Pistol ball? Or buckshot

[Barrydang]

Found a couple of these this and the button were practically side by side. I dunno old bullets are besides bigger musket balls and things opinions and facts welcome no hurt feelings. I used the button for size reference

 

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[blugotti1]

pistol ball

do you see a nipple on it where it was cut from the mold? I believe it's a musket pistol ball looking at the size and the white patina on it. Besides the government started making companies that make shotgun shells to coat the actual pellets in copper or some other metal for environmental safety purposes.

 

[blugotti1]

besides, it looks to out of round to be machine made.

 

[gunsil]

Musket pistol ball? A musket is a long arm usually with military connotation. I think perhaps you mean muzzle loading ball which would be more correct. The government has never made any ammo companies copper plate lead shotgun pellets. Modern American shot shells use steel shot but that has only been going on for a short time. Even an early 1800s bullet mold made a perfectly spherical ball and the sprue is cut off after casting, there will be no "nipple" present. Barry, a true diameter measured with a caliper will help in ID. Pistol balls came in specific calibers, factory made buckshot in only a couple or maybe only one size. Back in the day in the military a "buck and ball" load was used with a large ball and several buckshot together and sometimes pistol caliber balls were used for this. I 'd say you likely have a pistol ball.

 

[Barrydang]

There is a flat spot right there on the ball

 

[Barrydang]

Yeah I meant muzzle loading ball. I don’t have a caliper to measure

 

[Barrydang]

Here it is measured with caliper

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Could be a .36 caliber pistol ball or #0000 Buckshot.

As Gunsil mentioned - three of those and one bore-sized ball was a "buck-and-ball" load that was favored by some and often used by pickets (night guards at camps).

 

[Barrydang]

Thanks for the info. Just to prove there for a pistol I just need to find it(the pistol)

 

[nsdq]

Could be a 36 Cal squirrel rifle ball , like the one I own

 

[blugotti1]

Musket pistol ball? A musket is a long arm usually with military connotation. I think perhaps you mean muzzle loading ball which would be more correct. The government has never made any ammo companies copper plate lead shotgun pellets. Modern American shot shells use steel shot but that has only been going on for a short time. Even an early 1800s bullet mold made a perfectly spherical ball and the sprue is cut off after casting, there will be no "nipple" present. Barry, a true diameter measured with a caliper will help in ID. Pistol balls came in specific calibers, factory made buckshot in only a couple or maybe only one size. Back in the day in the military a "buck and ball" load was used with a large ball and several buckshot together and sometimes pistol caliber balls were used for this. I 'd say you likely have a pistol ball.

I believe you may need to read some guns and ammo books or something to better your education.

 

[blugotti1]

read. https://www.shootinguk.co.uk/guns/ammunition/will-coated-cartridges-make-better-shot-100872

 

[gunsil]

I believe you may need to read some guns and ammo books or something to better your education.

? Let's see, I have been shooting shotguns for 62 years, .22s a couple years longer, and muzzle loaders for a mere 60 years. I have collected and still own original civil war firearms which I also have shot. I have owned and target shot with flintlock pistols and rifles and a repro musket (there is a difference). I have cast my own round and minie balls since I was fourteen and have used modern and original mid 1800s molds. Kindly tell us exactly what you find as uneducated in my post. Oh yeah, and detecting for 48 years and digging plenty of old bullets and balls and have had books on civil war era artillery rounds and small arms projectiles from the mid 1800s for forty years and they are well read. Where did I err?

 

[l.cutler]

.38 and .40 were very common in rifles during the muzzleloading era. Basically it is a muzzleloading round ball, no way to tell what it was for. Rifles were much more common than muzzleloading pistols, but cap and ball revolvers were also very common. Could be from any of them.

 

[Joe-Dirt]

I will say home cast .36 caliber pistol/rifle ball due to the sprue, it’s my understanding that military buck shot was dropped not cast. There is a tall tower in Baltimore (I think) where molten lead was dropped from different heights for different calibers, Google it

 

[gunsil]

There is still a shot tower in NYC too Joe, it makes sense that they could make 00 buck that way. I have known for many years that shotgun shot was made by dropping molten lead from towers, I had not thought about larger size shot. I think .36 or .37 may have been big for shot towers though, and there used to be many antique .36-37 molds around, I had one for my Colt Navy before it was stolen. Do you know if they made large round balls from shot towers? How about Cannonballguy?

 

[Deftone]

It's just a rock.

 

[unclemac]

fellas...don't you think that at 37 that could be a slightly deformed (by firing) triple OT? I find those for time to time in areas that would have been far more likely to be the results of hunting and less likely muzzle loaded pistols.

 

[namxat]

Bit-off topic, but thank you Joe Dirt for bringing the subject of shot towers up.

I learned about these only two years ago when I saw one and I think they are fascinating industrial heritage and conservation worthy.


Having that said,with regards to the find: In the (not so?) good old times of smoothbore hunting in my part of the world hunters often packed some weird mixture of "Buck and Ball" with a few or one larger balls and a spoonfull or so buckshot.

Smoothbore by default is not very accurate and they wanted to make sure that at least something hits. Makes me cringe cause I see a lot of wounded animals with a long cruesome struggle, bbut thats what they did.

The find may be one of the fewer larger balls.


Greets

Namxat

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

? Let's see, I have been shooting shotguns for 62 years, .22s a couple years longer, and muzzle loaders for a mere 60 years. I have collected and still own original civil war firearms which I also have shot. I have owned and target shot with flintlock pistols and rifles and a repro musket (there is a difference). I have cast my own round and minie balls since I was fourteen and have used modern and original mid 1800s molds. Kindly tell us exactly what you find as uneducated in my post. Oh yeah, and detecting for 48 years and digging plenty of old bullets and balls and have had books on civil war era artillery rounds and small arms projectiles from the mid 1800s for forty years and they are well read. Where did I err?

Respectfully, I think you still have a lot to learn grasshopper.



By the way, I don't find any plated buckshot either.

We have found several old bullet molds that feature a conical and a round mold.
What do you suppose was the purpose of that? Matching pistol and rifle calibers?
They are around 30 to 35 caliber I would guess.