Info on a 18 lbs cannonball

[42 Scout car]

This is not mine but just trying to learn about cannonballs. The seller claims that it is a 18 pounder. The ball is on Ebay. The tables seem to confirm that it is a 18lbs. Can I get an expert to confirm this? Thanks. The gents writes:
THIS IS A 5" (+/- MEASURED WITH AN ADJUSTABLE
TRI-SQUARE)
CAST IRON CANNON BALL
WEIGHS 14 POUNDS 9 OUNCES
AN "18 POUNDER"
SIZE AND WEIGHT IS WHAT WAS USED
IN BOTH THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR AND THE
WAR OF 1812 BY BRITISH AND FRENCH GUNS

HAS A 1 1/8" HOLE WITH WOOD PLUG
HAS TWO HOLES THAT WERE FROM THE CASTING
PROCESS: THE FILLING SPRUE WHICH IS THE SMALL HOLE
AND THE LARGE HOLE FOR THE PLUG

NOTE THE SEAM

DUE TO THE WEIGHT, I'M ASSUMING THIS BALL IS FILLED
WITH SHOT, EITHER IRON OR LEAD. NOT GOING TO
DESTROY THE PLUG TO FIND OUT!

 

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[TheCannonballGuy]

I'll confirm for you, it is an 18-Pounder 5.3"-caliber roundshell. But the Ebay seller's information is partly incorrect. (As usual on Ebay.) The French did NOT use 18-Pounder cannons... they used a semi-equivalent of their own, called a 16-Pounder.

In actuality, 18-Pounder caliber cannons were used in America by the British and US artillerymen in the RevWar, War-of-1812, and by the US and the Confederates in the civil war. But note, yankee civil war 18-Pounder shells had the Bormann fuze (not a wooden fuzeplug), so this ball is not one of those. Does the Ebay seller say where it was (supposedly) found?

Also note, the wooden plug in the fuzehole is NOT original to the shell.... because this plug is "solid," meaning it does not have a hole through its center to hold the actual timefuze. Since the plug is a modernday addition to the ball, it may have other "modern additions" inside it, causing the higher-than-normal weight. Or, the ball may have thicker walls than the US version in the 1861 US Ordnance Manual's "Shot Tables" cannonball size data charts.

Also, shells which contained antipersonnel balls did not exist during the Revolutionary War. That type was invented by a British soldier named Sir Henry Shrapnel in 1784, a year after the Revolutionary War ended.

 

[DizzyDigger]

That type was invented by a British soldier named Sir Henry Shrapnel in 1784, a year after the Revolutionary War ended.

Awesome info CG...now I know where the term "shrapnel" came from.

 

[42 Scout car]

Cannonball Guy... Thanks for you help! Rob