Civil War Cannonball?

[j20bit]

A friend from Norfolk, VA gave this to me. He said he found it locally, buried on his property. I was wondering if this was Civil War or earlier? It is made of iron. Weighs 12.77 lbs. Diameter is about 4 1/4 - 4 3/4 inches. It has some traces of what seems to be paint. Gold and green flakes, possibly from two separate paint coats. Let me know if there is any other information I can try to provide. Is it possible for anyone to date this find?

 

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[fyrffytr1]

Welcome to the forums. I can't help you but TheCannonballGuy will be along shortly to help.If not you can send him a private message. Look up members under the community link near the top of this page, then go to page 74, I think and you will find his name. Click on it and go from there. Good luck and I hope it is the real thing.

 

[j20bit]

Welcome to the forums. I can't help you but TheCannonballGuy will be along shortly to help.If not you can send him a private message. Look up members under the community link near the top of this page, then go to page 74, I think and you will find his name. Click on it and go from there. Good luck and I hope it is the real thing.

Thanks! With a name like that, I am sure he has the answer!

 

[fyrffytr1]

Until we get a better answer here is a list of dimensions and weights for solid shot.

Descriptions of solid shot for smoothbore guns​
Caliber designation	Bore Diameter in inches	Diameter of shot in inches	Weight in pounds (Shot)	Weight in pounds (Shell)	Mean weight in pounds (Case shot)
1-Pdr.		1.95	1
3-Pdr.	2.9	2.84	3.05
4-Pdr.	3.2	3.12	4.07
6-Pdr.	3.67	3.58	6.1		3.22
9-Pdr.	4.20	4.10	9.14
12-Pdr.	4.62	4.52	12.25	8.34	6.22
18-Pdr.	5.30	5.17	18.3	13.45	9.27
24-Pdr.	5.82	5.68	24.3	16.8	12.32
32-Pdr.	6.40	6.25	32.4	22.5	16.12
42-Pdr.	7.0	6.84	42.5	31.3	20.73
8-inch	8.0	7.88	65	44.12 (Mortar) 49.75 (Gun)	30.36
9-inch	9.0	8.87	88	70
10-inch	10.0	9.87	127.5	88.42 (Mortar) 101.67 (Gun)
11-inch	11.0	10.87	165	132
12-inch	12.0	11.87	222
13-inch	13.0	12.87	282.84	197.3 (Mortar) Model 1841
15-inch	15.0	14.85	400 (varies)	330 (varies)

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

First thing, let me thank you for having ALREADY weighed your ball on a Precision weighing scale, such as a Postal Shipping scale, which gives super-accurate reports in tenths-of-an-ounce. I usually have to try to persuade a ball's finder to do that, because the ball's PRECISE weight is a key clue for correctly identifying it as an actual cannonball or a civilian-or-industrial-usage ball, such as Milling Ball or a Sports Shot-Put ball.

Now, unfortunately, I must tell you that your ball's precisely-measured weight (12 pounds 7.7 ounces) means it definitely is not a cannonball.

Literally multi-millions of civilian-or-industrial-usage metal balls have been manufactured. Examples are:
Mill Balls (used in the Mining-&-Stonemilling industry to crush ore, so sometimes called crusher-balls)
machinery-counterweight balls
ornamental ironwork balls (such as fencepost tops, gatepost tops, etc)
sports Shot-Put balls
cement-delivery-truck tank cleaner balls, and
large ball-bearings (you might be surprised that some of those are several inches in diameter).

So, how can a cannonball ccollector tell the ACCURATELY distinguish between those balls and an actuial cannonball? Fortuantely, the very-precise diameters and exact weights of cannonballs used in the US were written down in various historical records. We mainly use the US (and CSA) 1861 Ordnance manual, which contains size-&-weight charts for cannonballs used in the US by the US, British, and French from the Colonial Era through the civil war. Those charts are called the "Shot Tables." You can view them online for free, here:
www.civilwarartilelry.com/shottables.htm

Go there and you'll see that the nearest actual cannonball to your solid (not hollow) ball was a 12-pounder caliber Solid-Shot ball, which was specified to be 4.52-inches in diameter and to weigh 12.25 pounds (12 pounds 4 ounces). The next nearest to your ball is an 18-pounder caliber Solid-Shot, which was specified to be 5.17-inches in diameter and weighed 18.3 pounds (about 18 pounds 5 ounces).

Disappointed people sometimes ask "Why couldn't it weigh a few ounces more and still be a cannonball?" The answer is, the atomic weight of the Element iron doesn't ever get heavier. It weighs a certain amount per cubic inch. If you make a cast-iron solid (not hollow) ball which is 4.52-inches in diameter, it will never weigh more than 12 pounds 4 ounces. The only way to make that 4.52-inch ball weigh more than it should is to alloy the iron with a heavier metal, such as lead.

