropped. Being a bit naïve I thought it was cast this way, being someone's idea of an improvement.
 
I don't see any marks. Nothing that's obvious suggesting this bullet was ever fired or hit something off center. The shape is just a little out of round at it's base but not at it's point. Interesting question. I had assumed all along it was dropped. Being a bit naïve I thought it was cast this way, being someone's idea of an improvement.
Well, you might not be that far off. The absence of rifling marks lends, in my mind, to the bullet being carved or manipulated by a bored soldier.
 
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