Musket ball and bullet

[Pinball]

I was hoping someone here could give me an idea of the age of these two items. I don't even know if the round one is a musket ball so I guess we could start there Thanks

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[stefen]

Being that the items were found in Ohio probably means that they are not related to the CW...

Probably need to mic the ball to obtain caliber.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

The lead ball with thick white lead-oxide patina on it appears to be a .44-caliber pistol ball, statistically most like to be for a .44 Colt Revolver. As such it would date from the mid-1840s to the early 1870s, when metallic-cartridge ammunition almost entirely replaced the old cap-&-ball ammo.

The other bullet also has thick white lead-oxide patina, indicating it is made of 100% lead instead of the more-modern recipe of lead alloys. Laying on the tape-measure doesn't give us the precise diameter measurement we need, but it looks to be a bit larger than .25-inch... perhaps a .30 or .32-caliber. The photo is too out-of-focus for specific identification of what "brand" of bullet it is, but the crimp-mark of a metallic-cartridge can be seen... so it's not a cap-&-ball bullet. We can also see it has a wide but shallow bowl-shaped recess in its base, which means it is from sometime later than the civil war. Could be latter-1800s through first half of the 20th Century.

 

[Pinball]

Thank you very much. I will get a mic on it tomorrow and try to get some better pictures as well.

 

[Pinball]

The ball has an average size of .380' and the bullet has a dia. of .295' and a length of .490'. Here are the best pictures I believe I will be able to get. Thanks for the help.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Thanks for providing precision measuring. At .380-inch diameter, the lead ball is the correct size to be a .36 caliber pistol ball, from the 1850s into the 1870s.

Thanks also for providing well-focused closeup photos. My guess for the cylindroconical bullet (which has been fired) was going to be a latter-1800s era Smith & Wesson, but that ID doesn't match up with the .295-inch diameter you report. Important note: the .295" diameter includes the rifling ridges made by firing the bullet out of a rifled pistol. Since I don't know of a .29-caliber pistol, I suspect your bullet is either a slightly corroded-down .30 caliber bullet, or a more-corroded .32 Smith & Wesson. Somebody who knows "post-civil-war" bullets better than me might be able to answer the riddle for us.

Did you measure that bullet at its base, or in the middle of its body? I'm asking because it appears to be narrower at its base than at its middle.

 

[Pinball]

I was measuring at the ridges for the .295'. I would roll it in my caliper to get the measurement and was getting .293' as an average and it would never go up more then one or two thousandths...so I used the high side. I measured at its base and it is an average of .285'. That is great news about the pistol ball as it is now one of my keepers. Thanks again for the help with this.