Georgia ball for the CANNONBALL GUY??

[parsonwalker]

Found near Kennesaw Mountain in Georgia. I know I need precise measurements, but this was found by a friend living there, and so I have not seen it. He tells me it weighs 32.6 pounds and has not given any more measurements. Not a relic hunter. Found under his porch. "Fuze" (??) hole does have threads. Anything immediately rule it in or out?

 

[AU Seeker]

Until CBG get to this here's the website with the info to determine if you have a CW cannonball, go to the bottom of the linked page.

Cannon bore, shot, and shell diameters for smoothbore guns


I don't see a cast iron cannonball in the charts that weights 32.6 lbs. but it could have debris inside that could be the other .6 lb.

But at 32 lbs the diameter should be 6.205 inches if I'm reading the shot chart correctly.

Edit: I just saw in the first chart that a 32 pounder solid shot should weight 32.4 lbs and have a diameter of 6.25 inches

 

[BosnMate]

CBG will ave the answer, but it looks to me like an explosive mortar ball, and the Boreman type fuse is missing. Who knows what's inside the case now, so a really close weight might not be possible. Anyhow, it looks like the real deal to me, but CBG will set us straight.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Although that 32.6-pound ball was "found near Kennesaw Mountain in Georgia," no cannonballs weighing more than 12.25 pounds were used in the battles there. So, this ball cannot be related to those battles.

The presence of a threaded hole in the ball indicates (but does not PROVE) that the ball is a hollow one. Many solid (not hollow) metal balls have a threaded hole for attaching them to some other object. But for the moment, I'll assume this one is indeed a hollow ball. According to the historical data on the very-exact size and weight of cannonballs at
www.civilwarartillery.com/shottables.htm
the only "close" matchup for that maybe-hollow ball is a 42-Pounder (7"-caliber) roundshell... whose diameter was specified to be 6.84-inches. But in the photo, the ball looks significantly smaller than that. If it indeed actually is smaller than 6.84-inches, and it weighs 32.6 pounds, it is definitely NOT a cannonball. So, we need precise measurement of its diameter, in tenths-of-an-inch.

Precise measurement of the threaded hole's diameter (in tenths-of-an-inch) would also be helpful. (For example, a Bormann shell's fuzehole diameter is 1.58-inches, and a Watercap shell's fuzehole diameter is 1.26-inches.

 

[parsonwalker]

Thanks CBG, AU and Bosn. "Near Kennesaw" in this case meant about 10 miles away! If he ever sends me precise measurements, I'll be sure to pass them along.