Is this a musket ball?

primetime21

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So I found this about 5" down couple hundred yards off the river. Can't see any lines on it. Looks really good and new. What do ya think?

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First, is it lead? If it is, it is probably a modern musket ball. However, every once in awhile a relic hunter will dig a 'clean' looking one such as yours. I've seen (and dug) Civil War round balls like yours that came out of the same hole that had numerous other ones in it that had the normal white patina look.
 

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We caannot answer your question "Is it a musketball?" without having super-precise measurement of the ball's diameter, in hundredths-of-an-inch (millimeters won't do). For example, a .67-inch lead ball can be a musketball, but a .65-inch ball cannot.
 

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If you can't see any casting marks and it's lead, it's probably a modern muzzle loader swaged round ball. I've purchased and shot those round balls in calibers of .45, .50, .62. However those balls will not measure that size, they will be several thousands smaller, I don't remember how much on the .45 or .50, but fired from a rifle the ball is wrapped in cloth, so the fired ball many times doesn't show any rifling marks, but will show the imprint of the cloth patch. My .62 caliber rifle shoots a .615 ball that is patched using 13/1000 cotton, lubed with soap and water. On your ball, if there is a spru or anything indicating a mold mark, the ball will still be slightly smaller than the bore size, so like CBG says, to identify it, a measurement in 1/1000's of an inch is necessary.
 

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It is lead. Haven't measured it. I like the mystery of it could be rather than knowing its not. Thanks for you guys input.
 

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