Dovahmama
commissar ibram gaunt
Dovahmama
does anyone have a hobby they love?
Relic hunting
what kind of relics?
Civ and Indian Wars relics, to date I have 1 fired mini ball, 4 dropped mini balls, 1 dropped round ball *2 and larger. 1 knapsack hook, 1 federal eagle button, 1 D-ring, 1 1858 half dime, 1 square nail used in the construction of a near by fort, 1 Spencer cartridge *3, 1 Remington cartridge *3, 1 fired percussion cap *4), and a fragment of an artillery shell *1. I also have a Roman Gordian III silver coin from 238 AD as well as a U.S. practice grenade from WWII, and a WWII German Dress Bayonet.
*1) The artillery shell in question was a hollowed round iron ball that would have been filled with an explosive powder like black powder, there would have been a hole in its shell that a fuse plug would have been inserted into, the fuse plug would have been made of wood and had a small hole a fuse would have sat in. The over all look would be like that of the old school cartoon bombs as seen in such cartoons like tom and jerry back in the 40's and 50's. The shell would have been loaded into the mouth of the cannon in front of a powder charge, when the charge was ignited, the flams would ignite the fuse as the shell was sent out to an enemy position. If timed right and there was no issues with the fuse, the fuse would burn into the shell igniting the powder resulting in the shell detonating over the enemy troops, the shell would be shredded into chinks of iron that would rain down at high speeds into the enemy troops. Not a very effective weapon, there was no guarantee the shell would hit the enemy, or that it would even explode as intended, but when they did, it would strike fear into the enemy infantry. They where useful negating any cover the enemy may have been using as protection from small arms fire. They where in use from about 1780 and where vary common, so you can find them on just about every battle field.
*2) Every round ball and mini ball I have is 0.50 to 0.52 caliber. They are all Union made, coming from Springfield and Sharps, both manufactured weapons and ammunition for the North. There are hundreds of variations of mini balls, and only one in my collection I have yet to fully identify do to odd marks on its back side, normally there would be a little hole that would expand into a cone when the round was heated up from the ignition of the powder. This particular mini ball doesn't have the hole or depression in its back side.
*3) cartridges are basically shell casings like modern bullets. It's a primer and powder wrapped in a brass cylinder with a mini ball wedged into the opening on top.
*4) A percussion cap is a primer detonated by a firearms hammer, it fit over a small hole at the firearms breach called the n****e, when the hammer hit it, it would create a small explosive discharge that would ignite the powder behind the round ball, mini ball or buck n' ball ammunitions. They are extremely common on Civil war and early Plains Indian war battlefields, infect they still manufacture them today for black powder muzzle loaders used for hunting in black powder season. They manufactured them by the billions and every soldier both north and south, had one for every bullet he carried for both his main fire arm, and a revolver, if he had one.
Correction, I have two fired mini balls. I forgot about one.
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