Pair of Nice Balls

[BlackZ51Vett]

Any ideas ? They both read 12-32 on my ETrac. Not very deep. Old houses used to be in the area around 1940's-1950's as far as my research led. Could be older........



About 1/2 diameter
NONmagnetic

[coinnut]

If they are lead and they might be due to the numbers, then I would say modern Black powder ball. It doesn't seem to have the white corrosion that an older Musket ball would have. Just my guess though

[RobW]

Completely agree with Coinnut from my expreinces digging on civil war battlesfields, plus the age of the homestaed you were hunting. They look dropped too, meaning they don't look like they were fired.

[sjv]

Too bad they weren't brass Just joking. I actually hunted near a gun powder mill long gone now. I keep digging these ball shaped items and found out later that they were used to crush up the gun powder in a machine because different weapons used different types of powder. What metal doesn't cause a spark? I could of sworn they were musket balls, but they were very round, maybe brass?

[NiagaraCountyNY]

Not sure...But usually like coinnut mentioned ,they have a really nice white patena..It could be a modern musket ball,or lead shot.Interesting finds.HH

[coinnut]

What metal doesn't cause a spark? I could of sworn they were musket balls, but they were very round, maybe brass?

Lead won't spark and I don't think brass will either. I know when I polish aluminum in a machine I have, I can polish brass too, along with it. I can't polish Iron or steel along with them since the dust can ignite with a spark. So I'm guessing that steel or iron is the only ones from that time period that would spark.