Pistol musket ball?

[verbious]

Went out for a short hunt. The center object was my first dig. The Williams cleaner and the penny are for scale. Is it a pistol musket ball?

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[ecmo]

Appears to be either a .31 or .32 caliber pistol or rifle ball. I've read where Southern volunteers especially fought with what they brought from home like maybe .31 or .32 caliber squirrel rifles.

I am sure there will be much more scholarly members that will chime in with a better opinion. I scaled your photo down to where a penny just fit on yours and eyeballs your ball for comparison instead of going after my calipers, lol.

Don

 

[BosnMate]

Could be a modern 00 buckshot. Are there any markings that would indicate it was cast in a bullet mold?

 

[verbious]

It is most definitely lead and I will try to get a real good close up for you.

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[verbious]

This is the best angle of the casting line.

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[l.cutler]

Well it is a round ball, definitely not a musket ball, way too small. Could be from a rifle or pistol, or as stated a buckshot. You can determine the caliber by measuring the diameter of the ball.

 

[Davers]

IMO
You have dug a Pistol ball 31-36 Cal Or Buckshot as stated.
But
Ill bet you wanna know from what era it's from?
On these small shot Balls it's hard to tell , It could have been used in any time period , (yours looks Older) & Did it come from a area with Known CW action?
I'm thinking Dropped Pistol Ball .. 100 + years old ( maybe ) .
A cool find anyhow , I like to find them in that condition. Mine are usually fired.
Just Quessing
Davers

 

[BosnMate]

Being cast in a bullet mold rules out buckshot. Now need a measurement in 1/1000 of an inch for identification. It's probably a .36 or .44 caliber.

 

[l.cutler]

Remember, many rifles were in these same small calibers, .32 to .40 caliber were very common so I wouldn't say pistol just because of the small size.

 

[Davers]

Went out for a short hunt. The center object was my first dig. The Williams cleaner and the penny are for scale. Is it a pistol musket ball?

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WOW!
Your picture "Egged" out on me.

Looks good now. lol

 

[verbious]

That's funny!

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[verbious]

So this round ball fits perfectly in a 7/16" wrench. Does that help any?

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[BosnMate]

So this round ball fits perfectly in a 7/16" wrench. Does that help any?

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Not really. 7/16 converts to .4375, but that's not really an exact measurement. That is to small for a .44 revolver bullet, they were slightly oversized so they would cut a ring of lead off when loaded. That leaves an under sized bullet to allow for the greased patch material that surrounded the ball when loaded in a .45 caliber rifle. That's my SWAG with the information given so far.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

What BosunMate said. Ball for a .45 caliber rifle.

 

[gunsil]

This is the best angle of the casting line.

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I have cast thousands of balls and that does not look like any casting seam line I have ever seen. I have used original mid 1800s molds as well as modern ones. If hand cast there should be a sprue mark where the sprue (the lead left in the little tunnel where it is poured into the mold), the spue mark should appear as a round slightly flat spot on the ball left behind from whatever means of cutting off the sprue was used. .45 cal modern muzzle loading pistols have also been around for a while, so it doesn't necessarily have had to come from a rifle.

 

[Spats]

Are you sure that your Williams cleaner is a Williams cleaner?

 

[verbious]

Pretty sure. It was identified by a chart someone posted. The post and disk were broken off.

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