Found A Live One And Caught The Brass Ring

[Geologyhound]

Normally, I’m more of a coin and jewelry type guy, but when given the opportunity to hunt a CW Union camp, I’ll take it!  The place has been in use continually since the Civil War as residential/farmland.  So I am sure there is a mix of ages to the stuff which can be found. The live round is stamped FA 43 which should be Frankford Arsenal in Pennsylvania.  This looks like a pistol round to me, and from what I have found, the 43 should be the date (1943).  Any ideas on the caliber or type?

The badge/tag has a little green patina. The pins are the only magnetic part.  If I stare until I go cross eyed I think there used to be lettering on the top, bottom and middle. But I can’t make anything out. I would think if it is modern mass-produced, the two ends would be roughly symmetrical. But they’re not. With no details I’m guessing it’s going to be pretty impossible to ID. But does this look like anything anybody has found from the Civil War?

The big ring and the jewelry ring may be brass because they are both weathering black.  Alas, there was no stone in the ring. Just six prongs. There is a hole underneath the prongs for light refraction, so I figured it must’ve had a real stone.  The bigger brass ring (hoop) was made from a flat piece of metal bent around to form a tube and then bent to form a ring. Looks like there is a punch point through one end and the rest of the hoop beyond the punch point has broken off.  I figure it’s probably garbage, but thought I would post it here first, as artifacts are not my bag.

The smaller shark tooth shaped thing is lead. I see no connection point for a line. It is painted black. If I scribble on it with a number two pencil, and then wipe off the graphite, I leave a small groove. So it may be older, unhardened, lead.  But the lack of a lot of powdery whitish surface oxidation makes me think it might be newer.  Any ideas?

Also found a bent fork, a possible hinged medicine container, part of a harmonica, and a couple 1950’s wheats along with a couple modern coins.  Found one square nail in a hole with another target. Judging by the racket, I could dig a couple 5 gallon buckets of square nails at this site if I wanted to.

Thanks F350Platinum and Rattlehead!  I used Relic Reaper when the nails weren’t to dense and Silver Slayer otherwise.  This is a new permission and I just scouted it last weekend.  There is a lot left to cover (and learn) and I will keep you posted!

Thanks for looking!

[CPT_GhostLight]

Welcome to the wonderful world of relic hunting, Geologyhound! You found some cool stuff, well done!

That bullet looks like a .45 auto round to me, probably WWII to Korea vintage.

The fork, brass plate and brass ring could be CW period. If you can find the maker's name on the fork, you may be able to narrow that date down.

The lid looks like the top to a ladies compact (face powder). It and the ring feel like 1940's to 60's to me.

Also check that shotgun cap before you toss it out, some of those can be really old.

One suggestion, I use a version of the Silver Slayer on relic sites too, but I lower the first notch to 10-35 and remove the second notch entirely because many buttons can come in the 45-80 range as well as many old decorative and jewelry items on relic sites. IHPs can show up in the 70s because of all the iron.

I know it can be daunting to hear so many sounds at once, but listen for the really good sounding targets between the noise. Good Hunting!

[Gold Seeker]

You're correct on the cartage head stamp for manufacturer and date, for the caliber you need to measure the diameter to be certain...but it looks like around 9mm or also referred too as .380 ACP or it also could be a .32 ACP

[Geologyhound]

4 hours ago, CPT_GhostLight said:

The fork, brass plate and brass ring could be CW period. If you can find the maker's name on the fork, you may be able to narrow that date down.

Also check that shotgun cap before you toss it out, some of those can be really old.

The shotgun shell is a western super X number 12 paper case circa 1927 to 1964.
I won’t swear to it, but I think the fork says TOBY.  If so, that would be FW & WE Oates circa 1877 as per the Trademarks on Base-Metal Tableware catalog at sha.org.

1 hour ago, Gold Seeker said:

you need to measure the diameter to be certain...

I don’t have calipers but the casing looks like 11 mm.

4 hours ago, CPT_GhostLight said:

I know it can be daunting to hear so many sounds at once, but listen for the really good sounding targets between the noise. Good Hunting!

When I am in the thick of the nails, I keep getting a random unclipped good tone - generally at the end of a swing.  Try as I might, I can’t find it again.  I figure it’s probably just a matter of too many targets averaging out wrong, which is why I try to keep my swings short in the machine gun iron.  But this seems to happen frequently - well, at least frequently for the few times I’ve been out with the D2.  I assume this is normal for the D2?

If I don’t find any good targets in a couple spots, I may get industrious and clean out a couple test patches of nails.  Given the history and maps, there has to be something good there, and anybody who might have come through with an older detector had to of missed something with that many nails.

[Geologyhound]

Oh, the container is actually intact but jammed shut.  The logo/drawing on the surface looks like a couple of palm trees, two pyramids, and what might be a human figure with a headdress (Mayan?).

[F350Platinum]

Nice hunt G-hound! 🙂

Running high sensitivity will cause those fairly consistent mid to high tones at the end of a swing. Of course with high sensitivity catching another target on the edge of the coil is also a possibility. With my program if it's not that loud it's probably sensitivity. If it is loud you should look 🤔 Bumping the coil against anything will also do it.

I'd say your bullet is .45 caliber, it was hit with a firing pin and discarded.

Sad but I've found many brass plates with no engraving or stamp.

All in all that's a nice relic hunt, shame you didn't turn up any Civil War stuff but it's probably been detected many times. It's more what I would expect from a Victorian era to present hunt. Cool ring too, look for markings inside the band (I'm sure you know that), but it doesn't look high end, might have been plated. 👍

Have you looked at Historic Aerials topos to see if any houses were in the farm? They would appear as square dots on the older ones. Might zero you in on better stuff.

[kac]

Nice finds!

High trash areas use smallest coil you have and work slow. Overlap your swings and keep it in GB to prevent any falsing. Can't blast your way through with a big coil and high gain or you will most likely get overwhelmed with the noise and miss targets.

[JCR]

Yes .45 ACP,  Frankfort Arsenal  1943.   Ladies makeup compact, possibly "Ashes" brand.

I also see you got an old Schrieder valve stem nut.  Good assortment hunt.

[Geologyhound]

1 hour ago, F350Platinum said:

Have you looked at Historic Aerials topos to see if any houses were in the farm? They would appear as square dots on the older ones. Might zero you in on better stuff.

I have an 1898 topo and a period diagram of the area.  But better than that, the owner had a high quality layout and legend of the camp itself.  That combined with the topo (which matches nicely), and I have a very good idea of where all the buildings were located and their use.  My scouting confirmed two buildings.  I about froze my tail off, and didn’t pin the others down yet.
 

It has been hunted in the past, but not for years per the owner.  The guy that came through in the past found a CW belt buckle on a nearby property and some bullets and a crushed canteen - also on nearby properties.  The bullets were all at the same depth.  Apparently, sentries had no safe/easy way of unloading the guns after guard duty, and would discharge them into the ground. So the bullet depths were not a function of burial over time so much as the power of the rifle and round.  The canteen had been apparently intentionally crushed by a wagon wheel.  Apparently, parts of the camp could get marshy to the point that the tent stakes would not hold, and they would stake the tents through the crushed canteen - sort of a stake footer.

[Valens Legacy]

Nice hunt with a wide range of items.

Good luck on your next outing.