What type of musket ball is this?

[hooah]

First find of 2017 in a wetland area of northern Virginia. Found in an area with major Civil War battles. In the wetland marsh so could be naval or land.

What type of musket ball is this? It is sitting on a box of 9mm for reference. It is ringing up 25-27 on my AT Pro.

Thanks for the help!

 

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[gunsil]

Looks like it is iron, therefore not a musket ball of any type. Better size reference would be helpful, but it looks too small for cannister, definitely too small for grape. Likely just a ball bearing, we find them all over, many were used as marbles and others as slingshot ammo.

 

[BosnMate]

Looks like it is iron, therefore not a musket ball of any type. Better size reference would be helpful, but it looks too small for cannister, definitely too small for grape. Likely just a ball bearing, we find them all over, many were used as marbles and others as slingshot ammo.

Agree.

 

[devldog]

Old Dominion, it looks like you have found an Iron Cannister Ball fired from artillery Case Shot. Nice find. If you want to clean this, you can brush the worst of the rust off the ball using a wire brush. Then soak in a small cup of White Distilled Vinegar, changing the vinegar when the bath turns black. Remove ball and repeat process. I soaked my canister's for 3 rounds. Once your satisfied, wash thoroughly with water and then dry. It's funny I just came across this because I have spent this past week cleaning some of my old iron and some of this was some of my canister. For my final step, I'm going to brush on some Gemplers Rust Converter to further restore the iron. This is the first time I have used this product but it is supposed to do a very good job. You can watch Utube videos on Gemplers and check it out if you haven't seen it already. Great find, and hit this same area where this was found. Usually where one is found, there are more. HH and Continued Success to you. Nice save

 

[Old Bookaroo]

Artillery Through the Ages (1985)

I've read that grape was seldom used on land - despite the fact some writers use "grape" and "canister" interchangeably.


Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo, CM

 

[gunsil]

You are correct Old Bokaroo, grape shot was mostly a naval charge. I have union 12 pounder cannisters and the iron balls are larger than hooah's item. All the union case shot I have seen sawed open had lead balls in them.

 

[hooah]

Thanks for the replies so far, more would be helpful. I was assuming it was a musket ball since it had the mold print and it also had a flat spot. They are next to each other in the picture (directly front of the ball from camera's perspective).

Updated OP: Found in an area with major Civil War battles. In the wetland marsh so could be naval or land.

 

[Muddyhandz]

Although grape shot is a possibility here, I have to disagree with the previous posts stating that there were no iron musket shot.
I have have dug several at 18th century fur trade sites; not as many as lead ones but still, they are the exact caliber from the same molds.
Things were so remote here that one would often run out of lead.

 

[gunsil]

Although grape shot is a possibility here, I have to disagree with the previous posts stating that there were no iron musket shot.
I have have dug several at 18th century fur trade sites; not as many as lead ones but still, they are the exact caliber from the same molds.
Things were so remote here that one would often run out of lead.

One cannot, I repeat CANNOT, cast an iron ball in the same bullet mold as a lead ball. Physical impossibility, sorry. Try melting and casting iron in a bullet mold. Go on, try it! It is not going to work.

 

[Muddyhandz]

I hear ya! Only said the same mold because these are identical to musket balls in every form except material.
Same irregular shape, (not smooth and round like ball bearings) same caliber, same period sites.
The only thing different is they did not splatter upon impact due to a harder material.
In fact, the final deciding factor for me is when I read in the fur trade inventories for a major post.....
"Steel shot" right after "lead shot." There was also lead and steel bird shot as well.

 

[sprailroad]

Just looked at this post. As far as soaking in vinegar, part of what I learned on the web is, after you are done soaking anything iron, THEN soak it in a baking soda/ water solution, it is suppose to draw out the acid from the vinegar that soaked into the (ferrous) iron, which I understand would continue to corrode it from within.