✅ SOLVED Musket balls in lead?

[VERMONTIS]

Looking over last Saturdays finds, and I came across this in the pile of "clean off later". Early house site 1825 to 1850's. Looks like musket balls incased in lead? A little help please-ED

 

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[bigfoot1]

prolly melting them down to repour new ones as they usually made their own

 

[VERMONTIS]

It came from a upstate ny cellar hole .lol! Some diferent stuff ,pulled a eagle button looks early.The hole in the top threw me off on the lead.

 

[DoranHashemi]

Could be pieces of a cannonball that had balls in the inside

 

[Bryanhashemi]

so the casing is lead too?

 

[VERMONTIS]

Bryan-Yes the casing is made of lead,very differant looking to me. Thank you any help apreciated-ED

 

[Bryanhashemi]

not positive but like Doran said..it could be some inside part to lead filled cannonball. TheCannonballGuy is the expert at this. But found in New York? hmm

 

[mical66]

seems i have seen a post about a clump of balls coated with something and shot like buckshot , but it would have a closer pattern due to it was held together with something that either melted or broke during the process,, but liek it was said before Cannonballguy is the guru on these things.

 

[NOLA_Ken]

Does the hole show any signs of fire?

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Regarding Doranhashemi's guess:
The melted lead mass with some balls showing cannot be melted lead balls from inside a cannonball, because if they melted into a mass inside a cannonball, there's no way to get the mass out through the cannonball's approximately 1"-wide fuzehole.

There is another type of cannon ammo that contains lead antipersonnel balls. It is called Canister, aand it is basicly like shotgun buckshot ammo for cannons. The Canister was simply a tin can, filled with iron balls or .69-caliber lead balls. But here's why this melted lead mass cannot be from a Canister ammo that got thrown into a bonfire. If the lead balls were inside a Canister when they got melted, the lead mass would "take the shape of" the interior of the can. But the underside of this lead mass isn't slick-smooth like the inside of a tin can.

Instead, the lead mass's underside is rough & bumpy, like the lead was sitting on dirt when it melted. I've seen that "shape" on the bottom of melted lead that I've dug out of civil war camp firepits.

Also, a "mass" of melted lead from a firepit often (but not always) contains at least a few bits of charcoal/ash from the firewood. There seems to be no charcoal bits/ash in this melted lead mass.

Other than the above statements, all I can say is that I am mystified by this melted lead mass. If it was a bucnh of lead musketballs in a leather pouch or bag, I'm curious about why all but two of the balls melted absolutely completely away except for two that retain at least some of their sphericality on top of the rest of the lead. That doesn't make logical sense. I cannot explain it.

 

[Bryanhashemi]

Wow think that's the first time I've seen cannonballguy actually stumped! He is human!! I see what you mean though cannonballguy.

 

[VERMONTIS]

I cant explain it why some look like there flat , 2 seem round? Jeff of PA breaks 40,000 and thecannonballguy is stumped all in a day? You dropped the oil lamp on the floor and burned the house down? No signs of melted glass in the feild. Nothing on it shows of being in a fire...-ED

 

[VERMONTIS]

Gonna put this in the save 4 later box . Not the scrap pile. -ed