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Percussion caps or rimless fire?

Crazy Ivan

Full Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2010
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167
Location
Virginia, sweet Virginia
I find these on a regular basis, in areas of high civil war concentrations. I’ve always thought maybe these were percussion caps. But then the other day I was finding a great deal of them and grew curious about identifying them. Problem is, after searching the web they seem larger than those used on rifles. In the photo one has a less shallow base than the other. I had that maybe these could have been rimless percussion, as both have lines on the outside. But then that doesn’t make sense as the ends would make it impossible to remove from a chamber.
I’m at a loss.
 

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They look like jackets from modern copper jacketed bullets to me. But I may well be wrong.
 
Definitely the jackets off of bullets. You can see where the lands and grooves of the rifling inside the barrel of the rifle held them when they were traveling down the barrel.
 
mushroomed bullets

When the lead core and the copper jacket separate, that's what you get.
 

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