Musket ball with iron core found today, some form of bar shot???

[mangum]

Hello all! I was able to get out with Jim Don for a couple hours before the rain came pouring down. We hit the same house that I found the NC Confederate starburst button at a couple weeks ago. I found this very unusual lead ball with an iron core/bar going through the center. Crusader has helped me out and shared a similar example from a UK finds database. http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/498591
I have also attached the image from the UK website.
Has anyone in the US ever found anything similar? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks to Crusader for his help thus far.
I also found a general staff great seal cuff button. JimDon scored a nice CW era ball button and a pocket knife. Again, any insight is appreciated, you guys rock! Thanks for looking & HH!

 

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[TheCannonballGuy]

Precision measurement (in hundredths-of-an-inch) are always needed to confirm whether or not an object is a firearms projectile. That being said, this ball's appearance indicates it is not a musketball.
1- The "bubbly" corrosion/concretion on it indicates that unlike musketballs (which were typically pure lead),it is a lead/tin or lead/zinc alloy.
2- The moldseam on it is unlike the seam typically seen on musketballs.
3- The valley through it appears to have been cast in it, not whittled or otherwise "cut" into it. The valley seems to be present to allow the ball to be mounted snugly onto a rod-shaped object. I cannot identify its purpose, but I'm reasonably sure it is not manufactured that way to be a firearms projectile.

I've personally handled tens-of-thousands of musketballs which were excavated in America, and I've never encountered one with an iron pin in it. Nor have I ever read about such a thing in any book on antique bullets.

 

[mangum]

Precision measurement (in hundredths-of-an-inch) are always needed to confirm whether or not an object is a firearms projectile. That being said, this ball's appearance indicates it is not a musketball.
1- The "bubbly" corrosion/concretion on it indicates that unlike musketballs (which were typically pure lead),it is a lead/tin or lead/zinc alloy.
2- The moldseam on it is unlike the seam typically seen on musketballs.
3- The valley through it appears to have been cast in it, not whittled or otherwise "cut" into it. The valley seems to be present to allow the ball to be mounted snugly onto a rod-shaped object. I cannot identify its purpose, but I'm reasonably sure it is not manufactured that way to be a firearms projectile.

I've personally handled tens-of-thousands of musketballs which were excavated in America, and I've never encountered one with an iron pin in it. Nor have I ever read about such a thing in any book on antique bullets.

Thanks a lot for your input, I appreciate it. I also thought the bubbly corrosion was unusual. This is one of those things that will probably always be an unknown but I feel confident that I can mark a musketball off the list now. Thanks again CBG!