Old bullet?

[dennishoddy]

Need more clues. Measured diameter, length.

I've never loaded a .45ACP or .380 with a concave base.

In my experience, bullets with a concave base were designed to be shot from a low velocity/power gun, possibly a Muzzle loader. The skirt is supposed to expand to seal the round against the barrel to prevent gas escaping around the bullet.

 

[jphillipw]

Thanks for the input, all. I don't have the bullet to take a picture for scale.

Dennis, I had a 9mm squib on me and I found the lead (it's on my desk at work ). The base of it was concave. I'm wanting to say it was Winchester gold, but I forget exactly.

 

[rhodesbe]

That is a 45 ACP slug.

I've pulled enough of them out of my body and jammed tampons in the holes during tactical reloads to be sure. If it's a Black Talon, be careful because it still might explode.

 

[batchman]

It's the missing bullet from the JFK shooting at the grassy knoll!

 

[criticalbass]

That is a 45 ACP slug.

I've pulled enough of them out of my body and jammed tampons in the holes during tactical reloads to be sure. If it's a Black Talon, be careful because it still might explode.

What did you use to pull them out of your body? Were the tampons regular or super? Did you drop the empty mag in the tactical reload? Who was shooting .45 ACP into you? Expiring minds want to know.

The military will provide Explosive Ordinance Disposal services for things that might explode. A farmer friend of mine in the 1950s plowed up a shell and contacted Fort Sill officials. Someone came out and declared it to be inert. As I recall, it was a French 75, and may still be laying behind his barn.

If this is an evil Black Talon, you might consider calling them. <insert symbol depicting wiseassery here and don't even consider involving any part of the government!>

Around Lawton, it used to be common for people to sneak onto artillery ranges and bring home duds. One kid had his garage nearly full of various unexploded projectiles--would have taken out the whole block if one had gone off.

Last I heard there was a really good training session done by Fort Sill personnel for all the schools regarding the dangers of messing with anything related to the artillery ranges, and it had resulted in a big drop in the number of dud related incidents.

In southeast Lawton a kid was driving a dud mortar shell into his lawn with a sledge hammer when a neighbor GI saw what he was doing. The soldier pushed the kid away just as the round exploded. Killed the soldier, but the kid escaped with minimal injury.

 

[SoonerP226]

From the pics, particularly from the dents in the first pic, I think it looks like FMJ, or at least jacketed ball. I seem to recall seeing that kind of corrosion on Civil War-era lead ball, and the hollow base would be consistent with a Minie ball variant, so it could be an unjacketed lead BP round--but the images I'm finding of fired Minie balls don't show rifling traces that sharp, and they show far more deformation around the nose, so I'm still leaning toward a modern round.