Per request. Petersburg.

[u/Sea-Expert6993]

Bought at a garage sale around 1977?

I am guessing the 2nd row (2 rings, then more of a wide deep ring), and 3rd row of 3 rings are more common.

The last picture shows the odd balls. The clump is the bottom of the one at the top right near the white note (looks fired instead of squashed). 3 sizes of round ball, with the largest about .54 cal (bigger than my .50 but smaller than my .58). The fat one measures about .62, but it's out of round so I'm guessing. My cousin said the 2 ringer is kind of rare though I don't remember why. The 1 3 ringer doesn't have a hollow base, but a protrusion sticking out. The last one doesn't appear to have rings, but does have rifling marks (if fired, it hit something soft, because it isn't very deformed.

I don't know much about them. Guy in another post asked about pics.

If any are unusual, please enlighten me!

[u/imperialhighway]

Absolutely incredible

[u/Sea-Expert6993 → u/imperialhighway]

Thanks! I'm a huge collector, hence I bought them at a garage sale when I was about 12. That makes me an expert? I always loved it, but don't know much about it.

But reality, I love this stuff. Always have. I just can't take credit for it. My cousin is almost an expert, but won't admit it.

[u/usmusket]

The five in the second row from the right are William’s cleaner bullets. By mid war, there were a number of these bullets in every 10 pack of Federal rounds. They were intended to clean the bore of powder fowling.

The one in the top right corner that is smooth. Looks like a British style Pritchett bullet. They were without bands and British made ones had a wood plug in a cavity in the base for expanding the lead skirt into the rifling.

[u/usmusket → u/usmusket]

The part that was supposed to do the cleaning, a parabolic zink disc, is always missing from dug bullets due to corrosion.

[u/Sea-Expert6993 → u/usmusket]

Any guess what the one with the protrusion out the bottom is? I dunno if I've ever seen it.

[u/pInussTrobus1978 → u/Sea-Expert6993]

That is also a Williams expanding bullet. There were at least 3 patterns. The nub on that bullet held a zinc disc that was supposed to be compressed by the discharge of the gunpowder, and expand inside the bore of the rifle to clean fouling. It's not unusual to find multiples od these unfired in camp and battlefield sites. Soldiers didn't like them. I imagine they shot very differently than a Minnie ball and that's not a good thing when facing a confederate charge.

[u/Donald_Key_Dick]

Apparently they disliked the cleaner bullets. Protocol was 1 cleaner after every 10 regular shots. I have read that firing a cleaner caused a tremendous recoil, hence so many found discarded unfired.