New military site - new ID required

[TTKooAu]

for military grade muskets ... and I should say that technically a musket is smooth bored so you wouldn't get any rifling on the bullet, you're looking at .577 or .75 caliber.

So at .577 you're looking at a 3 band Enfield Rifled Musket usually called the pattern 1853 (confusing when they put "rifled" next to musket) or at .75 cal the earlier Brown Bess or it's percussion cap derivative the 1842 model.

How big is the bullet?

The Snider conversion (they took the 3 band Enfield and made a crap breach loader) also fired a .577 bullet.
I may stand corrected but the Bess and the 1842 should have fired a round ball which is close to an ounce of lead if I remember correctly - essentially at .75 cal you have a 12 gauge shotgun. And someone please correct me if I'm wrong it's been a long time since I've handled these things.

The Martini-Henry fired what almost looks like a modern bullet and is .45 calibre soft lead, large & nasty but still black powder.

The bullet could be a lot of things. I doubt it's that early because the Enfield fired a bullet confusingly called a "Minnie Ball" which has 3 bands incised near the base which is hollowed out so that it could engage the rifling when fired and impart spin. Once you've seen a Minnie ball you'll always spot them right off - not like modern bullets at all.

Anyway looks like you're bullet has hit something hard and fragmented? Is it solid lead or is there any trace of copper or brass?

Sorry if that was a bit meandering - was up at 2 am in the low tide.

Robert, you are a wealth of information. I had little if no interest in things ballistic, well up til now anyway.
Nice reply.

 

[Wally69]

Thanks Robert

A few more photos, looks like 1/2" diameter and 1/2oz of pure lead.

Rounded corner end looks like it has an impact roll as apposed to rod rammed, the other end is a bit confusing. It looks like it was cast that way but it is not square to the shaft of the slug and has some raised edges. Maybe it has torn that way...???

All uncharted territory for me, so am keen to suck up your knowledge.

 

[Mackka]

Nice finds Wally and love the info Robert. If it was smaller I would have said that it was a 38 Wad Cutter, maybe.
Cheers
Mackka

 

[Heatho]

1/2 inch is 50cal something...... I was gonna say shotgun solid first but I don't think it is.

 

[Robert Le Mal]

Hi Wally,

I can't tell which end is the base of the bullet.

.45 cal Martini-Henry bullet should be approx 11.6 mm diameter
.577 cal from a Snider or Enfield would be approx 14.9 mm diameter

It could be field modified dum dum, I'm really not sure of the shape unless it's just fragmented that way.
If the round is not military then it could be any one of a number of funky and now extinct civilian calibers.

Robert

 

[Wally69]

On further measurement 11.6mm would fit the bill, and as I think it has been rough cast.....

I am going to officially call it a .45 bush-crafted black-powder roo-thumper.

Thank again Robert

 

[Robert Le Mal]

sounds like a good ebay description

 

[Wally69]

Any ideas on this item ?

 

[rocketaroo]

The holes remind me of a muzzle brake. Too chunky for a flamethrower?

 

[silver]

Obviously the first one is a lot of pull tabs on a piece of wire Wally69. Not sure about the second one, but my thoughts on it would be the business end of a parachute flare, the holes would be so that the brightly burning/light emitting fuel didn't come straight out the bottom and cause problems for steering, or worse still cause the flare to fly up into the parachute and flame it up thereby making its slow progress towards the ground an impossibility(be a burning falling bright and fast roman candle). The holes would make the fuel exit evenly from the sides providing maximum lighting. I've seen them in use(falling from the sky) but never actually observed the device,..it looks reusable by the screw end and the wear and tear on the business end. And I think the bottom one says my favourite world AUSTRALIA(ha).

 

[Wally69]

I was going to put a spoon into the photo but thought I would diversify a bit for your benefit Silver. :lol:

Spot on the money, looks like a 2" British parachute mortar.

 

[silver]

Not a bad guess if I do say so myself(that was an inventors mind reverse engineering to come up with the goods that time wally).
I was of two minds about it (ha).
I should add that that was a bit of spot on(and fast) research there wally,..well done on that one.
.
I should also add that if you are finding stuff like that just be careful of unexploded ordinance, as some of that old stuff(if completely there) is thought to explode with a change in temperature , so if you find any at all don't allow your shadow to fall across it and mark it with a tripod of sticks that can be found at a distance by eyesight,.. and then you report it so it can be destroyed(that saves other people).

