cannon ball? grape shot? what is it?

[sonqui111]

I found this awhile back while digging in Pennsylvania, it is 2 5/8" diameter, weighs a hair more than 2.5 lbs and each end has a flat spot...any ideas?

 

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[1320]

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/what/374818-cannonball.html

 

[Tony in SC]

Mill ball.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Sonqui111, welcome to TreasureNet's "What Is It?" forum, the best place on the internet to get objects CORRECTLY identified.

Cannonballs are my specialty-area of relic study. I've been a nationally-known dealer of historical cannonballs, and other civil war (and earlier) artillery projectiles, for over 40 years. Absolutely no cannonballs (or Grapeshot balls, etc.) had two flat spots. Sorry to have to tell you, your ball is a civilian-usage industrial machinery ball, such as a Mill Ball, as Tony suggested.

If you want additional proof:
Go to
www.civilwarartillery.com/shottables.htm
to see the precise size-&-weight data for cannonballs used in the US from the Colonial era through the civil war. You'll see that there was no such thing as a 2.5-pound cannonball, nor Grapeshot ball.

 

[sonqui111]

Thanks for the clarification and links....pretty interesting stuff!

 

[Galleon Hunter]

I am trying to reach Cannonball guy about a stone cannonball question, but for some reason my PM's are not going through. At least they don't show up in my "sent" folder. If you read this please me me.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Rob, your message did make it into my T-Net Private Messages mailbox. Please pardon the delay in replying. I've had some health issues, and insomnia. Stone cannonballs do exist, but they are VERY difficult to authenticate with certainty. There's just too many round or round-ish stone "imposters" that were not manufactured to be an artillery projectile. Native American "game balls," and ancient and more-modern stone ornamentaion balls are examples of the imposters.

Stone was the first material used as a cannonball. But perfectly-round stone balls require a great deal of labor and time to manufacture. So, by the late 1500s, cast-iron had entirely replaced stone cannonballs. (However, Colonial-era naval ordnance records indicate there were still a few stone leftovers in the very early 1600s.)

A clue for correct ID... the type of stone is important. Due to the limitations of early-Colonial metal tools, it was extremely difficult to create a true sphere out of very hard stones like quartz or granite. Therefore, softer stone, such as limestone, was the preferred choice for cannonballs.

I should also mention... many round/roundish stones found on Colonial-era shipwrecks are simply ballast-balls... not cannonballs.

I used the term "perfectly-round" above, for an important reason in cannonball authentification. To roll down the bore of a cannonbarrel, and be fired out of it with explosive blast, a ball absolutely MUST be a perfect sphere (also called a "True Sphere"). Although a slight casting-mold seam is acceptable, any lumpiness or out-of-roundness can cause the ball to jam in the barrel during loading or firing, which is very bad news for the cannon's crew. Historically, part of an army or navy Artillery Ordnance Inspector's job was to make certain EVERY cannonball suplied to the gun crews is perfectly-round. Regardless of whether it's a metal or stone ball, if a ball isn't perfectly-round, it is not a cannonball. You can check for deviation from true sphericality with a good-quality Caliper.

Another clue in cannonball authentification is, the ball's diameter. To be a cannonball, it must precisely fit one of the known diameters of historical cannons. If there's no matchup size-wise, it's not a cannonball.

Another clue: If a ball is a cannonball, there should have been at least one cannon of the correct size in the area where the ball was excavated. (Unless the location was an "ammo dump" ordnance supply location.) For example, on Ebay, sellers advertize "cannonballs" allegedly found at the Gettysburg battlefield which are too large (or too small) to correctly fit into any cannon that was present at Gettysburg in 1863.