Musketballs? Found at 1876 School Today!

[ANTIQUARIAN]

I hunted an old school site for about 4hrs today in the town of Haydon, ON. I found $3.50 in modern change, 25' of copper tubing in the ground and what I hope are 2 musketballs! They're both made of iron; the smaller one measures 13mm and the larger 19mm . . . the Barbers are just for size reference.

The early history of Haydon began with a crown grant of 200 acres to a Joseph Winters in 1802 and continued with slow growth until latter half of the century. A tributary of the Bowmanville Creek greatly influenced the hamlet’s growth and supported numerous mills, the first of which was the “Haydon Mill”, (a grist and saw mill) built by Charles Bates of the 8th Company, Darlington Regiment in 1847. He built the mill some two years after he planned and laid out the village. It would seem that this mill named “Haydon Mill” later lent it’s name to the hamlet.

The Haydon Public school was built in 1876. It is a brick structure that began as a one room school and has been slightly renovated to include a meeting room, a fully equipped kitchen and 2 washrooms. The building retains many of its historic features including the original wall to wall slate blackboard which is still popular & useful today. The school closed in 1965 when regional schools came into being.

Can anyone tell me if these are musketballs or not?

Happy hunting this weekend everyone,
Dave

 

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[Rick (Nova Scotia)]

Being iron Dave, "I think" it is quite unlikely. That would be pretty hard on a gun, but hey I sure don't know all, and maybe a few did use such things.

Gonna rain here both days.

 

[Rick (Nova Scotia)]

The most common one (at least around here) is 0.69 inches.

 

[l.cutler]

No, definitely not musketballs. Musketballs would be made of lead.

 

[steelheadwill]

No, definitely not musketballs. Musketballs would be made of lead.

Maybe pieces of grapeshot

 

[ModernMiner]

Well done Dave. I think with today's prices, I think the 25' of copper tubing may be a banner find.
Congrats,
Doug

 

[CRUSADER]

ball bearings?

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Being iron Dave, "I think" it is quite unlikely. That would be pretty hard on a gun, but hey I sure don't know all, and maybe a few did use such things.

Gonna rain here both days.

As you can probably tell Rick I know very little about ammunition! Makes a lot of sense though why these guys used lead bullets instead of iron, otherwise they'd be having to buy a new musket every year!

September 29, 2011 — Ophelia regenerates into a tropical storm and could bring heavy rain to
Atlantic Canada by the weekend!

It's been cool and raining here in Ontario for the last 3 days now, happy to finally get a break from the heat we had all summer!
Dave

No, definitely not musketballs. Musketballs would be made of lead.

Thanks buddy, I'm learning as I go.

No, definitely not musketballs. Musketballs would be made of lead.

Maybe pieces of grapeshot

Thanks Herbie, hope you don't get rained on all weekend!

Well done Dave. I think with today's prices, I think the 25' of copper tubing may be a banner find.
Congrats,
Doug

Thanks Doug, it was Herbie that turned me onto keeping all my scrap brass and copper! OK, maybe it's more like 15', but it sure seemed long at the time! Now that's something I've never hear my wife say!
It's funny, when I found this in the ground I had to pull it out one foot at a time. At one point it just got too hard to keep pulling, so I ended up just bending it to break it off! Who knows how much more I left buried there!

Here's a picture of it!
Best of luck to you Doug,
Dave

ball bearings?

Thanks Cru, I was thinking maybe shotblast from a concrete making company?

 

[treasurepirate1]

i love detecting old school houses, but most of them are private houses now so it can be difficult to get permission, i like them because kids always lost things but nothing ever too much of value, but the kids always seem to carry and lose something interesting and sometimes weird so they are always fun to go to.

 

[Diver_Down]

I understand the softness of the lead being easier on the musket, but is it always a sure thing that iron was never used? Perhaps in later times, lead came in favor over iron, but it seems contrary to be so sure that another material could never be used. Reason I say, is that here in St. Augustine, iron musketballs have been put on display by the local historical society. I've recovered iron musketballs from known military sites here on the First Coast. To be fair, St. Augustine was found in 1565.

 

[tndigger2011]

looks like some sort of case shot....no way its a musket ball...

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

i love detecting old school houses, but most of them are private houses now so it can be difficult to get permission, i like them because kids always lost things but nothing ever too much of value, but the kids always seem to carry and lose something interesting and sometimes weird so they are always fun to go to.

