Can I get a little help with a musketball?

[ToastedWheatie]

Using a caliper, the only round spot to round spot measurement I can get comes in at just over .64". Perfect for a .65 ball in a .69 caliber musket. ( I think?)

But the weight comes in at 23.3 grams : 359.5739 grains.

I'm finding that the "normal weight should be around 420 grains.

Maybe some shredded off.

But then I read this in another forum during a search. Not sure what it even means, "Give or take, a standard US (or CS) .69 cal Musket ball is "around" 420 grains, at .650" diameter.
But, on page 105 in Round Ball to Rimfire they have listed a 360 grain, .636" diameter ball for "Charleville" Rev war, Hudson highlands, New York."

Although no battlefield nearby, the Continental army was a mile away for a year, and the spot I'm in is very close (if not spot on) where militia camped for a while.

But this also could have been shot at a deer in 1850. I don't know...

Any thoughts?

 

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[smokeythecat]

My guess is an American ball from the Revolution. Perhaps even the French & Indian War. When I dug Brandywine Battlefield (1777), I was digging the American lines are most of the balls were .64 and .65 caliber. I never, ever found a .69, .72 or .75 ball there.

 

[Joe-Dirt]

I shoot 2 .69 caliber military muskets in competition and although they are “69” cal, the round balls I make and use are either .678 or .669 depending on the gun. Smoothbores get so dirty so quickly it would have been advantageous to use smaller ammunition to be able to fire more without have to clean your musket.