Found with a metal detector at a gold mine in New Mexico.
1942 silver nickel hit with a steel BB.
1942 silver nickel hit with a steel BB.
N/A A nickels worth
- Thread starter Bedrock Bob
- Start date
Silver is mighty soft. I don't know how powerful a 1942 BB gun was or what range.
It bent it. Like it was stuck in a crack when it was shot.
Maybe it was one of those old gallery guns? They shot steel BBs in a little brass case.
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I used to shoot nickels and quarters with a .22lr. If you didn’t hit it in the center, it just put a dent in it. Center hits punched a hole right thru. ….a long time ago. John
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Thanks. I was fixin' to type all that out with my thumb.
The wartime nickels were switched to silver. Nickel was needed for the war effort. So a 1942 D nickel is a "silver nickel".
It's soft.
Guys would bet a shiny nickel you couldn't hit it. Some poor sap hit it and couldn't find it. I found his nickel 83 years after he shot it.
It was hit with a steel BB. What that BB was fired from remains a mystery. Either a BB gun at close range or a gallery gun.
I also found several pinfire shotgun shell heads there. Rare as hens teeth. Old as the hills. The (external) hammer hit the pin on the side. Probably fired about 1870-1880.
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I think if you stuck it in a crack in the rock and hit it with a BB gun at fairly close range it would bend it like that.
I'm just guessin'. I don't have a Red Ryder and another 1942D nickel to test it.
I was surprised at the power. It bent it over good. I have no idea how it got punched like that. I found it in the ground way the f@$k out in the desert so I'm just assuming...
It wasn't a lead projectile. There is a perfectly spherical crater. The projectile didn't yield at all against the coins alloy. It was a steel BB.
That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
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Anything is possible. It sure looks like a steel BB impact to me. But the bend IS freaky. I assumed because it was a "silver" nickel. I might be totally wrong.
I'm going to clamp a new nickel in a vice and shoot it with my HW95. Maybe some comparisons can be made...
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Experimenting is the fun part.
I also have my doubts as well if a BB gun did that? That is a fair size ball and dent.
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Interesting finds with your detector. The war nickels probably stayed in circulation for 25-30 years, so in the time between 1942 and 1972, I'd say the most powerful dedicated BB gun was the Benjamin 310, and I don't see it doing that to any nickel even at ten pumps.
I have multiple of both, so perhaps a test to see what one will do to a silver war nickel could be an interesting experiment when time permits.
I have multiple of both, so perhaps a test to see what one will do to a silver war nickel could be an interesting experiment when time permits.
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The mines in the area were shuttered for the war effort and never re-opened. The boomtown died and things faded into the desert. The coin was found in a very remote area where very few people frequent. The wear on the coin suggests it wasn't carried very long. It's in very good shape other than the impact.
I'm guessing it was shot not long after the date on the coin. That's just a wild guess. Nickels aren't worth much when you have to travel 80 miles to spend it. And the only people in the area (still) are a few ranchers and a handfull of old gold miners.
Most artifacts you find there are between 1860-1941. The assumption is it was shot roughly in that time period. That may be wrong just like my observations of the impact crater. But I think it's a pretty good (poorly) educated guess.
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Perhaps the “bb” marks were from a shotgun? It looks like there are two impacts right next to each other where they hit.
But we will probably never know the true story of what happened that fateful day this nickel was shot.
But we will probably never know the true story of what happened that fateful day this nickel was shot.
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That's really cool. I tip my hat off to whoever did it...I have ZERO skill at hitting any sort of moving target!
I found this one right in my own back yard many years ago - had to have been a rimfire. Maybe the neighborhood rich kid showing off, LOL...a quarter was real money in 1943! (Though of course the shot might've come years later.)
I found this one right in my own back yard many years ago - had to have been a rimfire. Maybe the neighborhood rich kid showing off, LOL...a quarter was real money in 1943! (Though of course the shot might've come years later.)
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