Musket Ball Cut in Half

[JimDon]

I found this musket ball in a park in New England. You can see mold marks. It appears it was cut in half possibly to be used as a checkers or game piece. Anyone familiar with these?


Looks like a "dum dum" ball....Thank you all who replied!

 

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[trikikiwi]

JimDon, I did a search on TreasureNet for Lead Checker pieces and came up with one link
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,187558.0.html
which looks nothing like your half a musket ball find.

Call it a Cool Treasure!
Mike

 

[IronSpike]

Neat musket ball

Was it cut in half or just not enough lead in the mold?

 

[Woodland Detectors]

OK. I'm glad you posted it. I'm currious too. I have found one as well. I'll post it a new one so I don't distract your thread.

 

[IronSpike]

The checker piece idea sounds likely.

 

[johnnyi]

I think the general concensus is that they were sometimes cut in half to "increase their destructive properties". Don't know though. I remember reading something once about how magicians would fool the audience by getting shot with a split ball (which would seperate around them. That never made much sense to me, as why wouldn't it just as easily hit the poor girl in the head and foot as pass her sides? Anyway, I remember reading elsewherethat these were cast using paper to weaken them at the split so they'd fly apart. Here's one link that mentions them. There are probably more. http://books.google.com/books?id=6S...esult&ct=result&resnum=5#v=onepage&q=&f=false

 

[IronSpike]

Interesting link johnnyi. Would never have thought half ball for more destructive power. You would think the balls were destructive enough as they were

 

[johnnyi]

Spike, I guess if it manages to cling together long enough, it will seperate on impact making a worse woud. If it splits before impact it may cause double wounds.

 

[IronSpike]

Yeah, but if half balls were so much better why didn't they just use those

 

[spartacus53]

Interesting and puzzling find there

 

[Iron Patch]

"dum-dum" balls used during the rev war. Balls were partially halved or quartered in order to spread upon contact, and so inflict a more dangerous wound.

 

[IronSpike]

Nice pic Iron Patch. It does appear that the balls were cut and not molded this way.

Are the examples shown all fired musket ball relics?

Dum-dum pieces only scorn not cut? If fired scorned pieces the cut almost too clean. Were the pieces loaded and fired wrapped in something?

 

[LarsDubai]

Here is some more on the topic, plus some pics on pages 227-228.

https://books.google.ae/books?id=jl...Q#v=onepage&q=musket balls cut pieces&f=false

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

I've been at muzzleloading shoots where one target is an axe with a clay pigeon on either side just behind the head. You have to hit the blade and break both pigeons.

 

[sutphin]

JimDon I have the same type of piece you have and mine was found at a civil war camp site and I always wondered why the strange look and the weight to match, maybe mine was a chess piece, when I find it I will post it.vanzutphen

 

[releventchair]

I've been at muzzleloading shoots where one target is an axe with a clay pigeon on either side just behind the head. You have to hit the blade and break both pigeons.

View attachment 1143684

Split the ball! Done it, though not always.

Firing a half ball/multiple pieces would be a close range proposition as accuracy would suffer. Compression required in a patched load to upset lead and create a gas seal (though that is a big part of the patch's job) and engage rifling cut into rifled barrel where applicable.Though a full round ball should not perform as well as it does, it does well.
In a smooth bore barrel, fragments would fair better than in a a rifled one though still relatively short range without uniform roundness of shot or ball.
"Gummimg up" a rifled barrel with lead and poor compression the most likely scenario of cut up round balls of greater than large shot sizes.
A "buck and ball load" in a smooth bore may be where cutting roundballs inspiration was from ,out of an attempt to create a scattered pattern with some mass retained.
With smooth bore barrels used in earlier history's wars ,if a shortage of time or molding equipment forced use of what was available, make do with what you can get and cut up maybe.

 

[Marcus Lopez]

Really old thread but wanted to share. Found this one about three weeks ago.

 

[CaptEsteban]

I have always wondered if it was a way to spare ammunition, when supplies were low.