First civil era musket ball!

[Kazoom123]

Today my gf and myself went to my grandparents house that's located close to a historic area and I decided while visiting to pull out the detector for a bit. I adventured into the woods after finding a ring or what appears to be a ring. I got a strong hit under a rotten tree that had died an fell obviously a long time ago. I dug up the ground, but the sound was coming from a rotten old piece of wood. I picked up the wood and swiped it a couple times and was a little puzzled, but figured it could be a nail. I slowly started taking it he wood apart still getting a swing hit, then finally I got to the center of the rotting wood which revealed a metal looking ball. I cleaned off the mold and wood and finally noticed what I was holding. I had finally found a musket ball!! I assume someone shot the gun missed I guess causing the ball to be lodged into the tree which fell and I found. The ball has damage on one side which is slightly flat I am assuming that is from the blast from the gun, but the rest of the ball is flat! I also found a more modern bullet, a slug. Not too bad for a random visit/search. I got permission to go into the field where the historic land is, but I have to share some finds with the owner which I'm okay with! Thanks for reading and good luck to all!

 

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[GatorBoy]

Nice! Might have been even cooler if left in the piece of wood..just exposed.

 

[GatorBoy]

The round ball got flattened when it hit the tree they got like that a lot from impact

 

[Kazoom123]

A blacksmith works in my moms shop and he said the exact same thing. He said it's probably from a flintlock. Early 1800s. It's the oldest find I have found yet. Pretty exciting. I'm new to this so I didn't even think about leaving it in the Wood lol I was more excited I found it haha!

 

[GatorBoy]

It's most definitely from a flintlock.
Search the area more there's a good chance you will find more.
Congrats it's a nice old find

 

[NiagracountyNY]

Congrats.The 1st of many for you im sure.I can tell your hooked lol...We know the feeling. HH

 

[Kazoom123]

I'm very hooked haha! I'm going to for sure keep searching. I am just more careful about going too far into the forest because it's bow season right now in my area. It baffles my mind to imagine why the musket was shot and what was it's intended target. I would love to be able to go back in time to witness the gun and the individual shooting the gun. I keep asking, " was it intended to kill someone, or an animal, or was it practice? " I am going to for sure go back and keep going into the woods. I am getting close to a stream, so I am assuming there may be a homestead that at one point in time was there. Down the road is a historic place where the first settlers founded this area " supposedly " the remains are there and it's a historic area, but where I was is public property which I was given permission to be on. Also, around the area I found the ball there is old stone slabs as if there was at one time something there. I will definitely be going back to explore some more. If I could find silver there I would be set haha! I follow the tip about searching around the base of rather large old trees. Thanks all for viewing it and best of luck to everyone!

 

[GatorBoy]

If you get really hooked on not only the detecting but also the history that will lead you to those types of finds you'll wind up spending a lot more time on research than you actually detect in most cases.

 

[NiagracountyNY]

If you get really hooked on not only the detecting but also the history that will lead you to those types of finds you'll wind up spending a lot more time on research than you actually detect in most cases.

This is the truth.I spend alot more time reading than detecting.Sometimes Im lucky and get to talk to some older folks who have some wonderful stories that can lead you to all kinds of places.Watching their eyes light up talking about the past always makes me smile.Our questions can bring back some great memories for people.

 

[I-DIG-IT]

Nice digs.