Cannonball question

[Ozarkdigger]

Last week i drove to nashville to pick up a supposed cannonball from a farmer who had gotten it from a friend whose parents picked it up on private land somewhere near shiloh in the 1950s. He was insistant that it was a cannonball. It wieghs exactly 92 lbs. And has a circumference of 26 5/8 imches. But looks like its made of steel. There is not much rust as i would expect on an iron ball. No filler holes either.

Does anyone know if the big artillery was made of steel?
I know grant had 2 gunboats at shiloh that had heavy guns on them. I also ran my whites detector over it and did not get an iron signal but a buckle signal.

Thanks!!

 

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[AlienLifeForm]

92lbs? Damn!

Where da pics at?

 

[Ozarkdigger]

Cant remember how to upload a pic

 

[Ozarkdigger]

Ok got it... cool

 

[bradyboy]

92 Lbs?
May want to correct and repost the weight
I'm sure cannon ball guy will chime in on this

 

[bradyboy]

mill ball ?

 

[smokeythecat]

I think mill ball. When you roll it does it make a bell sounding noise? Slightly high tone? If so it is steel not cast iron. Cast iron sort of rumbles when it rolls but does not give off s sweet high tone.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Ozarkdigger asked:
"Does anyone know if the big artillery was made of steel?"

The only historical record of cannonballs made of steel (instead of the usual cast-iron) is, in the mid-1860s the British made some 10-inch caliber steel Solid-Shot cannonballs for use against ironclad warships. But no steel cannonballs got used in the US.

I agree, the ball in the photos looks like rusted steel, not rusted cast-iron. Smokeythecat is right, if you roll a cast-iron ball and a steel ball acriss a "polished" (super-smooth) concrete floor, the steel ball will "ring" with a high-pitched sound and the cast-iron ball won't ring, sounding more like the lower pitch of a bowliing ball.

Just for the sake of duscussion, I will acknowledge that whether this ball is made of steel or not is "debatable." But, it is also disqualified from being a cannonball because there was no Solid-Shot cannonball which weighed 92 pounds. The "nearest" was a 9-inch Solid that weighed 88 pounds and was 8.87-inches in diameter. No 9-inch Solid-Shot was used at the battle of Shiloh TN (April 1862)... just hollow explosive 9-inch cannonballs, fired from a US navy gunboat in the Tennessee River.
www.civilwarartillery.com/shottables.htm

 

[The_Piratess]

92lbs? Damn!

Where da pics at?

Lol! I mean it's not like I actually would like to be shot at and especially hit by a cannonball, but 92lbs. is a bit much for even me.

 

[Ozarkdigger]

Thanks guys! I sure had my suspicions. No matter how much i wanted to believe it was a true cannonball its just not there. I'll keep searching!

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Ozarkdigger, to put your mind totally at rest on the question "Is it or is it not a cannonball?"... I did the math for you on the ball's reported circumference (26.625 inches), divided by Pi (3.1416) to get the ball's diameter. The math says 8.47 inches. According to the US (and Confederate) 1861 Ordnance Manual's "Shot Tables" (at the link I gave in my previous post), there was no cannonball even "close" to the Shiloh ball's 8.47-inch diameter. The nearest cannonball size above it was 8.87-inches (.4-inch larger), and the nearest cannonball size below it was 7.88-inches in diameter (about .6-inch smaller).

Since you say you'll still be hunting for a cannonball, you might want to bookmark the link to the Shot Tables, for you to check against the next ball's diameter and precisely-measured weight.
Cannon bore, shot, and shell diameters for smoothbore guns

Also, if you have any interest in additional information, here's a link to an Educational article I co-wrote, which gives detailed instructions (and helpful photos and diagrams) for how to accurately distinguish genuine historical cannonballs from the many look-a-likes/imposters (such as mill-balls, shotput balls, large ball-bearings, ornamental ironwork balls, etc.).

 

[smokeythecat]

I love cannonballs. Have dug a few from true Revolutionary War sites but can count them on one hand. It's a thrill to find one! I have actually dug more marked US Regimental buttons from the Rev War than cannon balls. I knew about the "ring" because someone tried to sell me a big steel ball supposedly from the 1812 battles around Baltimore and that puppy "sang" a song rolling on flat concrete!

Cannonballguy is dead on.

 

[CHIPEOD]

It appears to be an inert mortar, several were tested and never made production so it is very possible that it will not be in those publications listed above however if you do not find provisions for a fuze than it is likely you have a inert mortar this is some of the 700 cannon balls I destroyed last month

 

[CHIPEOD]

This is one of those inert mortars recovered at a construction site at West Point ny about 3 weeks ago IMG_6248.jpg

 

[CHIPEOD]

 

[Kace]

Come up to Lone Jack, MO. BLUE & GRAY PARK. I bet you would find one there. Also Lexington, MO.