Is this an antique shotgun cartridge?

[DocRock]

I'm liking battery...and Neolithic shotgun shell fossil.

 

[AttilaH]

A closer look at the ends suggests there was never a rim. I guess not a flare cartridge, then.

I have no idea what that could be.

Thanks. I agree with JohnKSa that it is a zinc-carbon battery. It's similarity, superficially, to a shotgun shell or flare is uncanny.

 

[AttilaH]

I'm liking battery...and Neolithic shotgun shell fossil.

That's funny . I agree, it's a battery, but it does resemble a shotgun shell fossil, ha, ha.

 

[AttilaH]

Magnets only check for a few types of metals. There are many metals that are not attracted to magnets. Many more that do not than do.Fired shotguns shells are mostly empty (what normally fills them is ejected upon firing) and are therefore quite light.

It does not appear to be firearm related to me; it certainly isn't a shotgun shell.

The last picture showing it split open (especially showing the black rod down the middle) makes me think it is a zinc-carbon battery.

Thanks for your erudite answer. Really appreciated. I had considered that it might be a battery, but the batteries I looked at claimed to have, as I remember, 25% steel, so I assumed all batteries would react to a magnet, and this object didn't. I researched zinc-carbon batteries and everything about this matches.

This thing must have been in the ground a long time. The outer steel case and the inner zinc case were both, completely gone. All that was left was basically the carbon rod and the carbon powder, and that probably explains why I was unable to register any metal. Thanks again! Well done!

I just read that zinc-carbon batteries, circa 1960 and perhaps before, did not have a steel outer case. They used cardboard for the outer case, and zinc for the inner case.

 

[AttilaH]

I say certainly not a cartridge of any kind, too consistant through the length of it. As was previously suggested, it appears to be maybe an electrical component.

Thanks for your answer. I think JohnKSa got it right. It appears to be a zinc-carbon battery.

 

[AttilaH]

Was the center possibly hollow? If so, looks almost like a primitive insulator for wiring

Thanks Kudu. It appears that JohnKSa got it right. It seems to be a carbon-zinc battery.

 

[PWC]

Center piece is probably the carbon rod from the battery. Used to cut open carbon-zinc batt and sharpen to s point, use jumper cables and 100 amp generator in military vehicles to "peck" at lock hasp to open when someone lost key. Also can do emergency temp slot weld

 

[AttilaH]

Center piece is probably the carbon rod from the battery. Used to cut open carbon-zinc batt and sharpen to s point, use jumper cables and 100 amp generator in military vehicles to "peck" at lock hasp to open when someone lost key. Also can do emergency temp slot weld

Yes, I think you're right. I had no idea about the other uses for the zinc-carbon battery. It made me smile

 

[entropy]

It’s a fossil of a 10 million year old shotgun shell.

Time travelers went back into time to hunt dinosaurs and forgot to police their brass. They left some batteries in Iraq, also. Looks like about the right caliber/ gauge for some of the smaller ones. I concur with battery in this case.

 

[Scooter22]

Good thing it's a battery. When I first saw the cut away picture I thought a explosive projectile with the fuse up the middle missing it's nose cap. Looks to be about the size of a 20-30mm cannon. But it didn't go boom when you hit it. If it did we would be still wondering what it was and what happened to you.

 

[AttilaH]

Thankfully, it was just a battery I looked up some cutaway illustrations of 20mm cannon shells and it was uncanny how similar in appearance the internal layout of a zinc-carbon battery is (and the external appearance of the bottom half) to a cannon shell. And I suppose after 80 years in the right kind of soil it would be entirely possible for the outer casing to corrode away as in the case of this battery. In this region it's no joke about leftover munitions from the world wars. At the park behind a flat where I lived in Bratislava, Slovakia, the information sign said there were still WWII stuff in the ground and to leave it alone. Indeed, the hill behind my flat (next to the park), a two minute walk from the building's door, still had what strongly appeared to be, and probably are, the trenches from WWII. About two kilometers away from that site is a deserted concrete bunker on top of another hill with a dominating position over that approach to the city overlooking a plain. Next time I find a battery or something that looks even close to that, I will avoid opening it up.

Good thing it's a battery. When I first saw the cut away picture I thought a explosive projectile with the fuse up the middle missing it's nose cap. Looks to be about the size of a 20-30mm cannon. But it didn't go boom when you hit it. If it did we would be still wondering what it was and what happened to you.