Musket balls

[stevengugas]

Yesterday I found a few 69 cal. musket balls at a hospital site. Most of them are white in color but a few are almost black, I heard that they are called Oyster shell in color. Can anyone tell me why they are different colors? Are they made with different metals etc. Just curious. Thanks

 

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[Indian Steve]

I think the color differences are caused by reaction to minerals, fertilizers, etc. in soil and by how long they have been in the ground. Nice Finds!

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Lead oxidizes and the white crust is lead oxide. Some soils will cover a lead ball or bullet with white in a few years. Others take a century.

I shoot muzzleloaders and dig out the shot balls to recast. Some are entirely white and encrusted.

 

[Davers]

Nice Find.

 

[Dug]

My experience has been that the amount of ground moisture they are exposed to has a lot to do with the type of oxidation crust buildup on them. When I first got into relic digging I was out in a low moist ground and came across what I thought were brown hot rocks. They were giving off a pretty good reading but I just tossed them away. Finally I had my fill with digging them and took one and threw it at a tree. It popped open and out fell a white 3 ringer. Spent the rest of the day going back and looking for my hot rocks.

Most folks leave the white patina coating on them.

 

[TomPA]

A friend, along with myself, dug well over 100 Civil War roundballs out of one hole in Fairfax County , VA. Almost all of them had the standard white patina on them. However, we dug a few that looked nearly new (black). All of these musketballs were 12"+ and all in one hole/location. So why did these few remain looking like they were new and ready to load

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Something in the soil prevented them from getting oxygen - either dissolved in groundwater and soil or from the air.

Do you have clay soil down there on spots?

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

The "content" of the metal greatly influences the amount and COLOR of oxidation. Extremely pure lead tends to get a white or greyish-white oxidation layer on it. Lead which was alloyed with another metal such as zinc or antimony to increase the lead's hardness will develop much less oxidation. An example of that: the civil war Gardiner Explosive minies, which NEVER have the classic white patina of pure lead, because they are made of a lead alloy. Another example is the filler-metal in the back of US Oval belt buckles, cartridge boxplates, and eagle-breastplates. Despite most diggers calling them "lead filled" they are actually filled with a solder-like lead alloy, therefore you never see those buckles/plates with milk-white patina on the back. (Solder was used as the filler-metal because pure lead doesn't "stick" very well to the brass body of the buckle/plate.) If you do see one with milk-white patina on the filler-metal, it is probably an artificially aged Reproduction buckle/plate... because those actually ARE filled with lead.

"Impure" lead was often used to make musketballs. Whatever white-metal scraps which would melt at a low-ish temperature were tossed into the pot. That's another reason for "strange" or very little or no patina/oxide on some excavated musketballs.

 

[releventchair]

Lead ,from a larger source down to running ball,or bullets can have a variety of impurities.
As mentioned alloys can be added too. Dissimilar metals corrode.
Without using a flux and skimming judiciously , impurities will vary throughout a run.
Pure lead is a first choice but harder can work with roundball if pressure is adequate enough to force them slightly out of round upon firing.
" Hardcast" bullets expand less which depending on the force behind them , still engage rifling fine without mushrooming too fast or fragmenting on impact.

What roundballs are carried in can affect them. Leather can crust them white when high in purity prematurely or create funny stains depending on how it was preserved, but a coat of oil keeps them looking better/ more original.