is this a musket ball or something else?

[blong10]

HI everyone I am new to this site early this morning I was metal detecting at a old home site and I found this

 

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[mirage83]

Doesn't look like lead to me. Tried a magnet on it to see if it's iron or something else ferrous? Some kind of size or dimensions would help id it as well.

 

[blong10]

Well I tried a magnet and it would not work. Took some more pics to try to help.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Too big to be a musket ball. Looks like grapeshot to me. It was fired out of a cannon with other grapeshot balls. Here's what a grapeshot set up looks like:

 

[blong10]

if it is a grapeshot cannon ball what year do you think it is from

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

First, since you are brand-new at Treasurenet (three posts so far)... welcome to the What-Is-It? forum, the best place on the internet to for getting CORRECT identification of a mystery-object.

About your unidentified metal ball:
As my posting name indicates, pre-1900s projectiles are my specialty area. Your photo showing it next to a US 25-cent coin indicates its diameter is approximately 1.25 to 1.5-inches. That absolutely excludes it from being a musketball. You say it is non-magnetic, so it isn't made of iron/steel. At this point, we need to know whether it is made of a pink-ish metal (copper) or a yellow/orange/golden metal (like brass) or a silvery metal (like lead). If you don't already know its metal-type, please make a teeny-tiny scrape on it and tell us whether it is a pink or yellow metal or silvery.

If it is a silvery metal, we will need you to use a Digital Caliper to measure its diameter in 1/100ths-of-an-inch.

We also need to know the general location where you found it (state and nearest town)... because if there was never any Military activity there, it is extremely unlikely to be a Military-usage ball.

 

[blong10]

Well I made a small mark on it and it looks like a gold color probably brass Pic here

View image: 2014 04 09 16 27 45

I live in new castle pa so i don't think any military activity around there

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

The photo with the scratch shows the ball is definitely yellow brass. That definitely excludes it from being any kind of Artillery ball. (And as I mentioned in a previous reply, it is too large to be a musketball.) Brass balls about the size of yours (1.25-to-1.5-inches) are most often (but not absolutely always) a pump check-valve ball. Brass is used for those because it doesn't rust. See diagram below.