cayugad

Some interesting finds in the woods. The snowbank that I had been shooting into is of course finally melted. And as I was out in the yard I could see something in the grass. Going over were a large number of round ball of all sizes. (a total of 32 ball were found and 16 bullets).

The interesting thing is, the larger caliber ball made it further into the snow bank. Now this could be for a number of reasons. Melting snow, or heavier powder charges in the heavy calibers. Also some of the actually bullets out of the different inline rifles went further then some of the ball through the snow bank.

Last I measured a number of the ball. Most of them were original size. A lot of .530 ball and a few of the .490. There were some of the .570. But it seems some of them actually tried to flatten out some in the hard snow. And as you can see, some of the bullets actually opened up in the hard packed snow bank. And many of them show a real lack of rifling marks. Although the short starter did indent them. A few did show swirls on the outside of the ball. I guess for some reason I found all this really interesting.

I need to go further back in the woods and see if I can spot some of the other ball and such that "might" have made it through the snow bank. I know one afternoon I was out there shooting large conical bullets in the White Rifles, but I found none of them yet. Could they have penetrated that snow bank? The snow bank was about 8 feet thick. So that should be interesting to check out when it stops raining.

bronko22000

Pretty nifty.. I guess you can throw those balls in the melting pot and make new ones. That one bullet looks like you can just reload it!

smyrnagc

Curious...On the back row, from left to right, are #3 and #5 Gold Dots or XTPs?

cayugad

Those are 300 grain Gold Dot but they are a flat nose not a hollow point. I forget what they are called but my little Knight LK-II shoots them so good with 85 grains of black powder. I always figured they'd be a good hunting load.

cayugad

Bronko some of them bullets look so pristine I honestly think I could reload them and shoot them again. But ... they will go into the melting pot.

smyrnagc

They don't appear to have been effected at all. Would you consider it a good bullet to hunt with?

cayugad

The beauty of a snow bank is until its frozen solid, bullets can pass into them but not out of them. I have shot those Gold Dots into media and their expansion is exceptional. While I have never take a game animal with them, I would not hesitate at all if presented a shot to shoot them at deer, even bear.

sabotloader

Dave I am really glad you pointed out the capabilities of shooting into snow and the possibilities of capturing the bullet. More importantly the fact that snow in itself does not always cause expansion.

Sgt Recoil

I always enjoy digging up my projectiles to see what they or how they performed.
Terminal or forensic ballistics if you will. Thanks for sharing