Were round musket balls used much during and after the civil war?

[Crawdigger]

I found these lead (all rang up 52-53 on my AT Pro) musket balls during lunch today and I'm trying to estimate their age.
As a hunter, I know round balls can still be bought or made today but I'm pretty sure these aren't modern. I measured them and the averaged measurements are .63, .54, and .39. I had no way to weigh them. The town I found them in dates to late 1700's.
Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks guys!

 

[duggap]

To answer your question about the war, they were definitely used during the war, particularly by the confederate forces. They would, however, get rid of them as soon as possible as it was not too uncommon to get a black eye or broken bone. And from a quartermaster's standpoint the less calibers to carry to easy to supply the troops. Your balls are white which would indicate age, but doesn't have to mean they go back to the war. Some ground conditions would permit the white oxidation to appear sooner than others. But I know I would go back and give another good hunt to that spot. Good luck. Most balls used during the war were .69 cal.

 

[BamaBill]

I found these lead (all rang up 52-53 on my AT Pro) musket balls during lunch today and I'm trying to estimate their age.
As a hunter, I know round balls can still be bought or made today but I'm pretty sure these aren't modern. I measured them and the averaged measurements are .63, .54, and .39. I had no way to weigh them. The town I found them in dates to late 1700's.
Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks guys!

The simple answer is yes. Round balls were used in smoothbore flintlocks and percussion rifles and the soldiers of the confederacy brought a mishmash of weapons to the fight, during the war. Also, after the war people continued to use smoothbore rifles to hunt with until they could get their hands on a weapon with a rifled barrel. Without some other relics to date your site, its really going to be tough to tell the period.

 

[Crawdigger]

The simple answer is yes. Round balls were used in smoothbore flintlocks and percussion rifles and the soldiers of the confederacy brought a mishmash of weapons to the fight, during the war. Also, after the war people continued to use smoothbore rifles to hunt with until they could get their hands on a weapon with a rifled barrel. Without some other relics to date your site, its really going to be tough to tell the period.

thanks for the replies guys! I have found other relics in this area. They company I work for owns it so I have unlimited access.
The property was given to a Jean Baptist Bahan in a Spanish land grant. He built a plantation house (still standing) in 1804.
No know battles in the area and 1 recorded skirmish at an undetermined location. The union forces had defensive lines close by but I'm not sure if these could be drops. They were all within 25 yards of each other. May the plantation owner's?

 

[BosnMate]

Here's another source of Civil War round lead balls, explosive cannon balls, or as they were called, "shell." This is a photo
of one that's been sawed in half, showing the balls on the inside.

 

[Crawdigger]

Here's another source of Civil War round lead balls, explosive cannon balls, or as they were called, "shell." This is a photo of one that's been sawed in half, showing the balls on the inside. <img src="http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=947939"/>

I actually saw those on a show about Gettysburg last week. Very very deadly!

 

[gunsil]

Round balls were used in pistols and long arms, both rifled and smoothbore. They were also used in shotguns for hunting as we use slugs in shotguns today. They were used in many areas long after the CW was over for hunting and self protection. The modern metallic cartridge was more reliable, but the guns that used them and the cartridges themselves were a lot more expensive than the muzzle loaders. This meant that many poorer folks stayed with the muzzle loaders for a long time after the advent of the metallic cartridge. There also has been a large use of muzzle loaders starting again in the 1960s and growing all the time since many states have added muzzle loader hunting seasons. The white oxide that forms on lead can accumulate at different rates of time depending on soil conditions, and isn't too helpful in determining the age of the ball. The oxide actually forms a barrier against further oxidation at some point, so the coating on a hundred year old ball will be the same as on a two hundred year old ball from the same soil in most situations. The ones for US military use were standardized in several sizes, but those for hunting long arms, shotguns, and pistols came in an amazing amount of different sizes.