I recently picked this unusual piece up out of an old collection where it was simply listed as a “Shaler’s Patent Sectional Bullet”. I didn’t have measuring tools with me at the time but could see right away that it wasn’ a .58. As you can see by the caliper measurement it is clearly a .54 Type C Shaler variant. I have seen and owned several Shaler’s over the years but never heard of an existing example in .54 cal. Is anyone familiar with this size in either excavated or non-excavated condition ? Dean’s original article in North South Trader does not mention it and I do not have my other research books available to me for a bit until my new office is finished.
FYI Both a .54 and .69 Shaler are listed in the 1863 “Instructions for making Quarterly Returns of Ordnance and Ordnance Stores”
