Confederate Musket Dug! Also NC State Seal Button, Cannonball, and Minie Ball!!!!!

FoundInNC

Sr. Member
Mar 20, 2012
458
637
Mebane, North Carolina
🥇 Banner finds
2
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
4
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Gold and AT Pro
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Hey folks! Big day for me today, I did some Gis searching and got permission on a site that I have been wanting to hunt for a while now. I only hunted for an hour and this is what I came up with! My first good signal was a minie ball in an oyster shell. I had to take a picture of that because I thought the oyster shell was making my detector go off until I saw the bullet in the void. My second signal was iron, and because I am digging anything better than a 30vdi on my AT Pro, I was able to locate my FIRST CANNONBALL! I am not sure which bore it fits, but the Confederates had some oddball calibers of cannons. My next decent signal was a high tone, and turned out to be the most beautiful North Carolina State Seal button that I have ever seen, dug or not! It has the Myers Richmond backmark. The last signal I dug was quite substantial. It sounded huge, and turns out it was. I thought it was a pipe as I was pulling it out of the ground, and it wasn't until I had it in my hand that I realized that I had actually unearthed a REAL CONFEDERATE MUSKET! It is very rusty, but definitely a musket! I can't wait to go back to this site. Thanks for reading my post!

FoundinNC


IMAG2838.jpgIMAG2839.jpgIMAG2841.jpgIMAG2846.jpgIMAG2846.jpgIMAG2850.jpgIMAG2852.jpgIMAG2853.jpgIMAG2854.jpgIMAG2857.jpgIMAG2857.jpgIMAG2863.jpgIMAG2858.jpgIMAG2859.jpg
 

Last edited:
Upvote 15
Fantastic finds, it's a very smart thing to do diggng those iron hits when you are in a old battle site. A safe and easy way to clean that musket barrel, is to get a plastic tub that it will fit into and a few gallons of apple cider vinigar and soke it for a few weeks. Check on it from time to time and knock off any loose crumbs untill you have a clean barrel. Works great and won't harm your artifact.
Congrats on some awesome finds.
ZDD
 

Man, that hunt right there would make my YEAR!

JUST the button!

OR the barrel!!!!!

Well done on a killer two-fer.
 

FoundInNC, based on comparing your iron ball's size with the NC State Seal button, the ball appears to be in the correct size-range for a civil war artillery Canister-ammo ball. To learn with certainty whether or not it is a Canister ball, find (or make) a couple of clean spots on opposite sides of the ball, and use a caliper to measure the ball's diameter in hundredths-of-an-inch. Then go to the following webpage and see if there is a match-up for your iron ball's exact diameter in the chart showing the various sizes of civil war artillery Canister-ammo balls. (Your iron ball is too small to be a cannonball or a Grapeshot ball, so skip those charts.)
www.civilwarartillery.com/shottables.htm
 

Congratz on a great bunch of relics .

The NC Button is in almost perfect [ dug] condition IMO.

DAVERS
 

Did you find the rest of the musket? The trigger guard and butt plate should be some where close by. It looks like you've found a great spot!
 

Hey folks, I returned to the site today and picked up another "cannonball"(canister shot?), a minie ball, a dated 1859 toe protector, a big brass key and a coin silver salt shaker top! I love finding old silver! Notice the imperfect casting of the small iron projectile.....

I will definitely be returning to this site in the fall. For now, it's back to the hometown!

IMAG2892.jpgIMAG2888.jpgIMAG2891.jpg
 

Last edited:
Congrats not only on some incredible finds but also on getting into a super spot!
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top