Quite the interesting find

[Coilcop]

I found a very unique item today, while digging for musket balls. It had inscribed on it:

US NAVY signal hand fired MK80 MOD 0. It has other inscriptions also. I did some research, and rather me describe them here, I will include the link, and if you choose to read it, you may discover what I did, quite the fascinating find!

http://proceedings.ndia.org/5560/Thu.../Hutcheson.pdf

That wasn't all. I was at the musketball site, and I found 23 more musketballs! I did however find a baffling first! I had come to the conclusion that the site I have been finding all these goodies was a Revolutionary period site, because after talking to those more knowledgable than me, they informed me that I would be likely to find some conical bullets as well, if it were from the Civil War. That may have changed today! I found what appears to be a conical bullet, but I have looked at many of them, and this is quite different, and I'm not sure what those were made of, but I believe the one I found was lead! Did I discover a prototype, that was being experimented with way back during the Revolution, when there is no recorded history of their existence? I may be building this find up to be something extraordinary from a historical standpoint, but the funny thing is, I have found over 200 musket balls, and probably another 100 more partial musket balls, but never a conical bullet! Now, in an area where I have found so many more, I find just 1 of these? Really has me wondering, and the fact that I can't find anything like it in any photos, really has my curiosity elevated. I will post some pictures, but I am leaving here shortly and don't have time at the moment. Stay tuned! Quite the day!

[JCWhite]

You have found a lot of those since I joined the forum. You are doing something very right and should be finding a conical soon. HH

[exnavyguy]

To say the least that is an interesting find. Congrats on the musketballs also. I do find it interesting that you were able to come up with that type of information on a possible naval weapon just by searching the internet. I know the stuff exists on the net, but what you found appears to be what we would call in my world, Sensitive but unclassifed, meaning it probably should not be on the internet. Very interesting none the less!

[julieburger]

You are always finding the coolest stuff. Congrats on the awesome goodies.

[pris]

VERY interesting, CoilCop. I really want to see a photo of that inscribed find. Is it a token or medal or is it possibly off of one of the devices??

Is it plausible that the Navy was testing muskets for modern combat at that site?

[The TINMAN]

Really Neat Find and story. Makes ya wonder for sure. Hope no men in black show up at your door.

The TINMAN