Cannon Ball

[Valuejet82]

Hey Everyone.

New member here but I’ve been lurking for a while. I was hoping you can help ID this. My father was hunting a few years ago and came across what he thought was a RW cannon ball and grape shot. See pics below and the RW grapeshot (the one on the left). Anyway I was looking at them and I wanted to see what your thoughts were as I have my doubts. The possible cannon ball is 2.25lbs and has a 7 7/8 inch circumference. The grape shot weighs 3.5oz and both were found near Monmouth battlefield in Freehold NJ. The other grape shot was found near Fort Ticonderoga and weighs 2.7 oz. the .69 caliber musket ball is their for reference. (It as also found near Ticonderoga.) Anyway thanks for any help you can provide.

 

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[Joe-Dirt]

I don’t know enough about cannon balls to confirm, but considering where they came from they look good. You might want to use a set of calipers for dimensions and get a weight because the experts will ask. I’m not 100% sure, but I don’t think they used any musket in .69 cal in the revolutionary war, I think most were .72 cal or larger, but I could be wrong.

 

[Retired Sarge]

Hey Everyone.

New member here but I’ve been lurking for a while. I was hoping you can help ID this. My father was hunting a few years ago and came across what he thought was a RW cannon ball and grape shot. See pics below and the RW grapeshot (the one on the left). Anyway I was looking at them and I wanted to see what your thoughts were as I have my doubts. The possible cannon ball is 2.25lbs and has a 7 7/8 inch circumference. The grape shot weighs 3.5oz and both were found near Monmouth battlefield in Freehold NJ. The other grape shot was found near Fort Ticonderoga and weighs 2.7 oz. the .69 caliber musket ball is their for reference. (It as also found near Ticonderoga.) Anyway thanks for any help you can provide.

Our very own TheCannonBallGuy has a very informative page, hopefully he'll bless us with his vast knowledge, by answering your post. In the meantime peruse his page for information.

SolidShotEssentialsMod

 

[CreakyDigger]

I don’t know enough about cannon balls to confirm, but considering where they came from they look good. You might want to use a set of calipers for dimensions and get a weight because the experts will ask. I’m not 100% sure, but I don’t think they used any musket in .69 cal in the revolutionary war, I think most were .72 cal or larger, but I could be wrong.

The French Charleville musket, used by US troops during the Rev War, was .69 caliber.

 

[A2coins]

Great finds hope they are the real deal and Welcome to tnet Tommy

 

[Joe-Dirt]

The French Charleville musket, used by US troops during the Rev War, was .69 caliber.

That’s right, I forgot about those. Many of those were converted to percussion in the 1840’s and 50’s just prior to the war of northern aggression. I always think of the Brown Bess and those other large bore monsters.

 

[Reanm8er]

Welcome Valuejet, nice finds! Best wishes!

 

[Valuejet82]

Thanks for the reply’s so far. Any other opinions on the cannonball.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Sorry to have to disappoint your hopes, but...
Your photo clearly shows that the iron object you think might be a cannonball is egg-shaped -- which absolutely excludes it from being a cannonball. Every actual cannonball was carefully manufactured (and then inspected by an Ordnance Officer) to be as perfectly-round as a marble or ball-bearing, because being out-of-round would cause it to jam in the cannon's barrel during loading or firing.

 

[Valuejet82]

Sorry to have to disappoint your hopes, but...
Your photo clearly shows that the iron object you think might be a cannonball is egg-shaped -- which absolutely excludes it from being a cannonball. Every actual cannonball was carefully manufactured (and then inspected by an Ordnance Officer) to be as perfectly-round as a marble or ball-bearing, because being out-of-round would cause it to jam in the cannon's barrel during loading or firing.

Thanks for the reply. Actually it is perfectly round It does roll like a marble. It has the same dimensions in all sides.

 

[Valuejet82]

Another picture

 

[Oroblanco]

Just to add on the .69 caliber muskets (French Charleville) also the American muskets including those rare (and rough) Committee of Public Safety muskets as well as the first Springfield muskets were all .69 caliber. It was believed that you could get more shots per pound of lead with the .69 caliber instead of the British .75 caliber 'Brown Bess' muskets, yet be just as lethal.

Nice find congrats!

 

[Tnmountains]

Welcome to the site. I would check out the link posted by ffuries and double check. Pictures can be hard to judge especially with solid shot.

 

[ARC]

Sorry to have to disappoint your hopes, but...
Your photo clearly shows that the iron object you think might be a cannonball is egg-shaped -- which absolutely excludes it from being a cannonball. Every actual cannonball was carefully manufactured (and then inspected by an Ordnance Officer) to be as perfectly-round as a marble or ball-bearing, because being out-of-round would cause it to jam in the cannon's barrel during loading or firing.

Agreed.

Weight and circumference don't jive.

Although 7.88 was used... it weighed like 65 pounds.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

AARC wrote:
> Weight and circumference don't jive. Although 7.88 [inches] was used... it weighed like 65 pounds.

Just a well-intended correction here, my friend. Yes, a cast-iron ball whose DIAMETER is 7.88-inches weighs 65 pounds. But, the ball's poster said its CIRCUMFERENCE is 7 & 7/8 inches. That translates to diameter being 2.506-inches. (Which is approximately correct for this cast-iron ball's reported weight of 2.25 pounds.)

This ball's poster, new-member Valuejet82, wrote:
> Thanks for the reply. Actually it is perfectly round It does roll like a marble. It has the same dimensions in all sides.

Valuejet82, why didn't you tell us in the first place that your photo of that ball GREATLY misrepresents its shape, looking like a chicken-egg.instead of a perfectly-round shape? Very misleading, no?

Secondly...
You are new here, so I'm going to cut you at least a little slack. This forum's unpaid volunteer ID-helpers put a lot of their time and effort into helping strangers (for free) by providing valuable information (the CORRECT identification of unknown objects). When you've been given directions straight to your question's correct answer, do not ignore it and expect the volunteer ID-helpers to do ALL the work for you.

Way back on July 23rd, Ffuries gave you a link to an educational article I co-wrote which (when you follow its simple instructions) proves your dad's 2.50"-diameter iron ball is definitely not any kind of Artillery ball (grapeshot-ball, canister ball, cannon ball, etc.) Why not? Because no 2.50"-diameter ball is listed in the official Historical diameter-&-weight size charts for Artillery balls used in America from the Revolutionary War through the Civil War.

So. did you simply not bother to use the helpful Link which Ffuries gave you, or did you not bother to read through the educational article there?

Here's the slack I said I'd cut you. That educational article I co-wrote (viewable by anybody on the internet, for free) contains the following live-link to the Historical Artillery-ball diameter-&-weights charts:
www.civilwarartillery.com/shottables.htm

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