Any Idea What This Is?

[dhberb]

Looking for ideas to help us identify an object (pictures attached) my husband found. He seems to think it may be some part/piece of heavy artillery so that's what I've been researching. After spending hours surfing the internet, I found this site and decided to post pics here.

The object in question is cylindrical, weighs approx 16 pounds with a 4 1/8" diameter and "stands" 3 1/8" high/tall. We are guessing that the metal is lead because it is soft/malleable, non-magnetic, and obviously very heavy. There are what look like possible rifling striations all around the sides, and there is an indentation measuring about 1" diameter (or so) in the center of what we believe to be the bottom side. There is also a bluish-gray marking that resembles markings of being sliced/cut on what we're calling the top.

I guess I've tried to describe it as best I can, so I'll just yield to the pictures.

 

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[timekiller]

Could very well be the sabot end of a round.Here's a good site for these from the civil war era.I picked one to show you what I mean.
http://www.civilwarartillery.com/
Take Care,
Pete,

Federal
Absterdam


DIAMETER: 4.4 inches
GUN: 4.5-inch Siege Rifle
LENGTH: 10 1/2 inches
WEIGHT: About 32 pounds
CONSTRUCTION: Common Shell
SABOT: Lead
FUZING: Zinc Fuze Plug

This projectile proved to be an utter failure in field trial at Petersburg, Virginia, in 1864. Its use during the war was very limited.

 

[nova treasure]

thinking Lead sabot to a Dyer case shot projectile ?

Bill

 

[bradyboy]

could it be a point for pushing a hole underground to lay pipe.
Pipe boring
because its a soft alloy, used in gas applications because it wont spark
Brady

 

[dhberb]

Appreciate everyone's thoughts/ideas. We'll probably never know for sure.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Though I can see why y'all thought it might be, I do not recognize it as any kind of an artillery projectile, nor a part of one, from any era of history.

Does a magnet stick to it anywhere?

 

[dhberb]

It was stated in the original post that this object it non-magnetic (that may have been grammatically wrong). Tried various types/strengths of magnets...none would stick.

 

[timekiller]

I'm sure the cannonball guy knows best,as far as it not being a lead sabot.To me it's for sure lead though no doubt from the looks of it & weight for the size you say.Only other thing I've seen simular is sometimes I've found lead that was melted down & poured in cans like say coffee cans.I have found lead like this before but could tell that's what had been done.And never found a 16lb piece like that though.If it's not a sabot then maybe it's just scrap lead melted down like I talked about above.But boy I tell ya it sure looks close to a sabot to me.
Take Care,
Pete,
http://www.relicman.com/artillery/zArchiveArtSawyer.htm

 

[dhberb]

Thanks for the additional comments, Pete. The "top" side of that photo you added does strongly resemble the "top" of our object. My husband just can't get past the markings (striations) that are all around the sides...such a striking resemblance to rifling marks. Think he really wants it to be something that was shot out of a cannon. : )

 

[bradyboy]

The marking don't strike me as rifeling marks but repeated pushing marks, as though it was push or driven many times
Looks like lead, which wont spark when used in natural gas boring applications
Brady

 

[High Plains Digger]

How many "rifeling" marks are there? That would be very indiciative of something, and Cannonballguy will know how many grooves there are in any given rilfled cannon.

 

[dhberb]

bradyboy...just guessing here, but were you perhaps looking at the image directly above your post when you said the the marks on the object looking more like "repeated pushing marks" rather than the original pics? Because I would agree, those do look like pushing marks.

 

[dhberb]

How many "rifeling" marks are there? That would be very indiciative of something, and Cannonballguy will know how many grooves there are in any given rilfled cannon.

Very hard to get an accurate count of the marks; can't determine for sure which ones should be counted. Some are very deep and the full length of the object; some are shallow and full length; some are shallow and short; some are very deep and short.

I took some additional photos in direct sunlight, with the object standing on end, turning it 1/4 turn each time to show the markings all the way around. I did not reduce the size (sorry they're so big) so that if you click on the image attachment link, you can zoom in tight to see clearer details.