 

[Heatho]

Not a bad guess if I do say so myself(that was an inventors mind reverse engineering to come up with the goods that time wally).
I was of two minds about it (ha).
I should add that that was a bit of spot on(and fast) research there wally,..well done on that one.
.
I should also add that if you are finding stuff like that just be careful of unexploded ordinance, as some of that old stuff(if completely there) is thought to explode with a change in temperature , so if you find any at all don't allow your shadow to fall across it and mark it with a tripod of sticks that can be found at a distance by eyesight,.. and then you report it so it can be destroyed(that saves other people).

I'm with you Silver, be careful Wally. Is the one in the pic still live?

 

[silver]

looks like(by the background) Wally keeps that one on his car seat(ha).

Not a bad guess if I do say so myself(that was an inventors mind reverse engineering to come up with the goods that time wally).
I was of two minds about it (ha).
I should add that that was a bit of spot on(and fast) research there wally,..well done on that one.
.
I should also add that if you are finding stuff like that just be careful of unexploded ordinance, as some of that old stuff(if completely there) is thought to explode with a change in temperature , so if you find any at all don't allow your shadow to fall across it and mark it with a tripod of sticks that can be found at a distance by eyesight,.. and then you report it so it can be destroyed(that saves other people).

I'm with you Silver, be careful Wally. Is the one in the pic still live?

 

[Heatho]

looks like(by the background) Wally keeps that one on his car seat(ha).

Not a bad guess if I do say so myself(that was an inventors mind reverse engineering to come up with the goods that time wally).
I was of two minds about it (ha).
I should add that that was a bit of spot on(and fast) research there wally,..well done on that one.
.
I should also add that if you are finding stuff like that just be careful of unexploded ordinance, as some of that old stuff(if completely there) is thought to explode with a change in temperature , so if you find any at all don't allow your shadow to fall across it and mark it with a tripod of sticks that can be found at a distance by eyesight,.. and then you report it so it can be destroyed(that saves other people).

I'm with you Silver, be careful Wally. Is the one in the pic still live?

Wonder what the insurance company would say if it did it's thing in the car...... Kinda hard to explain that one.

 

[Bacchus]

Went to a new site tonight chasing a hunch about some possible WW2 occupation, it was very trashy and looks like some landfill has covered the section I was hoping would produce some finds.

Did the fringes but it is a modern day midden; area has been used as a camp for alcoholics for the last 20 year by the amount of ring pulls that came out. I did find a pistol bullet, so it looks like the site has some promise.

Not sure what this is and if it is old or not. Looks like brass or copper. Maybe a hip flask or storage tube.

What do you think?

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/1916/1418728053_image.jpg

Sorry Wal to burst your bubble , but as an expert on hangovers and being a camp for alcoholics, I can confirm
the cylinder is a Berocca Tube !!

 

[Wally69]

Not a bad guess if I do say so myself(that was an inventors mind reverse engineering to come up with the goods that time wally).
I was of two minds about it (ha).
I should add that that was a bit of spot on(and fast) research there wally,..well done on that one.
.
I should also add that if you are finding stuff like that just be careful of unexploded ordinance, as some of that old stuff(if completely there) is thought to explode with a change in temperature , so if you find any at all don't allow your shadow to fall across it and mark it with a tripod of sticks that can be found at a distance by eyesight,.. and then you report it so it can be destroyed(that saves other people).

I'm with you Silver, be careful Wally. Is the one in the pic still live?

I do love the smell of high explosives going off in the morning but I ripped the unused mortar photo off the net.

Plenty of live 303 rounds but I think the live range location is a couple of valleys to the North.

I am always on the wary lookout for that metallic pineapple. I think there would have been a few training dummys due to the nature of this site but I would definitely need a change of undies if I uncovered a real one.

 

[silver]

Glad we got all that cleared up(ha).That one was probably popped off on a windy night and ended up a couple of valleys away, great find.