Fired Tie ring Base Sharps

[Wilder]

Folks

Being a former Georgia hunter where the tie ring Sharps were not primarily used we found only a few dropped examples but never a fired one.
What I got curious about is that from other regions I can’t recall seeing any fired tie ring Sharps in the junk bullet piles.
Not an uncommon bullet in earlier war sites there must be at least a fair amount of fired ones around somewhere.
If anyone could post some pictures of fired examples of the tie rings and from what region they came out of I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks!

[Daniel in AK]

I have seen them found before but like you sais you just dont come across them often.I think have one fired one myself.It might take a few hours to find it If I have it and I'll post it for you If I find it.Daniel

[Wilder]

Thanks Daniel!

[Daniel in AK]

Found this one at an 1856 Fort in Arizona, but you can deffinetly tell its a ringtail sharpes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v479/DanielinAk/Relics/firedringtail1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v479/DanielinAk/Relics/firedringtail2.jpg

[Wilder]

Daniel
That one is a direct impact on something!
The “I” sprue cut mark survived remarkable well though.
I think that the mid 1850’s would have been a prime time usage of the tie rings.
I don’t think you can tell from that one but I was wondering how evident the three raised rings remained after the bullet went through the barrel.
All the bullet examples shown in the reference books are largely oversized in diameter for the .52 inch bore of the Sharps.
The Sharps to the left measures .555 at its base ring and .488 in the top groove and .500 in the bottom groove.
The Sharps to the right measures .526 at its base ring and .502 in the top groove and .497 in the bottom groove.
This one would seem to be a fired Sharps with its compressed looking tie ring (note the good condition of yours) but lacks any distinct rifling markings.
The diameter is a little large but only by a mere 6 mills but more notably is the pristine nose.
Mold seams appear on the nose sides that disappear down the body as if fired or also as they do when the bullet is swaged for sizing.
Some call these a dropped Sharps pattern with inset grooves but I am not so sure that they aren’t “soft landed” fired bullets.
I have about five of these variants all with pristine noses and close to .52 diameters with no rifling marks.
One could say that the diggers considered them dropped and that’s why they saved them?
Wondering if these were a swaged and dropped or if they are un-impacted landed fired bullets?
By the way Daniel both of these Sharps were dug in Batesville Arkansas.
Thanks for your help!

[Jim T]

Danny,

See the response I posted on Civil War Projectiles. Most of the fired specimens we found at Brandy Station show little distortion from being fired. Feint rifling marks on most.

[Daniel in AK]

hey Wilder its pretty evident from mine that you dont see the raised rings.Now unless you know what your looking for most would not have known that was a fired Ringtail.

Also unlike the ones Jim's talking about,Ive dug at Brandy Sta. myself and the soil there is soft,unlike the baked soil in Arizona.One other note I should mention is that I finally found the gun range from the Fort and upon finding all these casings I decided to check out a hill I figured was used for a backstop and sure enough thats where I started finding all that fired lead.The hill is also cover by tons and tons of rocks,so there ya have why mine has such a hard impact distortion.

Glad I was able to help you out.Daniel

[Wilder]

Daniel
Yeh I guess fired is the answer and soft soil must be the reason so many have pointed noses.
Like you described about Arizona, northern Georgia is just one big chunk of Granit and Quarts!
Most all the fire bullets that we dug were more like lead lumps but occasionally we would find an air drop where they shoot over the hill tops.
Thanks for everything!