Identifing musket balls ?

[baspinall]

Ok, I found a musket ball yesterday in a field that I know for a fact was a Rev. war battlefield. I have found lots of musket balls in the past. Some in farm fields some close or near areas of battles etc. What I want to do with this find is determine if it is British or American. It is not totally spherical so I am going by weight. Off the bat I am thinking British because of the size by eye. Then I found this web site. http://www.ehow.com/how_7633630_identify-revolutionary-war-musket-balls.html So I decide to do the math calculation of diameter by weight. This calculation doesn't make sense to me? The ball weighs 30.39 grams. Using that calculation in the article it comes out to 1.89 width? That isn't right? What am I doing wrong? Anyone ......... Need a math guru


Brian

 

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[spartacus53]

I think you may need one of those calibrating thingamajigs.

 

[baspinall]

Micrometer or Calipers? Problem is the ball is not a dropped ball. Almost round but it hit something. This is just a curiosity thing. Just trying to figure out which side fired this ball. It would also give me a good idea which way they were heading.

 

[spartacus53]

I would guess that both sides used the same materials to manufacture their shot. It would still be impossible to tell what direction they were headed anyway from a bullet. Someone could be marching in one direction, heard something, turned around and just fired The best part is the find, it may be nearly impossible to get much history on the history of one piece like that. Just hope you find more, and perhaps better items

 

[Swartzie]

Hopefully somebody will come by with an answer. I too have a few fired balls that I would like to determine the diameter of. Suppose I should get a scale to weigh them. I do have calipers which will give me a ballpark idea of diameter. You could compare the weight of the fired ball with the weight of a known diameter ball to see if it is bigger than the known diameter ball.

-Swartzie

 

[baspinall]

Not really trying to determine which direction the ball was fired. Although if, say know this is a British ball, given the lay of the land and knowing where the British were coming from etc. helps me get an idea of the battle field a little better.

Swartzie - The article states this math equation to determine the diameter of a musket ball. Weigh the ball if its shape is not spherical. A fired musket ball may have hit a tree or other object and changed shape. Calculate the ball's diameter with the formula: Diameter in inches = 0.223304 x (Weight in grams) to the power of 1/3. I did this and came up with 1.8. Doesn't make sense? That was my whole ? to begin with.

 

[NOLA_Ken]

You might just need to get a caliper and measure the least deformed area, and take a guess.....

Here's a list of British ball sizes, it's from 1801, so I don't know if it's accurate for revolution era arms but it might help.

http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/abstract/military/army/britain/artillery/c_ammo.html

All I know is I'd hate to fire a musket with a 1.8 inch bore.....sounds like a dislocated shoulder to me

 

[Terry Soloman]

Ok, I found a musket ball yesterday in a field that I know for a fact was a Rev. war battlefield. I have found lots of musket balls in the past. Some in farm fields some close or near areas of battles etc. What I want to do with this find is determine if it is British or American. It is not totally spherical so I am going by weight. Off the bat I am thinking British because of the size by eye. Then I found this web site. http://www.ehow.com/how_7633630_identify-revolutionary-war-musket-balls.html So I decide to do the math calculation of diameter by weight. This calculation doesn't make sense to me? The ball weighs 30.39 grams. Using that calculation in the article it comes out to 1.89 width? That isn't right? What am I doing wrong? Anyone ......... Need a math guru
Brian

Brian, it may be a piece of "grape shot," and probably started out as a 1-ounce (troy) ball. There would have been anywhere from 40-60 of these balls leaving the artillery piece at the same time, speading out like a shotgun at about 55-60 meters. I have found these on Battle Hill, here in White Plains, NY, where Washington held off the British during his retreat from Long Island and Brooklyn.

 

[l.cutler]

First thing I would do is ignore that article, somebody doesn't know what they are talking about! That article is so full of inaccuracies that it is pretty much useless. Without knowing the purity of the lead used weight is useless. Also while British musketballs would have been standard size, Americans used a variety of muskets of different calibers including the same Brown Bess the British were using. Measuring the diameter in a few places and taking the average would get you closer to the actual size, but it is doubtful you will really know which side, or if it was even a hunter that fired it.

 

[Woodland Detectors]

First thing I would do is ignore that article, somebody doesn't know what they are talking about! That article is so full of inaccuracies that it is pretty much useless. Without knowing the purity of the lead used weight is useless. Also while British musketballs would have been standard size, Americans used a variety of muskets of different calibers including the same Brown Bess the British were using. Measuring the diameter in a few places and taking the average would get you closer to the actual size, but it is doubtful you will really know which side, or if it was even a hunter that fired it.

Yeah, I agree.