Round Ball question

Boondocks · Nov 5, 2020

Hey y’all, I went to one of my favorite Civil War areas this afternoon. I found 2 nice 3 ringers and this “round” ball. I can’t tell if it was carved and if so for what reason or was it fired and it hit something. The cutout is definitely not fresh and as you can see the patina matches. Anyway, I’m just curious and was interested in y’all’s thoughts. Thanks!

EmuDetector · Nov 5, 2020

I have recovered a lot of them just like this, it's all in the way they hit stuff and break up etc. Still a cool find!

Fredneck · Nov 5, 2020

Likely case shot from an artillery shell, assume that favorite area is a battle and not a camp.

Boondocks · Nov 5, 2020

More like a skirmish but definitely mostly fired rounds. I’m just puzzled by how precise the cut is without deformation of the rest of the ball.

EmuDetector · Nov 5, 2020

Boondocks said:
More like a skirmish but definitely mostly fired rounds. I’m just puzzled by how precise the cut is without deformation of the rest of the ball.

I have so many that are split almost directly in half and all kinds of other shapes. Always throws me off when I pull them out of the dirt. Probably caused by the casting they went through, maybe the halves of the mold cause an issue.

EmuDetector · Nov 5, 2020

Here's a few sample shots of mine to compare, the pile has 80 deformed round balls/buck n ball combos. I have a couple dropped ones, I added a picture of that one too, you can barely see the faint cast lines on it. (You can click the photos to enlarge)

A couple "split" ones.

Dropped ball

Boondocks · Nov 6, 2020

Very cool. Thanks for the answers, my mind is eased.

georgeinsc · Nov 7, 2020

I have Cast hundreds of lead balls for my muzzle loading shooting. Never had one come apart like that. I have had a few that i did not have sufficient melted lead to cast the ball and wound up with less than a full mold. Casting with two different pots of lead could possibly cause the problem as one cast might not retain enough heat while the next ladel of lead is obtained. Causing the lead not to adhere.

VA-REB · Nov 8, 2020

The one looks like it has scrape marks. Maybe carved.

MoBob · Nov 10, 2020

That’s a carved, congrats on some trench art, nice personal piece of history.

Round Ball question

Boondocks

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