12 lb cannon ball?

[Georgivs]

I found this ~4.5 inch ~12 lb spherical chunk of iron in my dads woods near Athens GA. The property was a mule farm on the seaboard rail line around the time of the civil war and there were no battles / fighting in the area that I know of. It has an odd spherical hole that I drilled about 1/8" into to see if there may have been a plug (you can see in the 2nd pic where I drilled into the bottom of the hole) judging from the hardness its cast iron.





Cannon ball?
Ball from ball and chain?
Half a barbell weight?

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[Georgivs]

A friend suggested that this may be a 12 pound shot put from track and field. Maybe the hole was for fine tuning the weight?

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Diving for Pleasure and Treasure - Grab it through Amazon!

[Reanm8er]

Military installations typically have ordinance disposal units, unless they're just logistical bases. The one at Fort Belvoir, in Northern, Va, has been very cooperative over the years in defusing antique ordinance and removing old dynamite found on farms etc. I would presume it's loaded and check with a professional.

 

[A2coins]

Id hate to stab that with my digger tool

 

[Reanm8er]

A friend of mine showed me a Hotchkiss round he found one time. It was about 2 feet down in the hard ground and apparently hadn't had any powder in it. The primer had gone off and completely shattered the iron casing. Not this black duck says I!

 

[Rookster]

I vote cannon ball. 12lb. Oh yea.Congrats