Please help any information is very much appreciated! šŸ˜

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Joined
Dec 23, 2022
Messages
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Location
Victoria Australia
Hello all, was wondering if someone would be able to help me identify some of my bullet, cartridges and buttons please, very interested in learning about them! Have tried my own net search but havenā€™t had much luck with most of them lol All have been found in vic in the last few months. Shattered I didnā€™t pay closer attention to the hundreds before šŸ˜‚ Also some identification on the last one would be great, no idea with that one lol thank you for your time!
 

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Hello all, was wondering if someone would be able to help me identify some of my bullet, cartridges and buttons please, very interested in learning about them! Have tried my own net search but havenā€™t had much luck with most of them lol All have been found in vic in the last few months. Shattered I didnā€™t pay closer attention to the hundreds before šŸ˜‚ Also some identification on the last one would be great, no idea with that one lol thank you for your time!
 

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Hi Jessica_m,

The item with the number '12' on it, is the base of a shotgun shell, 12 gauge specifically.
Made by FN Belgium
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FN_Herstal
The long projectile looks like it is an old .303 projectile with those cannelure's (grooves around the base)
the earlier projectile of the .303 had rounded tip rather than a pointed tip, usually British or Indian manufacture.
A set of calipers measuring the diameter would tell me more.
https://www.joesalter.com/category/products/CIL-Dominion-Pneumatic-High-Velocity-303-British-Ammohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.303_British
The small complete cartridge is a .22 short, and the soft lead projectiles are .22 also and likely from the mixed .22 short cases you have displayed,
if you weigh the projectiles one by one, they should all be pretty close to each other in weight.
Could have been used for target practice or hunting, and in fact are making quite a comeback in recent times for shooting sports.
You may be on an very old shooting range or camp spot ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.22_Short
I am not sure about this one below, it could be a Flobert projectile, yours is about 5mm, so if it is a projectile it would be soft lead
and may be a 'parlor' CB cartridge or .22 short.
Parlor guns were used for hallway shooting inside houses, mainly by women, while the men 'retired' to the library and drank port, smoked , chatted business.
Flobert did make 4mm, 5mm, 6mm cartridges also.

If it is a 'gallery gun' projectile, they are usually a sintered lead to break up easily on contact with shooting galley steel targets, so are very rare to find loose. Sintered projectiles are made by compressing small particles into the projectile shape, so when they hit the target they would break into dust and not cause danger of ricochets.

What does it weigh please ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis-Nicolas_Flobert
4A013C6F-7401-4F5C-BA2D-A79F55D37CE8.jpeg
So in essence I am not sure if it is a projectile, I have seen the same shape in other items, but it has the right diameter and if you found many of them in the same place as the other items it could be shooting related.

This is the NEW version below, and still hard to get in Australia. No real need for them, so not imported in quantity.

1672365747420.png
 
Just a short story about the 22 bb cartridge. I was working with a man that was doing Motor Registry work at a Country Police Station back in the early1970's, a customer had been looking for the right money for a transaction and had emptied out his pockets onto the counter and one of the bb cartridges rolled across the counter onto the floor, at the time it could not be found, the customer was not worried about, but a couple of hours later it was found by the man behind the counter and he put it in his tobacco tin. A couple of days later he was doing book work with the pipe going well and all of a sudden there was a very loud bang, he fell back on the floor with only the stem of the pipe still in his mouth and bits of smoking tobacco and pipe bowl over him and the counter, it took a few seconds to work out what had happened, only his ego was hurt, it was not funny at the time, but it took a long time before he was able to see the funny side of it, it did make him very wary of what he put in the tobacco tin after that.

Graham
 
Hi Jessica_m,

The item with the number '12' on it, is the base of a shotgun shell, 12 gauge specifically.
Made by FN Belgium
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FN_Herstal
The long projectile looks like it is an old .303 projectile with those cannelure's (grooves around the base)
the earlier projectile of the .303 had rounded tip rather than a pointed tip, usually British or Indian manufacture.
A set of calipers measuring the diameter would tell me more.
https://www.joesalter.com/category/products/CIL-Dominion-Pneumatic-High-Velocity-303-British-Ammohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.303_British
The small complete cartridge is a .22 short, and the soft lead projectiles are .22 also and likely from the mixed .22 short cases you have displayed,
if you weigh the projectiles one by one, they should all be pretty close to each other in weight.
Could have been used for target practice or hunting, and in fact are making quite a comeback in recent times for shooting sports.
You may be on an very old shooting range or camp spot ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.22_Short
I am not sure about this one below, it could be a Flobert projectile, yours is about 5mm, so if it is a projectile it would be soft lead
and may be a 'parlor' CB cartridge or .22 short.
Parlor guns were used for hallway shooting inside houses, mainly by women, while the men 'retired' to the library and drank port, smoked , chatted business.
Flobert did make 4mm, 5mm, 6mm cartridges also.

If it is a 'gallery gun' projectile, they are usually a sintered lead to break up easily on contact with shooting galley steel targets, so are very rare to find loose. Sintered projectiles are made by compressing small particles into the projectile shape, so when they hit the target they would break into dust and not cause danger of ricochets.

What does it weigh please ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis-Nicolas_Flobert
4A013C6F-7401-4F5C-BA2D-A79F55D37CE8.jpeg
So in essence I am not sure if it is a projectile, I have seen the same shape in other items, but it has the right diameter and if you found many of them in the same place as the other items it could be shooting related.

This is the NEW version below, and still hard to get in Australia. No real need for them, so not imported in quantity.

View attachment 6712
Wow thank you so much for all your information šŸ˜Š Iā€™m not sure if itā€™s an old shooting range, Iā€™m in rushworth Victoria, iv read some information on old ww1 pow camps but not sure of exact location or if thatā€™s relevant at all lol Iā€™m out detecting for gold and just decided to see what info I could find on everything else I find lol all from the same 1km area.
The last little one is the only one iv ever found so was pretty interested in any info on it, your comment is exciting lol would love to be able to confirm it! Iv attached weight photo below, I only have these scales so not sure on the exact weight šŸ˜” will have to get some new ones. Also how would I check if itā€™s soft lead?
Thank you again for all your info very much appreciated šŸ˜Š
 

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  • DD873E03-ADA8-4138-8727-90C037F65014.jpeg
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Wow thank you so much for all your information šŸ˜Š Iā€™m not sure if itā€™s an old shooting range, Iā€™m in rushworth Victoria, iv read some information on old ww1 pow camps but not sure of exact location or if thatā€™s relevant at all lol Iā€™m out detecting for gold and just decided to see what info I could find on everything else I find lol all from the same 1km area.
The last little one is the only one iv ever found so was pretty interested in any info on it, your comment is exciting lol would love to be able to confirm it! Iv attached weight photo below, I only have these scales so not sure on the exact weight šŸ˜” will have to get some new ones. Also how would I check if itā€™s soft lead?
Thank you again for all your info very much appreciated šŸ˜Š

Checking if it is soft lead would mean that you have to damage it slightly, because you would have to try to press a knife blade down into it.
If it is 'pure lead' as the projectiles were, a knife blade sharp edge would press a groove or even shave a bit off the side.
But this would be a last measure to test.

An XRF Xray scanner would be nice to use, some precious metals dealers have them, but may charge a fee.

I guess a specific gravity (SG) test would be easiest, this is the best link I can find and it has a video explanation.

SG = Density Specific Gravity of LEAD = 11.34

Follow this to do an SG test - use a cotton thread tied around the item when hanging it in the water.
http://www.johnbetts-fineminerals.com/jhbnyc/articles/specific_gravity.htm
 

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