What to do if I find a Civil War cannon ball or shell?

[emike123]

What to do if I find a Civil War cannon ball or artillery shell?

Hopefully, this topic title gets a high hit rate for web searchers, because when I put it in one of them, I got a hit on a posting full of dubious advice from well-intentioned yet ultimately ignorant do gooders.

1st of all:  If it is a shell and hasn't gone off for 150 years, staring at it is not going to cause it to suddenly blow up.  So relax and go drink a Dr. Pepper.

Secondly, if you want to get rid of it and never see it again and with that have any history wiped clean, call the cops/authorities and they will come take it away.  They will probably have it blown up as is their procedure with these things.  This is a simple procedure for them that is almost always an over-reaction when talking about CIVIL WAR ORDNANCE, but it is simple and follows their rules.  Some of these people in positions of authority are smarter than the average Yogi Bear park ranger and won't jump to poor hysterical conclusions, but most will follow their given protocols which means goodbye to your projectile.  They'll probably tell you how you saved humanity and maybe a local reporter will feature you in an incendiary (pun intended) news piece, but after thinking about it for a few days after the rush has passed, you'll likely begin to have regrets about having acted hastily and allowed an irreversible destruction of history to take place.  In short, you may very likely want your cannon ball back, but so long!

If you want to learn about what it is and consider the options about whether it is worth preserving for intrinsic or extrinsic value, please register here and post up.  We can tell you how to have it made safe and the iron stabilized with zero risk to you or your property or loved ones.  We are pretty quick to register new members and their posts are always welcome and will be treated politely, intelligently, and with respect.  We'd really like to help so do not hesitate to reach out if you have a question.

[Jine]

Thanks for that, emike123, such an effort may preserve a good number of pieces of history for future generations to appreciate.

I lurk in inquisitive fashion more than anything else here, but am always learning in the process about a subject most-fascinating. The level of professionalism here and absence of fluff is absolutely refreshing, and addictive.

[Lowcountry83]

Great topic Mike. Very good idea.

Stephen

[swest47]

Good post Mike! I hate to see shells destroyed. I might add, learn the types of fuses used in CW artillery shells so it can be quickly identified. I swore if I ever found a TICE I would re-bury it deeper and forget about it.

In the 70's I found a Hotchkiss with a percussion fuse in it. It was just the nose section of a Type I and it was the first shell I had ever found. I promptly dropped it nose first on the ground trying to put in my pocket. 

Once I got home my first thought was to diffuse it so I tried to unscrew the fuse from the shell. Like that worked! Anyway, I came to the same conclusion, if it didn't go off when fired (or dropped on its nose) it probably wouldn't go off spontaneously sitting in a collection. I knew the fuse was a percussion so one of 3 things occurred when it was fired:

1. The mechanism was never armed with the percussion cap or cap was bad.
2. The mechanism was faulty and the slider never released.
3. It came in at a low angle and the slider never moved forward with enough force to explode.

Common sense is all it takes to save a relic.
 

[divedigger]

The first thing to do is put it in a bucket of water. That way if it is live and needs to be disarmed maybe some water will find it's way into the powder cavity. And it could form condensation  inside. And if it came out of brackish, salt, or industrialized water it needs electrolysis and should stay wet. It needs to be cleaned anyway. I allways thought that if you found a Tice it would probably go off during the digging process due to the fragile little spring collapsing. But they are extremely rare. They were as much danger to the gunners as to the recipient so they didn't like to shoot them. So encountering one is unlikely. But if you do, let your buddy carry it to the truck.