Round Ball Question

[Silver Worm]

I found what appears to be a round ball. It is smooth and weighs approximately 23 grams. It does, though, have what appears to be a drill hole in it, which goes about half way in. Any thoughts on that?

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Minelab PRO-FIND 35 Waterproof Pinpointer Metal Detector for Experts with Tone ID & Adjustable Sensitivity - Grab it through Amazon!

[relic nut]

Are there threads in the hole? Maybe it was pulled from a dirty gun.

 

[Silver Worm]

Doesn't appear to be threaded. I'm on the road so will check again when I get home.

 

[releventchair]

Looks like a ball puller was screwed into it...but.. it is very well centered, no upset near edges of hole and the ball shows no sign of having been forced into a rifled barrel. Hole appears to have been slightly countersunk too.
Depending on size it could have been used in a smooth bore ,but usually an unpatched ball in a smoothbore is held with an over shot wad/card allowing the ball to roll out after card is removed.

A wild guess if hole is not threaded, is that a performance enhancement was desired by drilling the hole before loading with the option of hole loaded up(easier to see while loading) or down.
Not unlike loading a ball with a sprue.
If so your find was a dropped ball.

Or if you want something from the seventeenth century...
http://woodsrunnersdiary.blogspot.com/2013/12/ammunition-you-may-not-have-seen-before.html

 

[Silver Worm]

Thanks for the info. The hole is not threaded!

 

[fyrffytr1]

If it is the same size as a penny that would make it about a 75 caliber ball.

 

[Davers]

Where did you find it? NW SE MS,?
70 + cal would usually mean 'Brown Bess" to me. but Don't know.
Did it have any patina when found?
Was it a Water Find?
Depending on the answers to these ?'s I think it's modern