Bare Neutral in panel

[rookie4now]

I came across something new to me yesterday. In the main panel (meter/main) there was a feed to a sub panel. The wire that was being used was a very old #10 in a some kind of mineral jacket. The strange thing is that there was a mesh bare wire around the conductors that was being used as a neutral. The two conductors were red and black, there was a bare solid copper, then there was this bare mesh wire that ran to the neutral bar. Has anyone else seen this?

I wish I had my camera with me, maybe I can stop by and take a pic. if nobody knows what I am tallking about.

 

[iwire]

Sounds like a type of SE (Service Entrance) cable.

 

[kbsparky]

Yup, that's the old SE cable. Probably the "bare" portion is tinned. I've never encountered #10 SE before, you might be looking at some #8?