Is this a musket ball?

rykroll

Sr. Member
Mar 26, 2014
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Annapolis, Maryland
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Equinox 800, SeaHunter Mark 2, Ace 150
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Metal Detecting
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Weighs around 11 grams (cheap food scale)
 

People still shoot muskets and your musket ball looks modern to me because it lacks the patina normally seen on land finds. There are some found in the bottom of waterways that do not have the same amount of patina. In my opinion and for what it's worth, yours looks too clean to be very old.
 

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I dug it out of the bottom of the Chesapeake bay it was heavily encrusted I didn't even know what it was til I broke the crust off
 

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The number-one test to determine whether or not a lead ball is a musketball/pistolball is to super-precisely measure the ball's diameter with a digital caliper, in hundredths-of-an-inch. You'll need to measure it in more than one direction, to confirm whether it is a true sphere or is out-of-round. Then tell us the diameter, so we can check for a match-up with known calibers of musketballs/pistolballs. For example, a .69-caliber musketball typically measures about .645-inch, and a .44-caliber Colt Revolver pistolball typically measures about .46-inch in diameter.
 

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It doesn't look like lead. Looks more like a ball bearing. You say it was encrusted, was it rust?
 

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I'm not sure if it was rust but I was encrusted and preserved by the mud and clay in the bay I actually thought it was a weird rock until I threw it broke it all apart. I'll have to go buy a caliper. There is a light seem that goes all the way around. Thank you for helping me out its been bothering me all day.
 

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[slaps self on forehead]
In my previous reply I should have asked you to do the most basic test for unidentified "grey" metal: Does a magnet stick to it?
 

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