Unknown bullet and follow-up to my last post...

[Aquachigger]

Hi... I recently found this bullet at an ACW site and thought it might be a Kerr. However, upon measuring it, I'm no longer sure. It doesn't match anything I could find in M&M. It measures out at .503 caliber and 1.158 inches in length. The weight is 1.08 oz's. It has a very deep base. Any thoughts would be welcomed. Also in a follow-up to my last post, here is a shot of some Gardner's I found. It certainly reinforces the "worn down by the current" theory

[tom buckley]

I believe that you are right about the "worn down by the current theory". At first glance, I thought that it might be a variant of the .54 T&T 133B but it appears to have too high of a base. It does look Southern.

[Pete George]

  For many years, the term I've used to describe such bullets is "eroded."

  I think Aquachigger's Gardner minies were eroded not by the water-current itself, but by decades of battering by sand-grains in flood-strength current.  (Which could be called a gentle form of "natural" sandblasting.)

  I should add that I've dug similar-looking "eroded" bullets from wet soil in swamps.  The highly-acidic swampwater causes a chemical erosion of the lead, rather than the sand-particle battering which occurs in swift-flowing water.

Regards,
Pete

[Pete George]

  I think the answer about Aquachigger's "long" (1.158-inch) 3-groove .503"-diameter minie is that it is a fired "stretchie."

  Look extra-closely and you'll see some rifling-marks and corresponding groove-compression.  Look slighty to the right of the minie's center, in the grooved area of its body.

  If Aquachigger found it in the river, it may have also suffered a "light-to-moderate" degree of floodcurrent erosion.  That might explain its unusual .503-inch diameter.

Regards,
Pete

[Aquachigger]

Pete.... you are absolutely correct on the erosion issue. The eroded ones are always in bedrock pockets with sand and gravel mixed in. I have found many just wedged in bedrock cracks nearly fully exposed to the currents and they are more or less normal looking. As far as the "stretchie", you may be right, but it is by far the least deformed one I have seen. The cavity is also very deep. I would think in order to reduce the caliber and stretch the cavity, it would have to be significantly deformed. Yet it does bear ever so slight marks that could be rifling. Hmmm....

[Pete George]

  Beliee it or not, the stretching does increase the depth of of a minie's cavity.  Somewhere in my house I have a 1.25-inch-long .54 Gardner which was fired from a .52 Sharps Breechloader.  That Gardner is totally undamaged, except for being stretched and showing the Sharps' 6-groove rifling marks.  Its base-cavity is now extraordinarily deep.

  Unfortunately I don't have a photo of it.  Hopefully somebody here can post some photos of "stretchies."

Regards,
Pete