Look at what I found under the feeder from the 1800's

[Hookset]

Found two rifle and two shotgun shells. I was told that the rifle rounds were military issued, and are smashed so that the indians could not reload them.

Hogs had dug up the first one. I found the other with a metal detector.

The proximity to each other is really interesting. The rifle shells were about 15 yards apart, but straight across from each rifle were the shotgun shells. could there have been a stand off. One can only wonder. There was a fort about 30 west of this location.

[AntlerCollector]

Cool find

[BTLowry]

Cool find

Didn't have any idea Indians reloaded

[Bluetex]

Awesome

[Hookset]

one more pic. almost did not recognize it as a rifle hull.

[Hookset]

Cool find

Didn't have any idea Indians reloaded

Yeah, Had a very knowledgeable gentleman explain the entire process. I'll have to find part of the email he sent.

[dbpredator]

Cool find!

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[Efren]

Nice find

[Hookset]

Here's the information I was given about the rifle shell.
"Sure looks like a 50-70 to me. Your measurements tell the tale. Back when Red Cloud was working over the army very badly at Fort Fetterman, in Wyoming, the troops were issued the 50-70 Springfield, and at the wagon box fight the soldiers armed with those single shot, breech loading rifles defeated Red Cloud. Before that, they were armed with muzzle loaders, and Red Cloud was feeding them their lunch. You would think that the inside primed cartridges wouldn't be reloadable, but the Indians got around that by punching a hole in the back of the case, large enough for a cap that would be used on a cap lock rifle or pistol, and dropping a small rock in the case, then filling with powder and topping off by seating a bullet. The rock kept the primer from being pushed into the case without going off. Sounds crude, but it worked, so the army issued an order to smash all the empty cartridges so they couldn't be used over. In my collection, I have a found 50-70 case with a hole punched in it for a primer. The army used the 50-70 from 1866 until 1873, after which, they became surplus, and were sold to civilians, and probably traded to the Indians as well, either legally or illegally. Anyhow, the Indians acquired firearms one way or another. Sitting Bull certainly had Custer out gunned with repeaters while Custer's troops had the single shot Springfields."

[flywise]

Sweet

[Dushon]

Learn something new every day. Thanks for posting


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[asu-indian]

Man I didn't know Indians hunted over feeders. They might get bashed for that.

[Native Texan]

Awesome finds!!

No telling what other artifacts may be nearby just waiting for you to dig up.

[DUKFVR]

Thanks for sharing the story. Very interesting.

[Thumper]

Man I didn't know Indians hunted over feeders. They might get bashed for that.

lol