Is this a Musket Ball (plus strange copper things!)

[BVI Hunter]

OK, so got my new SEAHUNTER 2 and went off to a deserted island,
Could it be a musket ball

 

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[GMD52]

If I read the size of the ball right, it equals .62 cal,, and the top brass relic with the two screw holes could be a side plate off of the musket that may have accompanied the ball, but it's only a guess. HH

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

We need super-precise measurement of the lead ball, because with bullets even .02-inch difference in size can be the difference between being a bullet or not a bullet. Please buy or borrow a digital Caliper. If you are (or plan to be) a relic-hunter, a digital Caliper is going to be very well worth its $15 price.

Also, you didn't say what country's troops. That too is very important information. For example, a British "Brown Bess" flintlock musket was .75-caliber, but being a muzzleloading firearm, the ball for it was .71 to .72 in diameter. The French and Spanish's Army's equivalents to the Brown Bess were different calibers from that firearm.

All of that being said... an actual lead musketball's primary characteristic is that an unfired one is as round as a glass marble -- not out-of-round or "lumpy" unless it is a fired one which experience impact-damage. However, because many musketballs were cast in a bulletmold, they often show a moldseam line and/or a casting-spure.

 

[BVI Hunter]

All I know is - it would have been British troops in this area, and maybe the odd pirate or two!
I dont have a precise gauge and will be a week or so before I can get one, in the meantime the diameter as best I can measure is 5/8-ths

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Please do make a precision measurement (hundredths-of-an-inch -- not millimeters) of the lead ball. Meanwhile... thank you for providing the basic historical background info about the dig-site. It helps a lot in narrowing down the possibilities for your lead ball's correct identification.

You say your best estimate of the ball's diameter is 5/8-inch. That translates to .625-inch, which puts it "in the range" of being a musketball for the British .625-caliber Baker Rifle, which was manufactured from 1800 to 1838. However, as I said in my previous reply, even as small an amount as .02-inch can make a difference for a bullet's correct identification. If your lead ball's precisely-measured diameter turns out to be.64-inch, it wouldn't fit into the muzzle of the .625"-caliber Baker Rifle.

But there's a problem about your lead ball being a musketball for the .625-caliber Baker Rifle. You said the island was last occupied in 1790. The Baker Rifle wasn't produced until 1800. Please do some research to see if the British troops stayed on that island into the early-1800s.

Meanwhile, you may have some interest in an educational article about the .625 Baker Rifle and its history, here: Baker rifle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[BVI Hunter]

Thanks CannonBallGuy!! very useful!
will try to measure this weekend!!

My bad research, British troops DEPLYED in 1790, so could have been re-supplied with Baker rifles after this??

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Yes, there's a good chance of that. When a new (or improved) model of Military firearm is produced, it gets issued to replace the now-obsolete version -- at least for units who are serving in locations where they might have to use their firarms for something besides training. Units who are serving in "reliably safe" locations tend to get stuck with the older/obsolete models, often for decades after a new/improved version starts getting issued.