✅ SOLVED Are these real cannon balls?

[Kenneth331166]

Hello everyone, I have several "cannonballs" that I have picked up recently and I have some concerns about them. All were supposedly found in Texas, although not by me, and I was wondering if any are authentic artillery and if they could possibly have been in use during the time of the Mexican-American War or even the Texas Revolution. None appear to match up with the shot tables from the Civil War period, but could they be from earlier, or perhaps Mexican ordnance? Or are they something else entirely?

Here are the measurements as close as I can get them. None have any markings that I can see, except for the very pronounced mold seam and sprue on the first one.
1. diameter: 3.125
weight: 4lb 4oz

2. diameter: 3.5
weight: 6lb 7.1oz

3. diameter: 3.5
weight: 5lb 11.7oz

4. diameter: 2.95
weight: 3lb 9.5oz

 

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[mick56]

You can use this website to identify:

SolidShotEssentialsMod

 

[Kenneth331166]

Thanks for the reply. That is a great article with a lot of good information but still only covers Civil War era American shot. Does anyone know if earlier shot was different or know the specs for Mexican shot?

 

[duggap]

Kenneth hang in there until the cannonballguy checks in. He is the expert on artillery.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Kenneth331166, as my posting-name indicates, pre-1900s artillery projectiles are my specialty-area of relic study. If you're interested in my professional credentials in that area, see the "About me" section in my TreasureNet profile. I am not mentioning that as bragging... only to establish my credibility in analyzing the metal balls you posted in your relic-ID request.

Before I go further:
There were three basic kinds of cannon ammunition... cannonballs, Grapeshot-balls, and Canister-ammo balls. In the following text, because there were three ammo-types of metal balls, I am using the generic term "artillery balls" to cover all three types/

A key aspect of accurate cannonball ID is to correctly determine what type of metal the ball is made of. No artillery balls made of Steel were ever used in North America. They were simple cast-iron. Steel is a heavier alloy of iron than simple cast-iron. Steel is typically approximately 10% heavier than cast-iron. So, if a "mystery ball" weighs more than a SAME-SIZE cast-iron one does, it is not an artillery ball.

Thank you for already providing the crucially necessary VERY-PRECISE measurements of the four balls' diameter and weight. Your measurements prove that three of the balls are made of Steel. Therefore those three are absolutely not artillery balls.

For example:
Ball #1. diameter: 3.125
weight: 4lb 4oz

The Ordnance Manual lists a cast-iron cannonball which is 3.12"-diameter, the exact same size as yours. But the cast-iron ball weighs 4 pounds 1 ounce -- and your same-size ball is 3 ounces heavier than that. So, yours is made of Steel, and thus is not an artillery ball.

Ball #4 has the same problem... it is too heavy (for its size) to be a cast-iron ball, so it is not an artillery ball.

An additional example of important difference in weight:
Ball #2. diameter: 3.5
weight: 6lb 7.1oz
and
Ball #3. diameter: 3.5
weight: 5lb 11.7oz
Notice that those two balls are the same diameter size, but one is 11 ounces heavier than the other.

The Ordnance Manual includes a cast-iron 3.58"-diameter ball, which weighs 6 pounds 1.5 ounces. So, your Ball #2, which is very slightly smaller but is 6 ounces heavier, cannot be an artillery ball.

The good news is that your ball #3 CAN be a 1700s or early-1800s cannonball. At that time, cannonballs were slightly smaller than civil war era ones of the same Caliber. For example, a civil war era 6-Pounder caliber cannonball was 3.58"-diameter, and earlier ones were approximately 3.52"-diameter... thus weighing a few ounces LESS than 6 pounds.

I should mention:
Prior to the late-1800s, metal refining and casting was not as "advanced" as it became after that time. Cast-iron manufactured before the late-1800s frequently contained air-bubbles which got trapped inside the molten metal during the casting/molding process. I have personally done super-precise weighing of MANY 1700s-through-civil-war Solid-Shot (not hollow, explosive) artillery balls which weighed several ounces less than they should, because of internal casting-flaw air bubbles. So, I believe your Ball #3 is a 6-Pounder caliber Solid-Shot cannonball from the 1700s or early-1800s with casting-flaw bubbles inside it.

In closing, I should also say here, as I did in the Solid Shot Essentials article (at SolidShotEssentialsMod ):
Every "real" cannonball HAD to be very carefully manufactured to be perfectly-round, because being out-of-round (bumpy or "globular," like an apple or a potato) could cause the ball to jam in the cannon's bore, which could make the cannon itself burst apart when it was fired. BUT, a small ridge on the ball resulting from the casting-mold's seam does not count against perfect roundness. I notice that your photos show Ball #1 and Ball #2 are "out-of-round" instead of being perfectly-round (like a ball-bearing or a glass marble). Therefore, I am certain that Ball #1 and Ball #2 are definitely not an artillery ball, even without measuring their size and weighing them.

 

[Kenneth331166]

Thank you so very much everyone, especially CannonBallGuy!