Calling on cannonball guy,, I got another

[Petrie502]

Hey buddy I pretty sure this is a piece of a cannonball just need to know which one and about what a piece like this is worth dug from a major battle site off private land!! I think the casualties were close to 5,000! Anyhow any info would be greatly appreciated, I also dug a steel button kinda looks like a chicken button, it's the only one I've ever pulled that stuck to a magnet!! Thanks for any advice in advance!!

 

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[wvwildman]

pic's?

 

[vpnavy]

Wait until he checks out his posting and see's no pictures!

 

[Petrie502]

Crap sorry I forgot them, there they are

 

[Petrie502]

Wait until he checks out his posting and see's no pictures!

My bad,

 

[wvwildman]

nice find congrats HH

 

[JJohnson]

Outstanding finds...Semper Fi

 

[Petrie502]

Outstanding finds...Semper Fi

Thank you devil and semper fi to you!! What was your MOS!!

 

[Red James Cash]

Possibly Coehorn mortar fragments.

 

[JJohnson]

0311 1986-1991 USMC

 

[Petrie502]

Possibly Coehorn mortar fragments.

What's that

 

[Petrie502]

0311 1986-1991 USMC

Sweet, 0311 0341!!!!1999-2005

 

[CoilyGirl]

Be interesting to see what Cannonball Guy says.

 

[Red James Cash]

Quote Originally Posted by Red James cash View Post
Possibly Coehorn mortar fragments.
What's that

Coehorn Mortar - by WL Ruffell

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Many times when I'm asked to ID a "shell fragment," it unfortunately turns out to be a piece of broken iron pot or waterpipe. Happily, this time I'm able to give good news... it IS a fragment of an explosive cannonball.

"Precise" measurements would help, but based on size comparison with the US quarter-dollar in the photos, it appears to be a fragment from a 12-pounder caliber (4.62-inch) cannonball.

And, assuming you are hunting a civil war era battlefield, it very likely is a Confederate cannonball fragment, based on the type of fuzehole in it. Your shell-frag's fuzehole lacks threading for a screw-in fuze, which means it held a wooden fuzeplug. Very-very few yankee 12-pounder cannonballs had a wooden fuzeplug,

More specifically, your frag is from what was called a Case-Shot shell -- which meant the shell contained antipersonnel balls, in addition to the usual blackpowder bursting-charge. A shell which contained only gunpowder was called a Common-Shell {"common" meant plain/ordinary shell).

For 12-pounder caliber cannonballs, the shellwall-thickness of a Common-Shell was about .7-inch. For the 12-pdr. Case-Shot version, the shellwall-thickness was about .45-inch... which appears to be the thickness of your 12cannonball fragment. The difference in shellwall-thickness can be clearly seen in photos below, showing a sawed-in-half 12-pounder Common-Shell and a 12-pounder Case-Shot (with the antipersonnel balls inside it).

Pardon me please, but I must contradict a previous poster's guess -- IF you dug it in Kentucky, it is not a Coehorn (mortar) shell-fragment. The nearest place to Kentucky that any 12-pounder caliber Coehorns were used was at siege of Vicksburg Mississppi.

Knowing you are new to the metal-detecting hobby, and again assuming you are hunting a civil war era battlefield, I'll say congratulations on finding your first civil war artillery shell fragment.

 

[Petrie502]

Many times when I'm asked to ID a "shell fragment," it unfortunately turns out to be a piece of broken iron pot or waterpipe. Happily, this time I'm able to give good news... it IS a fragment of an explosive cannonball.

"Precise" measurements would help, but based on size comparison with the US quarter-dollar in the photos, it appears to be a fragment from a 12-pounder caliber (4.62-inch) cannonball.

And, assuming you are hunting a civil war era battlefield, it very likely is a Confederate cannonball fragment, based on the type of fuzehole in it. Your shell-frag's fuzehole lacks threading for a screw-in fuze, which means it held a wooden fuzeplug. Very-very few yankee 12-pounder cannonballs had a wooden fuzeplug,

More specifically, your frag is from what was called a Case-Shot shell -- which meant the shell contained antipersonnel balls, in addition to the usual blackpowder bursting-charge. A shell which contained only gunpowder was called a Common-Shell {"common" meant plain/ordinary shell).

For 12-pounder caliber cannonballs, the shellwall-thickness of a Common-Shell was about .7-inch. For the 12-pdr. Case-Shot version, the shellwall-thickness was about .45-inch... which appears to be the thickness of your 12cannonball fragment. The difference in shellwall-thickness can be clearly seen in photos below, showing a sawed-in-half 12-pounder Common-Shell and a 12-pounder Case-Shot (with the antipersonnel balls inside it).

Pardon me please, but I must contradict a previous poster's guess -- IF you dug it in Kentucky, it is not a Coehorn (mortar) shell-fragment. The nearest place to Kentucky that any 12-pounder caliber Coehorns were used was at siege of Vicksburg Mississppi.

Knowing you are new to the metal-detecting hobby, and again assuming you are hunting a civil war era battlefield, I'll say congratulations on finding your first civil war artillery shell fragment.

Thanks cannon ball for your very detailed response! I'm not new to detecting though I have about 9 years under my belt not near as much as you but it's something!! Anyhow I pmed you as well