In any nation's army or navy, the Ordnance Department sets strict quality standards (such as exact size and weight standards) for the ammunition, because ammo that is lighter or heavier than it should be causes problems in trying to hit the target. If it is too light, it will fly too far. If it is heavier than it should be, it will fall short of what you're aiming at. Also, being too heavy can stress the cannon's barrel so badly that it will burst during firing. That's very bad news for the cannon crew, standing right next to the cannon. So, the Ordnance Department and its Inspectors were very strict about the ammunition size-&-weight standards.

After-posting note:
I see that while I was typing this lengthy educational reply, Fyrffytr1 took the simple route and posted the size-&-weight data from the Shot Tables in the 1861 Ordnance Manual.

 

[j20bit]

First thing, let me thank you for having ALREADY weighed your ball on a Precision weighing scale, such as a Postal Shipping scale, which gives super-accurate reports in tenths-of-an-ounce. I usually have to try to persuade a ball's finder to do that, because the ball's PRECISE weight is a key clue for correctly identifying it as an actual cannonball or a civilian-or-industrial-usage ball, such as Milling Ball or a Sports Shot-Put ball.

Now, unfortunately, I must tell you that your ball's precisely-measured weight (12 pounds 7.7 ounces) means it definitely is not a cannonball.

Literally multi-millions of civilian-or-industrial-usage metal balls have been manufactured. Examples are:
Mill Balls (used in the Mining-&-Stonemilling industry to crush ore, so sometimes called crusher-balls)
machinery-counterweight balls
ornamental ironwork balls (such as fencepost tops, gatepost tops, etc)
sports Shot-Put balls
cement-delivery-truck tank cleaner balls, and
large ball-bearings (you might be surprised that some of those are several inches in diameter).

So, how can a cannonball ccollector tell the ACCURATELY distinguish between those balls and an actuial cannonball? Fortuantely, the very-precise diameters and exact weights of cannonballs used in the US were written down in various historical records. We mainly use the US (and CSA) 1861 Ordnance manual, which contains size-&-weight charts for cannonballs used in the US by the US, British, and French from the Colonial Era through the civil war. Those charts are called the "Shot Tables." You can view them online for free, here:
www.civilwarartilelry.com/shottables.htm

Go there and you'll see that the nearest actual cannonball to your solid (not hollow) ball was a 12-pounder caliber Solid-Shot ball, which was specified to be 4.52-inches in diameter and to weigh 12.25 pounds (12 pounds 4 ounces). The next nearest to your ball is an 18-pounder caliber Solid-Shot, which was specified to be 5.17-inches in diameter and weighed 18.3 pounds (about 18 pounds 5 ounces).

Disappointed people sometimes ask "Why couldn't it weigh a few ounces more and still be a cannonball?" The answer is, the atomic weight of the Element iron doesn't ever get heavier. It weighs a certain amount per cubic inch. If you make a cast-iron solid (not hollow) ball which is 4.52-inches in diameter, it will never weigh more than 12 pounds 4 ounces. The only way to make that 4.52-inch ball weigh more than it should is to alloy the iron with a heavier metal, such as lead.

In any nation's army or navy, the Ordnance Department sets strict quality standards (such as exact size and weight standards) for the ammunition, because ammo that is lighter or heavier than it should be causes problems in trying to hit the target. If it is too light, it will fly too far. If it is heavier than it should be, it will fall short of what you're aiming at. Also, being too heavy can stress the cannon's barrel so badly that it will burst during firing. That's very bad news for the cannon crew, standing right next to the cannon. So, the Ordnance Department and its Inspectors were very strict about the ammunition size-&-weight standards.

After-posting note:
I see that while I was typing this lengthy educational reply, Fyrffytr1 took the simple route and posted the size-&-weight data from the Shot Tables in the 1861 Ordnance Manual.

I am a bit disappointed, but that was a very educational reply. Thanks! I must admit. I was offput by the coats of paint on the exterior of the ball. My friend told me that sometimes shots were painted by color code to distinguish between different kinds of rounds (especially for training purposes). Oddly enough, speaking with him about this just awhile ago, he was puzzled that it was not a shot because the place where he lives is a historically military-based area. In fact, in the same area, he had dug up a few similar iron balls, some of other sizes. He had just assumed they were all cannon shot.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

You're welcome.

Solid-Shot cannonballs were either painted black or (in most cases) simply left unpainted.
Red = Case-Shot (explosive shell which contains antipersonnel balls/slugs/wedges
Orange = Common-Shell (explosive shell containing only the gunpowder explosive charge)
Green = Percussion Shell (explosive shell with an impact-detonation fuze)
White = Quilted Grapeshot and Canister

Send your friend to an educational article I co-wrote (with David Poche) about how to distinguish actual cannonballs from the civilian-usage lookalikes, with detailed how-to instructions and photos. It is viewable online for free, at:
SolidShotEssentialsMod