odd ball

[Crendel]

hello today! this small ball came up while i was magnet fishing out of an old creek. its only very slightly magnetic but yet isnt rusty at all and definitely feels heavier than it should for its size. ive been picking up rocks around here for 40 years and never saw one like it. a friend thought it might be an old pre civil war rifle ball that was fired but it looks a bit too deformed to me, though the area i'm in had a lot of activity during the french-indian war and war of 1812, and the creek i was fishing in had been a Native American town for a couple hundred years in the 1700 and 1800s. its puzzling. i dont have any proper measuring calipers or a tiny scale so i cant take any more measurements but if anyone has any ideas what this looks like id be much obliged. cheers!

 

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[Joe-Dirt]

Crandall, it looks like a musket ball that may have hit a tree. I do a lot of black powder shooting and I like to retrieve my spent lead when I can, the ballistics also interest me. I’ve seen that “wedge” shape from balls that hit either soft or rotten wood. I can’t explain the iron but it may have been a contaminant in a batch of hand cast balls, who knows. Still very cool.

 

[Digger RJ]

Nice!!! Congrats!!!

 

[Crendel]

that is really cool! thanks very much!

 

[peruna]

Crandall, it looks like a musket ball that may have hit a tree. I do a lot of black powder shooting and I like to retrieve my spent lead when I can, the ballistics also interest me. I’ve seen that “wedge” shape from balls that hit either soft or rotten wood. I can’t explain the iron but it may have been a contaminant in a batch of hand cast balls, who knows. Still very cool.

^This^...Although there is no way to determine with absolute certainty how it got into the condition it is in, it IS an amazing find. I have also seen "ground strikes" that look similar to the projectile you have.

Nice find, and nicely done.

Oh, BTW, welcome!

 

[vpnavy]

I moved ya from TODAY'S FINDS! over to MAGNET FISHING for more exposure.

 

[crashbandicoot]

Is antimony magnetic? Antimony is commonly added to lead to harden it.