Could This Be Half of a .75 Musket Ball?

[FreeBirdTim]

Too hot to sleep, so I thought I'd post this find. It could be a musket ball, but I'm not positive. It's about .75 caliber, so it's pretty big for a musket ball. It's been chewed on by some critter and almost half of it is missing, so that doesn't help with the ID.

I took photos with it next to a .69 musket ball for comparison. All the musket balls I find here are either grayish or brown in color. I don't think it's a shotgun slug, since they're usually white (oddly enough). They also have a hole in the bottom and most of the time have grooves on the sides.

Give me your thoughts on this one. I'd love to add it to my musket ball collection, but I'd feel foolish doing that if it's actually something else.

 

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[trikikiwi]

It looks like one hit and one missed.

 

[Tedyoh]

It looks like one hit and one missed.

I agree - looks like it hit a rock or something round - pretty sure you're safe adding it to your collection.

 

[sutphin]

FBT A HALF OF ONE IS BETTER THAN NONE...... I HAVE A COUPLE LIKE THAT...

 

[DCMatt]

It looks like a musket ball to me. Brown Bess was a .75 caliber. But I think the ball was something smaller and loaded with a patch around it. I'm sure one of the gun guys will correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Thanks, guys! I'll add it to the collection and go back to the spot where I found it ASAP. Could have potential...

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

It looks like a musket ball to me. Brown Bess was a .75 caliber. But I think the ball was something smaller and loaded with a patch around it. I'm sure one of the gun guys will correct me if I'm wrong.

Close! The British used a smaller ball but it was wrapped in a paper "cartridge". 0.700" is about average - 0.690" to .0715" balls have been dug - which is around 13 gauge - or 13 balls to the pound. The Long Land Pattern is a 0.75" bore (11 gauge - 11 balls to the pound). But the balls were smaller to accommodate the wrap and fouling.



The French did the same, but used a different style wrap and a smaller gauge. - about 0.650" to fit the 0.690 Charleville bore.

Once they got fouled up it was a tight fit, and they were going for volume of fire vs. accuracy.


Here's my deer hunting "kit" using the English/Colonial style tied cartridges.



BUT - local militia used whatever they had available. Some had much larger bores (and there were also wall guns up to 1" bore or even more!) Lead also obturates, so a fired ball may be smushed to a larger size. Very old Besses (Land Pattern of 1722) had about an 0.80" bore.

 

[DCMatt]

Thx Charlie.

My East India Company musket (1849) has a .75 bore but I'm told it used a .68 ball with a greased paper cartridge.

These greased (animal fat) cartridges were problematic for the EIC. Local Hindu and Muslim men pressed in to service by the EIC would not put them in their mouth because they could not be assured what kind of fat was used (no bovine for Hindus & no swine for Muslims). This, along with other political troubles, lead the militiamen to rise up against their British officers (Sepoy Rebellion of 1857). It took 2 years for the British to restore order to the colony.

Here ends the lesson.

Sorry for hijacking the thread...

DCMatt

 

[Carolina Tom]

Musket ball that was cut in half to make a game piece... maybe?

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

I dip mine in beeswax because it doesn't go rancid or leech into the powder.

Perhaps that was a ball shot at the edge of an ax for a trick shot? ;-) (No, not with a Bess).