Bullet and Shell Civil War Projectiles Forum

Author Topic: 10 lb. spherical shell?  (Read 2762 times)

R. J. in LA

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10 lb. spherical shell?
« on: April 21, 2014, 01:06:34 PM »
A friend of mine just got this ball from a guy that found it about 10 yrs. ago while the guy was working on a road building crew at Grand Gulf, MS. The guy that found it is not a relic hunter and said it rolled out a pile of dirt and he assumed it was a cannon ball based on where he found it and has kept it the last 10 yrs. My friend cleaned the ball and it weighed in at 10 lbs. and using a string to get the circumference came up with 4.170 diameter.
On Jack Melton's site there is a chart that is listed as "Shot and Shell, 1/4 pound to 50 pounds" and there is a listing of a 10 lb. ball with a 4.211 radius.
First of all, do you iron heads think this is a 10 lb. solid shot cannon ball and secondly, could the rusting, pitting, and crude string measure account for the difference in the diameter? Unfortunately, my friend only sent me one picture which I've attached. Any info. would be appreciated, thanks.

CarlS

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Re: 10 lb. spherical shell?
« Reply #1 on: April 21, 2014, 01:37:13 PM »
I am not sure the odds are good on it being a 10-lber as a 10-lber is not even listed in the shot tables.  It goes 6-lber, 9-lber, 12-lber and 18-lber.  I've not heard of that size shot before at Grand Gulf or any of the Vicksburg Campaign battles although that might not be worth the effort to type.  Rommack would be a good resource on that question.  It is most likely a 12-lber and should weight right at 12 pounds minus a bit of deterioration and be about 4.5-inch in diameter.  Measuring with a string is not accurate at all.  Also it is important that what he weighed the shell with is accurate at that weight range such as a postal scale.  Just looking at the image it looks right to be a cannon ball to me.

The "Shot and Shells" table I believe is a table of expected size and weights by increment of a cast iron solid ball.
« Last Edit: April 21, 2014, 04:09:45 PM by CarlS »
Best,
Carl

R. J. in LA

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Re: 10 lb. spherical shell?
« Reply #2 on: April 21, 2014, 02:13:50 PM »
Carl, thanks for your response, very informative. I'll pass along and see if he has any more info. Also, like a lot of solid cannon balls, should a 12 pounder have a possible visible mould seam on the ball at all or not necessarily so?

CarlS

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Re: 10 lb. spherical shell?
« Reply #3 on: April 21, 2014, 04:07:39 PM »
RJ,

Well, I'll give you my spiel on mold seams and ACW cannon balls.  I am no expert but only someone who has seen a lot of cannon balls and tries to listen to others.  I hope the experts will chime in to correct any misstatements I make.

In short, all cannon ball have mold seams.  They are not a good thing from a military standpoint as they would tend to scratch the cannons; especially the brass guns.  If too bad it would be hard to load the projectile.  It is just the amount of the seam that varies for each ball.  The amount we see on a shell is due to
quality of:
  • Molds used in casting
  • Skill and rush of the person doing casting
  • Job done by the person who cleans up the newly cast shell
  • Job done by the quality person who allows them to leave the foundry
I believe the North had better equipment and more manpower to allow them to spend more time to produce better quality cannon balls (and other items).   The South with limited resources were not so critical about a one use item and thus more prominent mold seams likely were produced on their product.

Hope this helps and looking forward to any additional information from others.
Best,
Carl

R. J. in LA

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Re: 10 lb. spherical shell?
« Reply #4 on: April 21, 2014, 04:57:07 PM »
Yes it does, thanks Carl.