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Help with round ball ID

Rednecky

New Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2018
Messages
14
Location
Middle Bama
Recently dug this .... would love to know if it’s a modern ball or 1800ish... pistol or rifle shot???? I don’t have anything to weigh it with at the moment thanks
 

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.50 cal round ball for patched muzzle loader (pistol or rifle).
Could be 1800's or post 1960's when muzzle loader shooting and hunting become popular.
I did build a .50 cal Hawken rifle in the 1970's which used 0.470 diameter round balls.
It also doesn't have the whitish patina to indicate age.
 
.50 cal round ball for patched muzzle loader (pistol or rifle).
Could be 1800's or post 1960's when muzzle loader shooting and hunting become popular.
I did build a .50 cal Hawken rifle in the 1970's which used 0.470 diameter round balls.
It also doesn't have the whitish patina to indicate age.

Thx for the info. I know nothing about shot sizes etc. I found it on my property in wooded area ... I think it may be
1800s.. (at least I hope it is lol ) have found nothing else out there but shotgun shells, a piece of a plow and a nineties dog tag.
 
.50 cal round ball for patched muzzle loader (pistol or rifle).
Could be 1800's or post 1960's when muzzle loader shooting and hunting become popular.
I did build a .50 cal Hawken rifle in the 1970's which used 0.470 diameter round balls.
It also doesn't have the whitish patina to indicate age.

How can it be a 50 cal round ball when it measures .74 None of my 50 cal rifles will allow a ball that large to go down the barrel.

I would think that it was for a .75 caliber. May actually measure .735 which would fit the 75.

Hard to determine how old it may be. Since there are still a lot folks who shoot black powder firearms.
 
How can it be a 50 cal round ball when it measures .74 None of my 50 cal rifles will allow a ball that large to go down the barrel.

I would think that it was for a .75 caliber. May actually measure .735 which would fit the 75.

Hard to determine how old it may be. Since there are still a lot folks who shoot black powder firearms.

Georgeinsc ... is a .75 caliber an older caliber or a newer one ? Or is it still a common caliber used by black powder folks today?
 
How can it be a 50 cal round ball when it measures .74 None of my 50 cal rifles will allow a ball that large to go down the barrel.

I would think that it was for a .75 caliber. May actually measure .735 which would fit the 75.

Hard to determine how old it may be. Since there are still a lot folks who shoot black powder firearms.

Look at the first photo again and NOTE the scale on the calibers, slide shows 0.4" then dial adds 0.075. Therefore, Diameter is 0.475 so with a patch it fits a .50 Cal bore.
 
Thx for the info. I know nothing about shot sizes etc. I found it on my property in wooded area ... I think it may be
1800s.. (at least I hope it is lol ) have found nothing else out there but shotgun shells, a piece of a plow and a nineties dog tag.

Are the shotgun shells plastic?? If so then newer than 1960's.
The 1960's also saw a renewed interest in muzzle loader shooting and hunting. Otherwise muzzle loaders died out in the mid-late 1800's when breech loading firearms become readily available.
 
Look at the first photo again and NOTE the scale on the calibers, slide shows 0.4" then dial adds 0.075. Therefore, Diameter is 0.475 so with a patch it fits a .50 Cal bore.

The slide bar indicates 1/10th of an inch and the dial measures to 1/1000th of an inch. It's an easy miss if your not familiar with that type of caliper.
 
50 cal muzzle loaders take 0.490" or 0.495" balls. NOT 0.470" balls. T/C usually take the 0.495" balls as the rifling in them are a much shallower type of rifling and you also have to use a thinner patch as well. But the 0.490" ball is the standard ball for the 50 cal. muzzle loader.
 
I would say it is a older ball. In the old days before modern steel, they would ream out or "FRESHEN" the bore of a rifle. The gunsmiths back then would cut new rifling into the barrel and then make a new mold for the balls that went with the rifle. I have a feeling that this was a 45 cal rifle that was freshened and was turned into what you found. It started at a 45 and ended up at around a 48 cal


Back then they did not throw away everything like we do today. If it could be rebuilt they did it. They knew that it took longer to replace an item than to fix an item. Something we have forgotten in our disposable society.
 
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thx for the replies... interesting hearing about the different calibers...I'm ignorant
about all that stuff lol....I'm hoping its older but who knows...I'll keep looking maybe I can find some other things to help date it.
 
75 will explode a 50 cal.

Georgeinsc ... is a .75 caliber an older caliber or a newer one ? Or is it still a common caliber used by black powder folks today?

Yes, you are right. Common sense will dictate that if you could somehow jam a 75 caliber ball down a 50 caliber barrel, it will EXPLODE IN YOUR FACE.
This is obviously a Brown Bess musket ball.
 
Despite all the conjecture on this forum, there is zero way of knowing how old a round ball is, regardless of size, patina, whatever.
There is definitely a way to date some musket balls. If I'm finding 1700's flat buttons, coins and colonial shoe buckles in a spot with musket balls, you can be pretty certain they're also from that era.
 
There is definitely a way to date some musket balls. If I'm finding 1700's flat buttons, coins and colonial shoe buckles in a spot with musket balls, you can be pretty certain they're also from that era.

You can hope what you find there is old. I have found a 1776-1976 quarter close to where I found 3 cent pieces, large cent coins and flat buttons.
 
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