Bullets and Musket Balls

Dean (Whitby)
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Post by Dean (Whitby) »

No idea as the area that would have been a firering point s now built over..I think this area was used for a few years as the Enfield bullets are of differant ages..including many or the rare early "Iron" plug type..some still had their boxwood plugs also. There are 2 other backstops within a few hundred meters of this one

Dean

Groggy

Post by Groggy »

Ranges varied between 200 and 1000 yards Marc. I found one many years ago in the Royal Park of Windsor and all there is to show is a very low mound of the target area, but if you look at in the opposite direction you can see another low mound (the firing point) which is around 600 yards away. Unfortunately, I doing this eyes only and not allowed to detect either point. I think the owner wanted the lead!!

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Post by marcsdigs »

Dean, what type of shot is this one. Its length is around 1.5cm or 15mm, by 1cm or 10mm in width....rounded top with a small hole in the base.

Its got me stumped even with the links above.
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Post by marcsdigs »

Greg, Maybe he wants to keep it as a untouched museum of sorts....
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Dean (Whitby)

Post by Dean (Whitby) »

Well it's a "Minie Ball" for a rifled muzzle loading weapon, but as to the type..I have no idea...sorry

Dean

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Post by marcsdigs »

Thanks Dean.....It was just a strange find but, I was 99% sure it was a bullet.
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Rayredditch

Post by Rayredditch »

Got two musket balls (Two different calibres) three weeks ago on a building site, here the Swedish and Spanish Army´s had a battle during the 30 year war (What a wonder, the Spanish lost it).
Then last week got two WW2 cartridge cases off a Celtic Vier Eck Schanze (Fortified Farm House).
I´ll let you know the calibres when I´ve cleaned them.

Drifter

Post by Drifter »

I might be repeating a cock and bull story here, but 20+ years ago an old boy (80+) told me not all pistol and musket balls I found had been cast for pistol or musket firing.

He swore blind that boys used them in slingshots for bird scaring and taking rabbits.

That fitted quite well with the evidence as most of mine in that area where undamaged, no bore or impact marks.

I asked why they would use lead ammo instead of pebbles, and he reckoned it was for accurracy and consistancy, which made sense.

Groggy

Post by Groggy »

No, not a fairy tale. Also some guys used to use a dvice called a stone-bow, just like a cross bow but which fired a stone or lead ball. Was told by an old guy that some of these ball shaped bits of lead (inch or bigger) with a hole through were forced onto bits of stick and thrown at rabbits etc. Some kids got very accurate mainly as the rabbit was the next family meal!!

Groggy

Post by Groggy »

Ray

Just let us know what the headstamps read and we'll try to i.d. them for you.

Rayredditch

Post by Rayredditch »

One musket ball is slightly deformed with a few marks and measures between 15,3 mm and 16,4 mm, the other is smaller and measures 14,1 mm. one cartridge is a NORMA 9,3 x 74 R (Probably a rimmed hunting rifle cartridge then), The other has a quite deformed neck and needs cleaning some more as it´s rusted ! It´s a rimless type rifle cartridge between 11.8 mm and 12, 1 mm at base (outer diameter), 62,64 mm total length, 49,3 mm from base of rim to beginning of neck section, neckt section lenght approx. 4,6 mm from end of necking section to end of cartridge approx.

Flinty

Post by Flinty »

As always Phil, another great set of sites! :g50:

Groggy

Post by Groggy »

First the easy one! 9.3 x 74R. A popular big game cartridge with the Germans and Austrians. It goes back to the early 1900's and I believe is still available from RWS cartridges in Germany. As it is a Norma make it can date back to the early 50's.

The next one is more difficult for me as all my reference books are in Imperial measurements. Being as it has rusted I am assuming it is a Steel case. If so, it is most likely to be of WW2 German origin as in the later part of WW2 brass became very scarce and various types of metal were used to improve the quantities of ammo, steel being the most prominent. So, as a pure guess, I must assume it is one of the military calibres i.e. 7.9 x 57, the commonest found German round.
I may be wrong on this one!!

Rayredditch

Post by Rayredditch »

I must assume it is one of the military calibres i.e. 7.9 x 57, the commonest found German round.
I may be wrong on this one!!
I´ll let you know when I get it cleaned, Hopefully I´ll be able to read the rim then. Although it´s rusted, it has a brass colouring to it under the rust. Both cases were found at a depth of about 8", but this won´t have anything to do with their age as forestry tractors have been through tis area quite often. Strange that no one realised it was a Celtic farm, as in old maps the area is marked as schanze, which gies a good clue to it´s origin. Reported the site to our museum director, and an Archie has had a look already, and is 80% certain that it´s a Celtic farm.
Cheers Ray

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Re: Bullets and Musket Balls

Post by PhilD »

I noticed this link on the PAS website that helps decide what weapon a lead ball was fired from, particulary 18th century British forces weapons;

https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts ... /id/266828

From the mid-18th century, however, British forces used just 3 main uniform sizes:
musket, c.31g ball - dia?
carbine, c.23g ball - dia?
pistol, c.13g ball - dia?

I've been trying to Google a converter that can convert lead ball weight to diameter in mm so we can measure the diameter of a ball and by it's weight in grams tell what weapon it was fired from with no success.

Can anyone help please?
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