✅ SOLVED Musket Ball with Casting Sprue - Fell Into the Fire Before it Could Be Finished

[UnderMiner]

I found this piece of lead today, it has seam lines on either side of the round part. Does anyone recognize this as anything? It weighs 13.1 grams.

 

[Robot]

Hi UnderMiner,
Looks to me to be an Antique Musket Hammer?

 

[l.cutler]

I'd say it might be from where the sprue was cut off from a cast bullet. The seam lines could be from the seam between the two halves of the mold.

 

[UnderMiner]

Or, you know what... it is actually a musket ball that was taken out of its mold too soon, and the bottom was still liquid! Oof! How cool!

So this is a half melted unfinished musket ball. The guy making the bullet must have been inexperienced and opened the hot mold too early and the half melted bullet sloshed out but the top half of the bullet and sprue had solidified first so kept the top shape. The lead fell from the mold and hit the ground where it solidified into its current flat bottom shape. The guy making the bullet was probably in a hurry because he didn't recover the failed bullet for future casting. Maybe the reason he screwed up the casting was because he needed the bullet urgently and couldn't wait for it too cool. Oof. Poor guy.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

In my opinion, here's what happened:
The FULLY-COMPLETE freshly cast lead musketball, still WITH its mushroom-shaped casting sprue, was being removed from the bulletmold when it accidentally got dropped into the fire. Because it is very heavy for its small size, it landed in the layer of ashes under the flames, with the casting sprue facing downward into the ashes. As the fire continued to burn, the heat melted the upper, exposed-to-flame part of the ball... which turned into the "lead puddle" we see in the digger's photo #4. It was in the fire, which is probably why the bullet-casting guy did not try to salvage it.

 

[UnderMiner]

In my opinion, here's what happened:
The FULLY-COMPLETE freshly cast lead musketball, still WITH its mushroom-shaped casting sprue, was being removed from the bulletmold when it accidentally got dropped into the fire. Because it is very heavy for its small size, it landed in the layer of ashes under the flames, with the casting sprue facing downward into the ashes. As the fire continued to burn, the heat melted the upper, exposed-to-flame part of the ball... which turned into the "lead puddle" we see in the digger's photo #1. It was in the fire, which is probably why the bullet-casting guy did not try to salvage it.

Agreed. Very good deduction!