Please help a newbie identify a cannon ball

[mrelder]

I am not sure what this is. It was dug up in Texas within a couple miles of where Stephen F. Austin died.

Thank you

 

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[Retired Sarge]

The cannon ball experts will be around soon....in the meantime what is the precise weight, measurements etc? If the ball is not perfectly round chances of it being a cannon ball are slim. But I'll let the experts figure it out.

 

[NOLA_Ken]

The measurements and weight are about right for a cannonball from a 1 pounder cannon, CannonballGuy is the go to guy for cannonballs here and should be able to tell you more.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Your photos showing the ball's "approximate" weight and diameter measurements are helpful, and I thank you for already providing that info. As NOLA_Ken said, those preliminary measurements are in the ballpark for a 1-Pounder caliber cannonball. That caliber was used from the Colonial era to the end of the 1830s, when it fell out of favor due to the advent of more-powerful cannons in the run-up to the civil war.
www.civilwarartillery.com/shottables.htm

Because most 20th-Century "iron" balls are actually made of steel, and no cannonballs made of steel ever got used in America, we need super-precise measurements so we can know with certainty whether your ball is an iron one or a steel one. Unfortunately, spring-type analog scales like the one in your photo are not precisely accurate enough to be trustworthy for authenticating a cannonball. You'll need to use a digital Postal Shipping scale.

The dial-face analog caliper you used is accurate enough for relic authenticating... but we need you to measure two spots on exactly-opposite sides of the ball which have no rust/dirt encrustation on them.

Also, it is helpful to measure the diameter of a "maybe-cannonball" on several directions, to make sure it is a True Sphere... not significantly out-of-round. Being out-of-round could cause a cannonball to jam in the cannon's bore upon loading or firing, so all actual cannonballs were very carefully manufactured and inspected to be perfectly round.


Please do the super-precise measuring with a digital Postal Shipping scale, and re-measure the ball's diameter on some spots that are free of rust/dirt encrustation, and let us know those new measurement numbers.

Meanwhile... here's some reading which you may find to be educational. I co-wrote an instructional article with David Poche on how to correctly distinguish ("authenticate") actual cannonballs from the many imposters... such as mining-&-stonemilling industry rock-crusher balls, gatepost tops, sports shot-put balls, counterweight balls, etc. Go here:
SolidShotEssentialsMod

 

[BIGSCOTT]

The famous twin sisters cannon were hauled threw there and were the only 1 pounders that sam houston had

 

[mrelder]

Will this help?

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Yes, getting the ball's super-precise weight (1 pound 1.8 ounces) does help. Combining that weight with your photo showing the ball's diameter is 1.987 inches, means the ball is a Steel ball, which excludes it from being a cannonball. Proof: The US Army's Ordnance Manual of 1861 says that a CAST-IRON ball weighing exactly 1.00 pounds will be 1.954 inches in diameter. Your ball, which is only .03" (three one-hundredths of an inch) larger, weighs 1.8 ounces more than it should if it is made of cast-iron. Therefore, your ball is made of Steel, a heavier alloy of iron than simple cast-iron. Steel is approximately 10% heavier than cast iron, and your ball is approximately 10% heavier than the 1-pound ball in the Ordnance Manual's size-&-weight specifications. You can confirm what I'm telling you by reading the 1-pound cannonball info in the first chart and the very last chart, here:
www.civilwarartillery.com/shottables.htm

Please believe me that I get no pleasure at all from having to disappoint a digger than his/her find is not what he/she hoped. May you have good fortune in your future diggings.

 

[Crappies-n-Coins]

Sorry about the disappointment OP. If you have any interest in looking into what it is, look towards steel gage balls that are used by machinists.