A group of fellow detectorists and I had a friend from out of town visit for the weekend. We decided to take him to an abandoned village from the late 1800's. We've previously hunted this place a number of times, had some amazing finds over the last few months. After about 3 hrs we all met up to show our finds and take a break. We were all discussing how we made out, nobody was setting the world on fire. My friend from out of town started messing around saying, "there's nothing but nails here, and when are we going to find something good?" As we started on our way, I decided to move some tree limbs by where we were standing. I started swinging my coil and got a good signal, 21-23 a little grunt, but mostly solid. I was thinking it was a roasted large cent on edge. I called everyone over to prove there were targets. We all tried guessing what it could be. It was about 6"-8" deep. I dug the plug, out popped what I thought was a brass hose nozzle. I picked it out of the hole and brushed off the dirt. To my surprise, it wasn't a hose nozzle at all, it was a brass pistol! After researching my find, according to the makers mark, its brass black powder boot pistol made in Belgium between 1811 and 1892! The timeframe puts it as a possible use in the U.S. civil war!
Digger RJ - Missouri/Oklahoma, USA
