Musket Ball?

brianc053

Hero Member
Jan 27, 2015
985
3,412
Morris County, NJ
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
3
Detector(s) used
Minelab Equinox 800
XP Deus 2
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Hi everyone. Quick question for the firearms / ammo experts out there, since I know very little about this topic: is this little round ball a "roundball" i.e. musket ball?

It looks to be 0.49 caliber (but maybe that can be fired from a 0.50 caliber musket?), and it looks to have a seam and a rough texture. When I've found buck-and-ball shotgun balls they've been very uniform, but this one's rough texture and patina have me thinking it might be older.

Any information you can share would be appreciated, thanks!

- Brian


IMG_0371.jpg

IMG_0372.jpg


IMG_0373.jpg
 

Upvote 9
yes. a .50 caliber muzzleloader will take a .49 caliber ball because the patch thats used with the ball makes up for it.

so, ball + patch = .50 cal.

in your first picture it appears that your caliper is not touching the ball. the ball is probably a little smaller then .49
 

Hi everyone. Quick question for the firearms / ammo experts out there, since I know very little about this topic: is this little round ball a "roundball" i.e. musket ball?

It looks to be 0.49 caliber (but maybe that can be fired from a 0.50 caliber musket?), and it looks to have a seam and a rough texture. When I've found buck-and-ball shotgun balls they've been very uniform, but this one's rough texture and patina have me thinking it might be older.

Any information you can share would be appreciated, thanks!

- Brian


View attachment 1987603
View attachment 1987604

View attachment 1987605
Nice!!! Congrats!!!
 

Definitely too small to be a musketball, but a muzzleloading round ball for sure. Most likely for a rifle, but could have been a pistol. No way to say for sure on that.
 

I'm going with pistol shot.
 

Could be pistol, just odds are more in favor of rifle. Both were in the same calibers, but rifles were just much more common in this country than pistols. About every farm had a rifle, not so much with pistols.
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top