What Caliber is This?

[Boog]

Holy cow! Is that the exit side? Maybe a new way to split wood? How much are those bullets?
How far away were you from the tree? 44 mag is a hand gun right?

Posted this thread about it earlier: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/hunting-timber-with-my-taurus-44-mag.99828/#post-1275973

I was about 60 yards from the tree. I reload so my costs are different, but good 44 mag ammo runs north of a $1.00/rnd now.

 

[Highbeam]

Depth of old bullet in tree can be a result of energy in the traveling bullet or time spent in the trunk while the tree grows around it.

Love the bullet in the cabinet board.

 

[fabsroman]

A 30 cal is not going to have deep penetration in most trees. That bullet probably made it to just "submerged". Years of growth covered it up and bada bing...you got bullet in tree with no trace marks.

I'll disagree with that. Maybe a 30 caliber bullet from a 30/30 will not have much penetration, but one from a .300 Win Mag or a .300 Remington Ultra Mag will have a ton of penetration. Unless of course the bullets are not built for penetration, but you don't see that much in 30 caliber. Definitely find it in .22 caliber bullets for varmints and possibly all the way up to .25 caliber.

 

[Jags]

I'll disagree with that. Maybe a 30 caliber bullet from a 30/30 will not have much penetration, but one from a .300 Win Mag or a .300 Remington Ultra Mag will have a ton of penetration.

I would venture a bet that that bullet in that tree happened before ultra and win mag were around.
Winmag (1963)
Ultra (1999)

Alot of old hunters used the 30/30 round because it works well in the bush. Very common when rifles were allowed in the midwest area.

 

[fabsroman]

I would venture a bet that that bullet in that tree happened before ultra and win mag were around.
Winmag (1963)
Ultra (1999)

Alot of old hunters used the 30/30 round because it works well in the bush. Very common when rifles were allowed in the midwest area.

I believe the 30/30 is still the most common rifle around.

Alright, so it definitely was not a .300 Remington Ultra Mag and possibly not a .300 Win Mag, but what about a .30-06? Believe that came out in 1906.

 

[Delta-T]

we also have no idea of knowing how far any particular round was fired before entering the tree. you shoot at something and miss...bullets just keep on going till they find a home...that home could be pretty far down range depending on the landscape and whatnot....just sayin.

 

[Jags]

30/06 is a really nice round, but not like it will penetrate 10 inches into a healthy tree (and it probably would have distorted the bullet far more).

And Delta raises a valid point as well.

 

[fabsroman]

we also have no idea of knowing how far any particular round was fired before entering the tree. you shoot at something and miss...bullets just keep on going till they find a home...that home could be pretty far down range depending on the landscape and whatnot....just sayin.

And I completely agree about that too. That is one of the things I was wondering about. Could the bullet have traversed a mile and found its resting place in the outer most layer of a tree? Quite possible.

 

[Jags]

And I completely agree about that too. That is one of the things I was wondering about. Could the bullet have traversed a mile and found its resting place in the outer most layer of a tree? Quite possible.

That could be it, as well.

 

[Delta-T]

That could be it, as well.

you learn about these things when you train to be a ninja, like I did, back in '82 WASABI!

 

[Jags]

You don't "train" to be a ninja...you are born that way.

 

[Hawkeye]

OK so I dug the bullet out. It was a lot more deformed than I expected!

I'm no forensics expert but I do shoot muzzleloader (.50 cal) and reload .223, 6mm and 0.45. Looking at it with a co-worker who also reloads, we both guessed it to be around a 0.40 cal bullet, but figured it was more likely a 0.50 cal blackpowder round from someone deer hunting in the area. It had penetrated about 4 inches or so, and then the tree grew back in around where it went in - making the total depth about 6 inches.

p.s. - this was guesstimated without ninja training