✅ SOLVED Small musket ball

[Matt26VA]

Can anyone help me locating more information on this musket ball I found? I have been told it could be .36 caliber squirrel gun but I’m not finding much info on this. It’s pretty small and I thought it was buckshot at first till I saw the casting line and snip mark. It’s flat on one side so it hit something.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Treasure of Victoria Peak - Grab it through Amazon!

[gunsil]

Pistol or squirrel gun, could have been buckshot in a muzzle loading shotgun, true identity will never be known. .36 was a very popular pistol round in the mid 1800s. Definitely not from a musket which is a military long arm with calibers from .54 up to .75. It is possible that it was fired as buck or buck and ball from a musket but most likely a pistol round, nobody will ever know. Having shot a lot of muzzle loaders as a kid we fired all kinds of stuff from them and I am sure people back in the day did the same. BBs, lead pellet gun pellets, marbles, balls of various sizes both lead and steel. Many times more muzzle loading balls have been fired in this country for target practice and hunting than fired in battle. Muzzle loaders were still in use into the late 1800s and even into the early 1920s in some rural areas so they are also impossible to date. Always nice to find something that brings you back to a different time.

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

As gunsil mentioned, any round ball find with a clear sprue is a nice find!

 

[Tony in SC]

I would say 36 cal pistol, but there were odd rifles made in 30, 32 and 36 caliber.

 

[Matt26VA]

Thanks guys, that clear up a lot.

 

[Barrydang]

I have found a lot on my place where there activity I can figure from 1830’s to the early 1900’s From what I can roughly date before my grandparents bought the place in the 1950’s. Always cool small finds. I have one they sliced in halve one of my favorite finds.

 

[FloodcityTom]

36 cal round ball, probably from a "colt navy" pistol, used extensively during Civil war....fired