I thought this was going to be the case as well TP, seeing as this school was built in 1876. The old school building still gets constant use. . .

"The school closed in 1965 when regional schools came into being. The building and property is owned by Municipality of Clarington and run by Club 21 – also known as the Haydon Community Hall Board. Club 21 members are community at large volunteers who meet the second Tuesday of each month. Various community events such as potlucks, Wellness Days, card parties, yoga classes, demonstrations/classes by local artists, luncheons, community clean-up, open houses, meetings of local organizations, Halloween & Christmas parties are regular events."

I seriously thought this property was going to produce more then just 15' of copper tubing! Though I did pull a '48, '54 & '59 Penny out, but not much else. All I can assume is that other detectorists have beaten me to this location. I'm currently in the process of getting Metal Detecting business cards made, so that I can start asking permission to hunt private properties here in the Durham Region!

Best of luck to you,
Dave

I understand the softness of the lead being easier on the musket, but is it always a sure thing that iron was never used? Perhaps in later times, lead came in favor over iron, but it seems contrary to be so sure that another material could never be used. Reason I say, is that here in St. Augustine, iron musketballs have been put on display by the local historical society. I've recovered iron musketballs from known military sites here on the First Coast. To be fair, St. Augustine was found in 1565.

I completely agree with you DD! But when the majority of people here are suggesting that I have, "some sort of case shot or ball bearings" , what can I do? I've already thrown my "musketballs" in the trash!

Thanks for your post,
Dave

looks like some sort of case shot....no way its a musket ball...

Thanks tndigger, I appreciate your posting!
Dave

 

[johnnyblaze]

Cool finds


Blaze

 

[ModernMiner]

"OK, maybe it's more like 15', but it sure seemed long at the time! Now that's something I've never hear my wife say! "

LMAO!!!

 

[B|lker]

Maybe there milling balls originally around 18 inches in diameter and worn down to were they were no longer effective.
I found one near a silver mine north of phoenix Az. and the local museum told me it was a milling ball used to crush the silver from the host rock.
HH
B|lker

 

[Nana40]

I hope that's not the gas line from the butane tank to the school you dug up, Antiq.
Tell ya a quick story... When I first started hunting, I got permission to hunt an old house that had been there since the mid 1800's. I was so excited thinking I may find a pocket full of old coins and CW relics. Not ten minutes into the hunt, I found myself digging up the little copper gas line that ran from the butane tank to the house. Yup, I covered up that hole really fast! And no...I didn't ruin it. Later on in the hunt I dug up an electric (live) wire that went from the house to the garage. Didn't ruin that one either. ..And covered it back up quickly. Ended up with tax tokens and a couple of wheat pennies. :P

 

[flatbuttonman]

I hunted an old school site for about 4hrs today in the town of Haydon, ON. I found $3.50 in modern change, 25' of copper tubing in the ground and what I hope are 2 musketballs! They're both made of iron; the smaller one measures 13mm and the larger 19mm . . . the Barbers are just for size reference.

The early history of Haydon began with a crown grant of 200 acres to a Joseph Winters in 1802 and continued with slow growth until latter half of the century. A tributary of the Bowmanville Creek greatly influenced the hamlet’s growth and supported numerous mills, the first of which was the “Haydon Mill”, (a grist and saw mill) built by Charles Bates of the 8th Company, Darlington Regiment in 1847. He built the mill some two years after he planned and laid out the village. It would seem that this mill named “Haydon Mill” later lent it’s name to the hamlet.

The Haydon Public school was built in 1876. It is a brick structure that began as a one room school and has been slightly renovated to include a meeting room, a fully equipped kitchen and 2 washrooms. The building retains many of its historic features including the original wall to wall slate blackboard which is still popular & useful today. The school closed in 1965 when regional schools came into being.

Can anyone tell me if these are musketballs or not?

Happy hunting this weekend everyone,
Dave

Grape shot?? or canister shot?? not a musket ball it would b lead

 

[ossi]

Cool finds ossi

 

[wwwtimmcp]

muskets used a lubricated cloth patch to surround the musketballs, the indians would use small pebbles found in streams, so iron is not out of the question. neat finds and thanks for sharing.

 

[rn_ottawa]

I would assume (being a schoolyard) that those are ball bearings that were used as marbles. That was common practice, even when I was in elementary! ~20 yrs ago