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Big Old Mystery Ball


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Back in July I was hunting a field that has yielded a few dozen colonial musket balls and a fair amount of colonial coins. This trip out I only had an hour to spare so I had to make the best of it. For the most part things were kinda blah. Only one wheatie for the moment and then I got a good hit on something that could be lead, and it was deep. I took my time and pulled a very large musket ball at around 12''. This ball was huge next to a penny and was bigger than any colonial ball I have ever dug. I know the English had fowlers and some big bore rifles, such as 7 and 8 bore flintlocks and cap locks. This ball measures .794 for the most part and you can see the mold seam. From what limited knowledge I have of English guns, I think this could be an 8 bore ball. If it is, I have no idea how this thing got fired in a hay field in PA. If any of my fellow detectors out there have any thoughts on this ball, I'm listening. 

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NAGANT, I have always been told that the brown bess was loaded with a .69 cal. ball for what ever reason. Today I asked a colonial historian with an arms background that question. He told me for the most part that the Bess round or rounds was buck and ball, used mostly with a roughly .69 cal. ball. He told me that they had a powder fowling issue with bigger caliber balls and a heavier patch kept the barrels from fouling the barrel. He also speculated that so called mass produced balls in a say .69 cal. could be used in multiple firearms. He went on to say that in times of need of ammunition that they pretty much would ram anything down the barrel, including nails, stones, ect. Another cool bit of information that I thought was an old wives tale was during the revolution, window sash weight's were lead and melted down to make musket balls for the cause. . Since I do a lot of historic restoration and have only found 2 lead sash  weight's ever in 18th century homes I kinda believe it. Almost all of my muzzle loader long gun ball finds have been on average .65 cal to .69 cal. 

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In addition to sash weights;  at the time many of the windows were made of smaller panes of glass held in lead frames, large sheets of glass being difficult to make & expensive. Not many of these type of windows survived. Many a pewter utensil & vessel too. The early history of lead mining in the USA is also very interesting. That is what first opened up the Upper Missouri River area. At the time it was extremely remote.

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Thanks JCR, Colonial history is pretty cool and sadly lost on most people. A little known fact about early windows was that the more panes of glass, The more status you had. Say 12 panes over 12 panes or 9 over 9. I've restored more 18th century windows than most people have ever looked at. Another cool bit of info of 18th century housing is the stair newel post. look for a hole or an Ivory disc on top of the post. The Ivory disc represented that your debt or mortgage was paid, and was a thing to be proud of. It's very rare to find the ivory but you can always see the hole where it was mounted if the post is original. I suggest that everyone visit their local historical society and see what their towns past was. Thanks for being interested!!!!! 

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