Pics and descriptions of musket balls???

[DugHoles]

Hello folks,

At a local site of mine, I have found 5 musket balls. One big one and four littler ones. I'm having a hard time getting the official name of the smaller ones used by the British.

They would load one main ball then 4 or 5 of these smaller ones into the musket. Your bound to hit something I'm sure.

Thanks in advance for the info. Once I hear the official name I'll be so relieved. It's been bugging me so

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,153717.msg1108928.html#msg1108928

Cheers!

Dugholes

 

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[littleneckhalfshell]

I am not sure of the English practice, but colonial used to load "buck & ball" A round shot the size for your musket and on top of that three 'buckshot'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_and_ball

also see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckshot

for a comparison chart of various sizes of buckshot, starting at #0000 all the way to #B

For some reason I remember #00 or 'double O' buckshot being a likely size for a 'buck & ball' load.

hope this helps.

 

[DugHoles]

Now that you say "buck and ball"........makes sense doesn't it.

I just found out the name of that size shot the British used. They called it "swan shot"

Thanks a lot

Cheers!

Dugholes

 

[littleneckhalfshell]

from what I could find on 'swan shot' , the one place that mentioned a size said about an eighth of an inch in diameter, that is roughly what would be loaded in a shotgun shell with #4 birdshot, sounds kind of small to me, but I did also see a listing where the colonials defended a bridge with 'swan shot' loaded into their two cannon. Sort of like making a big shotgun. What was the size of the smaller balls you found on your site? You have heard of a childs gun called a 'BB' gun? I believe it gets it's name for the size of the shot it shoots, Size 'BB' buckshot, which are 0.180" in diameter. Still kind of small, but a little bit bigger than a #4 birdshot 0.125" whereas "00" buckshot is 0.330" almost three times the size of 'swan shot' or is 'swan shot' sometimes used just as a generic term for any small shot used for birds?

 

[smokedaddy]

Here is a pic of Buck & Ball that I dug where the Battle of Brandywine occurred Sept 11, 1777.

 

[MarkDz]

The Americans were more well-known for using buckshot (or swan shot) than the British, but I imagine both sides did at certain times. You may be able to tell if the full-size musket balls are British or American by the size (British are typically bigger).

 

[Michigan Badger]

The musket ball topic has always interested me but it's not easy to find much info online.

Here in northern Michigan musket and cannonballs rate as supreme finds when it comes to old historic relics since the occupation of Europeans here in north America.

I've dug 1 cannonball and piles of different sized musket balls in Michigan. My cannonball was dug by a French Trader knife dated ca. 1750's. Those two relics are now in a private collection elsewhere.

What I'm saying is I sure wish there was some way of identifying these old musket and cannonball digs.

I've had people ask me how in the heck a cannonball from the 1700's got inland in Michigan? My theory is the French fur traders most likely traded them to the Indians. I mean, how many teepees had a cannonball? Did they play marbles back then?

Anyway, I sure do like my balls.

MB