It is 7:30 pm here in Richmond, I was just outside chasing rats or cats
with the dogs and I hear that the horrid gunfire of new years celebrants in
the surrounding hoods has begun.  Since I have found two bullets in my
gutters in the three years that we have lived in our nice little house I
expect a chance of the same after tonight.

I do have a question, though ...

At my recent dig at Chesterfield Courthouse, despite intense occupation
during the American Revolution, the Civil War, and 250 years of militia men
and reenactors marching around I found only a few items that could be
related to military activities - two nice gunflints, a CW button (in the
grass!) and a mushroomed Civil War bullet (so badly damaged as to fully
identify).

My question ...

How do we differentiate between bullets that have been fired into flesh,
trees, soil, through clothing, etc?  Have there been any good studies, or
anything on-going?

The bullets in my gutters were still perfectly formed, indicating that
their velocity dropped to natural terminal and are not damaged at that rate.

Happy New Year!

        Dan W.