Fused Balls

[atr]

I recall sometime ago watching a program on the history channel regarding the history of the gun . During the course of the show they talked about some amazing finds on some civil war battlefields . Many round balls and minnie balls were found fused together . The lead was so thick in the air that many projectiles , travelling in opposite directions struck eachother in the air and fused together . Anybody believe that ?

 

[musketman]

Many round balls and minnie balls were found fused together. Anybody believe that ?

You better believe that... Two minie-balls, one fired from each side, hit in mid-air and fused together...

With tens of thousands of rounds fired at each other, it's no wonder we don't find more of these mid air collisions...

 

[atr]

So it is true . I kinda thought it may be possible but they showed no example on the program so i've always wondered if it was an exaggeration to underline the ferocity of the fight . Art

 

[musketman]

Anytime you have two opposing forces firing on each other at close, range this can happen, even on the modern battlefields...

It's really amazing that there was those who survived the frontlines without a scratch...

 

[musketman]

Here is another "FUSED" bullets...

These two bullets collided during the 1863 siege of Port Hudson, a critical battle for control of the Mississippi. One is a three ringer, the other is probably a canister ball.

 

[Leonredbeard]

atr,
At Petersburg, VA, at the battlefield museum they have a two tailed bullet, ie, two bullets collided head on, on display in a glass case. That set me to thinking. Two men on opposite sides had to be aiming, whether knowingly or not, at each other's right eyeball and pull the trigger virtually simultaneously. A hair raising proposition at best. And both survived, at least until another bullet arrived. :shocking:
God bless.
volatpluvia

 

This is not a mid-air fused bullet story but somewhat interesting. When I was in college, everyone in the vicinity used to drive out to a national park that was near the school and shoot target, plink, streak thru the brush naked, etc. There was an old large cypress next to a creek that was at the end of a logging road and it was natural to pin targets on the tree and have at it. So many people shot that the tree, which was about 2 feet thick, a hole began to develop in the center. The tree finally died and fell over just like it had been felled with an ax. I was shooting at a target one afternoon with a pistol and after a shot, saw a silver object fly past my head going the other way. Turned out to be the bullet I'd just fired and it was still hot. We figured it hit the base of another slug and ricocheted straight back. There were also many bullets in the tree that were fused in various positions from being hit by successive shots. I was casting my own then and mined quite a bit of lead from that old tree and the surrounding ground.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Yep. My Grandpa picked up two FMJ spitzer bullets in WWI that had struck and fused together. Put enough lead in the air and things like that can happen.

Carlos Hathcock, a Marine sniper in Vietnam, once shot an unsure target that was just a flash and it turned out he placed his bullet into the ocular lens on a VC sniper's scope. They were aiming directly at each other.

 

Saw an interesting photo once of a confederate barrel that had a split running from the muzzle to about half way down. When they got looking at it, they noticed an object stuck in the barrel, and thought that the gun had misfired. The only problem was that the split was AFTER the object. On closer examination, someone realized that it was a bullet all right, but it was going IN, not OUT. They carefully extracted a Union 3 ringer from this gun that had, in the heat of battle, gone down the muzzle of the gun and stuck half way before Johnny Reb had a chance to discharge his weapon. Luckily the hapless Reb didn't fire!