Please ID?

[cornspike]

Ok here are the measurements. Shot is 1 1/4 inches 32mm exactly, 0.67 oz. 295 grain.

Hope this helps. Thanks for looking.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Upgraded Night Vision Monocular Digital Infrared Monocular Telescope for 100% Darkness with 8X Zoom - Grab it through Amazon!

[TheCannonballGuy]

I take no pleasure in having to tell you that your iron ball is definitely not a cannonball. Your second photo of the ball shows that the two halves of the Ironcasting mold were significantly mis-aligned, producing a badly out-of-round ball. That excludes it from being a cannonball. If you try to fire an out-of-round iron ball, it tends to jam inside the cannon's bore during firing, which can cause the cannon itself to explode. Thus, a part of the army Ordnance Inspector's job was to check EVERY cannonball to make sure it was a "True Sphere."

Unlike cannonballs, iron balls which were not manufactured for artillery shooting did not have to be perfectly round. Some examples are rock-crusher balls from the Mining-&-Stonemilling industry (called "Mill-Balls"), and cement-delivery truck tank-cleaning balls. Your out-of-round iron ball is most probably one of those kinds.

 

[cornspike]

Could it be this?

 

[gsxraddict]

Thanks for your help, I found what it is!

I don't know about that. It would help if you told us what area it came from. If it came from a battle where they were firing 12lber's you can definitely exclude the possibility of it being part of a canister.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

I considered the possibility of it being a Canister ball -- which is what is shown in your latest photo. But I discarded that possibility because you said your out-of-round iron ball is 2 inches in diameter, and you list your location as "Out West."

A 2.03-to-2.05"-diameter iron ball is the size used in 32-Pounder (6.4"-caliber) cannon. That's a huge Heavy Caliber size of cannon... so ponderously heavy that it was no simple task to move, especially on dirt roads. Therefore, in all my reading on 1700s/1800s artillery in America, I've never seen a mention of a 32-Pounder cannon being used anywhere on the Old West frontier.

Were any 32-Pounder cannons used at the place you found your iron ball? That would need to have happened in the late-1840s or later, because Canister ammo did not exist until then.

One other possibility is a 12-Pounder caliber Grapeshot ball. But, Grapeshot is considered anti-ship ammunition, used by the Navy. So it was unlikely to be used in the Old West.

Please measure your iron ball's diameter with a digital Caliper, so we can see if its exact (not eyeball-estimated) size matches up with anything in the civil war (and earlier) Ordnance Manual's list of Canister (and Grapeshot) ball sizes. To prove it is a Canister (or Grapeshot) ball, we'll also need to know the ball's exact weight, measured on a precision Postal Shipping scale, which weighs objects in tenths-of-an-ounce.

If you are correct that it is a Canister ball, there will be a match-up for its exact diameter and weight in the Ordnance Manual.

 

[cornspike]

Updated new pics. Any ideas?

 

[mical66]

even though cannonball guy has ruled out civil war artillary , i say thumbs up on the great job measuring it and posting pics of the measurements.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Please pardon the delay in replying. I'd been "on the road" for four days. Took a while to recover.

About your iron ball:
As I've said previously, multi-millions of iron (or steel) balls exist which were manufactured for civilian use (such as ball-bearings and Stonemilling Industry rock-crusher balls, etc). So, to distinguish between an Artillery ball and a civilian-usage ball, we artillery historians rely on historical records which tell the very-precise diameter and weight of the various kinds and calibers of Artillery balls used in America from the Colonial era through the Civil War. That very important data is viewable online, for free, here: Cannon bore, shot, and shell diameters for smoothbore guns

Speaking very frankly, as a longtime relic-digger myself, every time I dig an iron ball I very much want it to be an Artillery ball. But speaking as an artillery historian (and an honest relic-dealer), I must suppress my personal desire that my find be an artillery ball, and put it through the "Authentification" tests (precise measuring and weighing) before I put that ball on my relic-show table as an Artillery ball with a pricetag on it.

I appreciate the effort you've put into accurately measuring and weighing your iron ball. As I explained above, that is crucially necessary for "authenticating" it as an artillery ball.

Unfortunately, the Ordnance Manual's "Shot Tables" do not contain a matchup for your 1.259-inch ball.

The two "nearest" matches for it are 1.15/1.16-inch and 1.33/1.34-inch Canister (antipersonnel artillery ammo) balls. People ask me, "Well, why do the balls have to be exactly the size (in hundredths-of-an-inch) which is specified in the Ordnance Manual?" The answer is: just as with bullets for a rifle, artillery balls must fit perfectly into the cannon's bore, or into the Grapeshot assembly, or into the Canister (a tin-can) which contained them. If the projectile is a little too small or too big for its intended use, it won't perform properly. Of course, combat soldiers (and the Ordnance Department) don't like that. So, very strict ammo-size rules were issued, which were enforced by the army and navy's Ordnance Inspectors.

A bit more explanation:
1- See the photos (below) showing artillery Ring Gauges, which are a precision-made "sizing" tools for size-checking artillery balls.
2- You'll notice that the Ordnance Manual's "Shot Tables" charts for artillery balls mention a size-range between "Large-gauge" and "Small-gauge." That meant a ball had to fit through a "Large-gauge" ring but also not fit through the accompanying "Small-gauge" ring.

Example:
For a 6-Pounder caliber cannon's Canister balls, the hole in the "Small-gauge" ring was 1.14-inches, and in the "Large-gauge" ring was 1.17-inches. So, the iron balls which passed those tests were 1.15-to-1.16-inches in diameter ...and of course, the ball couldn't have any projections (bumps or ridges) which were large enough to prevent the ball from fitting through the ring.

In the photos below, showing two examples of artillery ball "sizing" Ring Gauges, note the markings telling the hole's diameter in hundredths-of-an-inch,. Also, other explanatory markings, such as "Ord[nance] Dep[artment] U.S.N.Y.W. [United States Navy Yard, Washington DC] 1867."

 

[Bryanhashemi]

You impress me more and more cannonball. Feels like I'm taking college courses in relics! That I actually attend!

 

[cornspike]

Yeah he's good!!! Thanks again Cannonball.....