Any Idea what time period these came from?

[vaka2race]

Trying to find out if these are from the old west,Civil war, etc ? We found them on our farm but not sure how they got there. Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

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[TheCannonballGuy]

I know for certain that nearly all of the cylindrical ones are 20th-century bullets for Blackpowder target-shooters and game-hunters. Bullets #1 and #2 are Lyman-mold 3-groove "Minie-balls." Bullets #3, 9, 10, 11, and 12 are called "Maxi Ball" bullets. Here are some photos of that kind, including a box of them.

The presence of so many modern blackpowder bullets on your farm indicates the musketballs are also modern-made.

 

[TxMike]

I recognized those T/C Maxi's right off the bat. I used to shoot them in my old .50 CVA kit gun. Strange, but from what I can see in the photos none of these appear to have been fired. Just wondering why some one would drop a bunch of these. I seem to recall the T/C Maxi's weren't exactly cheap.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Second and third ones in from the left are modern - a Lyman and a Lee R.E.A.L. conical (rifling engraved at loading). Four on the right are, as noted above, also modern T/C Maxi-balls. 1960's to present. The round balls could be last week or last millenia. I do all my deer hunting with patched round lead balls. I belong to a forum that has 25,000 like minded traditional muzzleloading folk.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Charlie, I figured there had to be tens-of-thousands (at the least) of Blackpowder game-hunters. My state has a portion of Hunting Season reserved for them alone ...which the state wouldn't do for just a few hundred guys/gals.

I've got to mention, that is a GREAT photo of you, Charlie. It looks like it was shot by a time-traveler.

 

[vaka2race]

Thanks guys,My husband also muzzleload hunts and we knew some resembled the maxiballs he uses today. He didn't know they made that small of a caliber though. Still don't understand why they were there,or why there were some many of them. And the mixture of different ones and sizes.

 

[uglymailman]

When my Dad was a kid in the 30's, he was splitting firewood when out rolled a double handfull of lead balls. It would have been about head high on the tree they had cut down. It wasn't a real big tree but few people used muzzle loaders then. Would have been there 50 yrs or so. The tree was not near any houses. Those balls could have been there a long time.