.64 caliber musketball?

[RJH02]

I found this today in the woods behind my house, it seems much larger than the others I have found and I havent seen many posted on here. Is this a rare size or are they pretty common?I found the buckle just a few feet away, Thanks

 

[dick99344]

I found this today in the woods behind my house, it seems much larger than the others I have found and I havent seen many posted on here. Is this a rare size or are they pretty common?I found the buckle just a few feet away, Thanks

This caliber would be a new one on me. My charts show that this would fall between a .614 caliber and a .675 Caliber, these two do exist but remember that the one you found may be used with a patch sized anywhere from .005" to .020" thick. I can buy these patch sizes all day. This is maybe perhaps a custom cast size. My wag would be .65 Caliber(?) if you consider a .015 thick patch ( But who knows what was used for patch material when this was cast ). This patch would bring the size up to .655. The .015 patch is a common widely used size. I could be off here, waiting to see other comments.

 

[Lucas]

Would be the right RB size for 16 ga (0.663 inch bore).

 

[l.cutler]

Could be for the US .69 caliber musket, pretty close in size. Musket balls weren't patched, just shoved down the barrel with the paper from the cartridge for wadding.

 

[Monty]

"Civil War Projectiles II" shows a .64 caliber paper patched ball cartridge for a Hall Carbine. The carbine was built by Bizhar, Hall Company in Virginia for the Confederacy from 1862-1864. Only 400 were made and one today is valued by collectors at over $10,000. Monty

 

[Lucas]

The buckle is WW2.

 

[dick99344]

"Civil War Projectiles II" shows a .64 caliber paper patched ball cartridge for a Hall Carbine. The carbine was built by Bizhar, Hall Company in Virginia for the Confederacy from 1862-1864. Only 400 were made and one today is valued by collectors at over $10,000. Monty

Monty,

Thanks for that info. I will add it to data files. I also have learned that George Washington was a proponent of the Buck and Ball load. The ball portion was rated at .65 Cal. Paper cartridges for Smootbore Muskets were tied off into three sections. The bottom section contained the powder charge for charging the flash pan. The middle section contained the main charge and the top section contained the ball. The ball was wrapped with the paper and served as the patch for sealing off the gases when fired. The paper cartridge was sized to not only seal off the gases but also used to help center the round ball in the bore since the round was somewhat under sized. You would bite off the end and charge your flash pan and close the frizzen. You would then bite off the main charge and dump it down the bore followed by what was left of the cartridge and that portion that contained round. So you had a combination of wadding and a patched round ball. The ball end of the cartridge was often sealed in beeswax to serve as a lubricant and aided in keeping the fouling soft for easier loading after subsequent shots. Smart guys. Raw beeswax is very tasty by the way. I have a very nice reproduction of a colonial paper cartridge box, it holds 20 rounds. Even in the heat of a stand up face to face fight it took time to reload. If you were not killed in the first salvo of fire, you were likely to be killed in the bayonet charge that would surely follow. HH

 

[Monty]

The Hall carbine looks to be some kind of early breach loader? It has a lever looking trigger guard. I think the cartridge was inserted from the breech and when it was closed, the breech lock tore the powder open and with a cap it was ready to fire? I read something along those lines long ago, so it's a guess on my part. I am just guessing as I did not research it any further when I found out it used a .64" ball. There was a note saying they had a problem with some of them but that when you got one that worked, it was an extremely reliable carbine. Monty

 

[RJH02]

Thanks for the info everyone, maybe next time I will find the gun?!

 

[Lucas]

Old post, I know, but I was just reading that .65 was the larger of the 2 Brit pistol bore sizes in the Rev. War era.

 

[RJH02]

wow, thats a pretty big bore for a pistol , I bet it had quite the kick to it.

 

[Monty]

Brit. Howda pistols had huge bores that were sawed off double barrel shotgun looking things. They were used for backup weapons when shooting tigers from the back of elephants in India. But this is not a Howda ball, just one of many CW types. Monty

 

[Lucas]

18th century Brit military weapons had standard bore sizes...

Musket bore

Carbine bore

Large pistol bore

Small pistol bore.

Like I said, large pistol bore was .65.


Not saying this is a Brit pistol ball. But the howdah comment missed the mark. (Monty eaten by tiger). OK just being silly today.

 

[Monty]

Well, I wasn't stating it was a Howda handgun ball, just saying they existed. I already gave my opinion of what it was and besides I want the last word, I'm older than you! Monty

 

[Lucas]