Any ID on this group

[Christoph1945]

Among the many hundreds ( if not thousands )of .30 & .303 projectiles lying on Talacre beach; there are a small number of the above items. Using an electronic calliper; the best among them gives a measurement of 6.67mm.

Strange little critters; I didn't like the look of them, so they have been kept wet and are presently sitting in a bucket of water until identified.

Chris

[slinky]

great haul there, why are you keeping them in a bucket of water though?

[Christoph1945]

great haul there, why are you keeping them in a bucket of water though?

Hi Slinky, unlike all the other projectiles that I have found on the beach at Talacre; only those eight have corroded in a strange way. I was concerned that their inner section may not be the standard lead antimony mix that is added to give bullets more clout. I thought that the stuff inside could, perhaps, be something nasty. Any ideas?

Chris

[slinky]

Quite wise to keep them in bucket, if your dubious of the make up, cant say I have seen corrosion like that on a projectile before. But see where your coming from now!
Post up some closer pics and maybe I or others on here can help.
Cheers

[hobster]

Hi Chris,
Is there any colour paint left on the tips of any of the bullets as it's a bit hard to tell from photo.

[Christoph1945]

No signe of any paint, but the inner material seems to slightly protrude through the copper jacket at the point. I will try and produce a couple of macro shots and see if that helps.

I was initially surprised by the small caliber of the objects, and perhaps being so small; the copper jackets are a lot thinner?

Chris

[RRPG]

They look ok to me. I suggest you let them stand in the open air for a week in a nice sunny spot in the garden. If nothing happens after that time it's not going to.

In my experience standard ball rounds tend to corrode from the inside out and will, if the jacket is split or damaged in any way, seem to 'protrude' from it. If they are incendiary, (and hence contain phosphorus or similar material), a week in the air will get them to show their colours.

I can see one, bottom left, that seems to have a protrusion from the base of the bullet. They are the ones to watch, or ones with a screw in the bottom.

Hope that helps.

RRPG

[Christoph1945]

Thanks RRPG, I just had a go at producing a better set of shots ( pardon the punn ) but am having problems with the lighting. When you say screw; what would the screw head look like? Just like a nail head?

Chris

[RRPG]

Nah, an actual screw. There was a thread in this forum showing on a few weeks back.

[Christoph1945]

Ta will look it up, and hopefully post some better photographs tomorrow.

Chris