How do we date musket balls?

[Electricbutter]

Found this on private property with permission that’s pretty close to a King Philip’s War battlefield.. The property is pretty much forest with some rock walls and a sugar house.. Anyone know if this was for a pistol or rifle?Any way to visually date musket balls? Thanks for your help.

 

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[Charlie P. (NY)]

It is hard to visually date musket balls. The soil conditions can oxidize the lead quickly; or slowly.

I still deer hunt and do a lot of target and practice with lead round balls. 0.648" in my smoothbore and 0.530" in my rifle.

Early British muskets used round balls of 0.720" to 0.690", French slightly smaller at 0.660" to 0.650"

Rifles went from 0.575" down to 0.315"

Pistols of the revolver variety typically 0.350" and 0.440" [Navy & Army versions] . . . but single shot pistols were available in about all rifle calibers from 0.315" up to 0.575"

 

[releventchair]

To date em ,buy em a drink first..... o.k. , bad joke.

You measured a half inch?
Could be a .490. 50 caliber.
Could be used in both rifle and pistol.

There were rifles in the era of King Phillips war, but they were not really en vogue till just pre revolutionary war.

Smoothbore may have been more common in the era you reference. A one ounce ball (and sizes varied besides) was still common in England when rifles were becoming more common near the revolution .
The natives during the Kings war had some muskets ....I'm wildly guessing Dutch club butt fowlers , but am very dusty on that era....

Look into the arms used during the war your site hints of.
Your "ball" does not show a protruded sprue.
IF I see one it was very well trimmed ,maybe even rolled to reduce after. Not real common long ago for rapid consumption or production of ammo. But doable.

IF there is no sprue ,it could be very recent swaged ball.

Keep it safe as you continue your research.
And congrats on the site you are hunting ,and your recoveries!

 

[A2coins]

cool find if it is a musketball

 

[Wilderness medic]

To date em ,buy em a drink first..... o.k. , bad joke.

You measured a half inch?
Could be a .490. 50 caliber.
Could be used in both rifle and pistol.

There were rifles in the era of King Phillips war, but they were not really en vogue till just pre revolutionary war.

Smoothbore may have been more common in the era you reference. A one ounce ball (and sizes varied besides) was still common in England when rifles were becoming more common near the revolution .
The natives during the Kings war had some muskets ....I'm wildly guessing Dutch club butt fowlers , but am very dusty on that era....

Look into the arms used during the war your site hints of.
Your "ball" does not show a protruded sprue.
IF I see one it was very well trimmed ,maybe even rolled to reduce after. Not real common long ago for rapid consumption or production of ammo. But doable.

IF there is no sprue ,it could be very recent swaged ball.

Keep it safe as you continue your research.
And congrats on the site you are hunting ,and your recoveries!

So does the presence of a clearly high and defined sprue pretty much garauntee it’s fairly old, as newer ones are cast better?

 

[l.cutler]

So does the presence of a clearly high and defined sprue pretty much garauntee it’s fairly old, as newer ones are cast better?

No, definitely not. While most store bought round balls today are swaged instead of cast and have no sprue, moulds for ball casting are readily available today for people to make their own, these often have a fairly prominent sprue.

 

[Electricbutter]

It is hard to visually date musket balls. The soil conditions can oxidize the lead quickly; or slowly.

I still deer hunt and do a lot of target and practice with lead round balls. 0.648" in my smoothbore and 0.530" in my rifle.

Early British muskets used round balls of 0.720" to 0.690", French slightly smaller at 0.660" to 0.650"

Rifles went from 0.575" down to 0.315"

Pistols of the revolver variety typically 0.350" and 0.440" [Navy & Army versions] . . . but single shot pistols were available in about all rifle calibers from 0.315" up to 0.575"

Thanks Charlie, I really appreciate the detailed breakdown of information. Hopefully I can find some other musket balls that you mentioned close by.

 

[smokeythecat]

It's pretty hard to tell. Most are non descript, however earlier ones tend to have sprue marks. The only really good way is to date it by what was found with it. I found quite a few years (centuries) ago at the Brandywine Battlefield, in PA. They ranged all over the place in caliber. An incidental modern rifle ball on my Rev War site is possible, but not too likely and the patina would be different.

 

[Electricbutter]

To date em ,buy em a drink first..... o.k. , bad joke.

You measured a half inch?
Could be a .490. 50 caliber.
Could be used in both rifle and pistol.

There were rifles in the era of King Phillips war, but they were not really en vogue till just pre revolutionary war.

Smoothbore may have been more common in the era you reference. A one ounce ball (and sizes varied besides) was still common in England when rifles were becoming more common near the revolution .
The natives during the Kings war had some muskets ....I'm wildly guessing Dutch club butt fowlers , but am very dusty on that era....

Look into the arms used during the war your site hints of.
Your "ball" does not show a protruded sprue.
IF I see one it was very well trimmed ,maybe even rolled to reduce after. Not real common long ago for rapid consumption or production of ammo. But doable.

IF there is no sprue ,it could be very recent swaged ball.

Keep it safe as you continue your research.
And congrats on the site you are hunting ,and your recoveries!

Haha, never preferred the dense type.[emoji23]🤭
Sorry couldn’t resist.


Seriously! Thank you! for all of this great information. Looks like It’s probably a recent swaged ball but I will keep it safe just in case some relics come out of the ground. Thanks again

 

[releventchair]

Haha, never preferred the dense type.[emoji23]��
Sorry couldn’t resist.


Seriously! Thank you! for all of this great information. Looks like It’s probably a recent swaged ball but I will keep it safe just in case some relics come out of the ground. Thanks again

Sorry for the lack of a date on my part.
The layer/depth of it's location in the soil in relation to other dated relics will help.
IF the soil was not turned by plowing,tilling ect...

 

[Red James Cash]

Smooth bore pistols were also in large bore caliber,up to the same caliber as the brown bess .75.