Need insight to ID therse mystery lead balls!

[Stormy]

Hey Folks,

I'm new to the forum here, but have been an avid collector of civil war relics for several years now.

Here is a mystery for you:

My mother-in-law has a farm in southern Tennessee, and while looking for arrowheads in her fields and one hillside washout area, I came across several of these round lead balls of varying sizes. Please see the attached photo (sorry for the extreme shadows). These lead balls are not magnetic, have varying diameters, and even weigh differently than my iron canister collection. I immediately thought of canister (because there were troops camped around in the hills here and passing through), however, none of my other iron canister sizes matched all of these patterns. We found these all in the photo in a couple of hours without a metal detector! Any ideas? Any questions??

Thanks so much for your time!

Stormy   

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Hello Stormy,
   You need to take a caliper and take some accurate diameters in inches.  Then go to Jack Melton's web site at: http://www.civilwarartillery.com/ look at Technical Information, shot tables and make a cannister match. 
Regards,
John

[CarlS]

Are you sure they are lead?  it would be odd to have so many of them and none have the white oxidation usually found with lead.  This would seem to be especially true of lead in a plowed field where you would expect fertilizer to bring on some oxidation.   They sure look like they are made of iron with surface rust but your test that they are not magnetic proves they aren't iron.  Very odd.  Were there any buiding in the are now or in the past?

[Steve Phillips]

They don't look like lead. They look very similar to coprolite and would be iron pyrite if they are coprolite. Fossilized dinosaur period turds. Usually shapes would be more irregular. 

[joevann]

I'm inclined to agree with Mr. Phillips.  These appear to be natural accretions and not man-made.

[Stormy]

Thanks so much for all of the comments...It is nice to hear a new slant on the ideas rolling around in my head!

Steve & CWArtillery:  Yall are exactly correct in that they do not have a patina and is probably not lead. I was mistaken in my original post - definitely not magnetic either.

BTW -- This land was always farmed, so no major developmental building in the past. I've even compared these to "mill balls" and "rock crusher" ball sizes and they are ALL way too small for that. Most of those have 3 to 4" diameters and larger -- just to begin with.

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Stormy, then what are they made of? Not iron, not lead? Not ordnance.
John

[Steve Phillips]

Since he was looking for arrowheads, he probably wasn't using a metal detector and eyeballed these. If a detector sounds off on these they won't be coprolite but I've found thousands of pieces of coprolite in the river at Selma and other places and that is what it looks like. I even find lots of this in the Bering Sea in Nome while gold mining. When I was arrested in 2003 the experts at the Alabama Historical Commission identified these balls as some sort of Confederate ammunition. They were wrong by 130 million years.

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

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

His must have come from a perfect A/H 
John

[CarlS]

I'd say they are fossilized rabbit pellets.  I guess rabbits were way bigger back then.  Of course deer drop pellets to.  I can't speculate what Yankees dropped.   

[joevann]

Crack one open.  Could they be geodes?

[CarlS]

Good observation Joe.  They do look like geodes.

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Ha, Carl I was thinking the same thing- a prehistoric giant rabbit.
John

[Bryan]

I've found what looks to be the same  in the creek bed here in San Antonio Tx.  This is what I belive they are.  I've found almost perfect round balls of different sizes.  They are heavy but not iron.  A maginet doesnt stick to them.

http://search.yahoo.com/r/_ylt=A0oGdbuwGpRRVR0ArRZXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE0amhidGl1BHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMwRjb2xvA3NrMQR2dGlkA1ZJUDA1MV83Ng--/SIG=121g2r394/EXP=1368689456/**http%3a//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manganese_nodule

[Bryan]

OK. The link didnt work.  If you google polymetallic iron Concretion you should find it.