Is this a musket ball?

[GeorgiaJay]

I found this in a drained lake today. I am not sure if it is a musket ball or not?
It is black, perfectly round, made out of iron or lead, and has no holes in it like a fishing weight. Also, it measures about a 1/2 " x 1/2"
What do you guys think? I need to take a pic from the side of it.

[wyoming hunter]

i found somthing like that but here in wyoming its sort of weird to find. if i had to guess i would say thats one of them looks exactly like mine but im not an expert so?

[zander10]

i have found some musket balls that were confirmed as .38cal musket balls by one of the guys at my prospecting club. they are not so perfectly round as yours.

perhaps yours is a ballbearing or something. yours appear to have been manufactured with great precision.

[falafal]

It looks to me like what I used to shoot out of my sling shot, steel ball bearings used for hunting. I bought them from Walmart 20 years ago. They look identical so I agree with zander10.

[wyoming hunter]

could they be a modern round from like cabelas or somthing?

[wyoming hunter]

my ball has a flat seam running the entire diameter of the ball possably from the access lead being cut off?

[GeorgiaJay]

Originally Posted by zander10

i have found some musket balls that were confirmed as .38cal musket balls by one of the guys at my prospecting club. they are not so perfectly round as yours.

perhaps yours is a ballbearing or something. yours appear to have been manufactured with great precision.

The ball that I found yesterday looks like your pic. My father, thought it might be a ball bearing, like you said. I dunno? Lead is a lot heavier than iron! I will probably take it by a local pawn shop or gun store to see if it is a musket ball. That would be really cool if it is! I need to buy a digital scale or a Triple-Beam to weigh items like that. GL and HH

[GeorgiaJay]

Here is two more pics that I just took from the side.

[wyoming hunter]

yeah heres one of mine i would look for that seam along the side if there is one mine and yours may be the same thing, musketball or not. but theres a place on the pic there is a realley big building in which is the saloon its totaly covered by asphalt but now is where i buy clothes.

[zander10]

they do look similar in that light. i found a whole bunch together with some other debris that the guy at my club said was excess material that resulted from the type of mould they were using and that it was a hand manufacturing process. there was some cone shaped slugs too.

i found enough stuff to fill about 2 or 3 gal. of a 5 gal bucket.

he said i had .50cal and .38cal size balls.

i think that that place was an old stagecoach stop at crystal springs nv.

[Carol K]

Did you find other lead droppings nearby? I think they used to make musketballs near a stream or river, etc. so they could dip the mold and cool it quickly.

[wyoming hunter]

i watched a move called the patriot where he did that. ps great movie

[zander10]

Originally Posted by Carol K

Did you find other lead droppings nearby? I think they used to make musketballs near a stream or river, etc. so they could dip the mold and cool it quickly.

yeah, the spill was about 20yds. from a year-round stream in a old stand of ginko trees which are not natve to north america. streams are scarce in nevada if not rare. it looked like someone had turned their whole darn wagon over with musket balls and the slag associated with their hand manufacture.

there are still some left up there. i got tired of crawling around on my hands and knees there were so many. plus my vdub was ridin' on its shocks from all the weight.

the ginkos at that location are the largest i have ever seen. i don't think anyone knows who planted them there. i will proll'y hunt the site again someday. there are at least two stands of ginko like that up in parahnget valley (indian for place of many waters) one at each end of the valley.

the location was at the eastern entrance to the e.t. hwy(crystal springs nv). the place i am going tomorrow is at the western entrance to the e.t. hwy (warm springs nv). (us hwy 375 runs east to west from crystal springs to warm springs)

there is a book about places like this in nevada that i might pick up.

[zander10]

Originally Posted by wyoming hunter

i watched a move called the patriot where he did that. ps great movie

i should check it out.

[Carol K]

Interesting spot that could be very productive if you can wade through all the slag.

Great research on your part. The more you can find out the more it will help.

They surely must have camped there if the wagon dumped.

[simonthesearcher]

Originally Posted by wyoming hunter

my ball has a flat seam running the entire diameter of the ball possably from the access lead being cut off?

You should let a doctor look at it in that case

[GeorgiaJay]

Originally Posted by Carol K

Did you find other lead droppings nearby? I think they used to make musketballs near a stream or river, etc. so they could dip the mold and cool it quickly.

I haven't found any other lead balls. I found a couple of lead fishing weights, but that is something totally different. I do have a couple of sticks marking the general area where I found this round, black ball. That drained lake is really cool! All kinds of wildlife, cool stones with fossils, some types of coral, unusual plants, small crevices in solid rock where the water has carved out little canyons (about 10-12 inches deep). I love hunting at this lake! I went down there on Friday, and hunted for 1-2 hours. Most, of the time I was just looking around and scoping it out. There is at least 200-300 golf balls in this old lake! I went back yesterday, and got rained out. I will definitely take some pics! GL and HH

[wyoming hunter]

Originally Posted by simonthesearcher

You should let a doctor look at it in that case

hahaha i didnt get it at first. lol
btw i ment the musket ball

[simonthesearcher]

I know,just having a laugh

[wyoming hunter]

Originally Posted by wyoming hunter

yeah heres one of mine i would look for that seam along the side if there is one mine and yours may be the same thing, musketball or not. but theres a place on the pic there is a realley big building in which is the saloon its totaly covered by asphalt but now is where i buy clothes.

oh no sry i was talking about another thread on this one for some reason?
http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=17207
the old time photo on this one.