Need help with identification

[FreshPrince711]

Hello! I was at an event at Fort McClary in Kittery, Maine a few weeks ago when one of the park volunteers told me about a "Jar of musketballs" they had. Apparently, it was found in the basement (or shed) of an old house nearby. She showed me the jar. It contained 30-50 of the balls pictured, and two .58 Minnie balls.

I believe it may be cannister shot due to the different metal composition (iron vs lead of the minnie balls). It's not quite a sphere, but at it's widest point it's about 5/8" wide. Any way to prove it's cannister shot? The flat sections almost have a pentagon-look to them.

The park volunteer gave me one to take home to try and ID.

 

[RedRover]

Indeed. Canister shot for smoothbore guns was generally of iron...

From the 1841 US Army Ordnance Manual, the smallest iron canister shot were just over 1 inch in diameter... (your example seems to be very rusted and deteriorated).

Some images of Civil War era canister shot found in here...

SolidShotEssentialsMod

And more here...

Cannon bore, shot, shell, canister, and grape shot diameters for rifled and smoothbore cannon.

Rifle Canister Cannon Bore Diameter Cannon – RifledPattern # of PiecesDiameter & Shot Material 1.7-inch Whitworth? 24 .65-inch lead shot 2.25-inch CS Mountain Rifle 27 .70-inch lead shot 2.6-inch 6-pdr.

www.historicalpublicationsllc.com

Some excellent history of Fort McClary...

Maine Forts

Contains historical information on many Maine forts some still standing and others that have been destroyed.

www.google.com

 

[FreshPrince711]

Indeed. Canister shot for smoothbore guns was generally of iron...

View attachment 559466

View attachment 559467



From the 1841 US Army Ordnance Manual, the smallest iron canister shot were just over 1 inch in diameter... (your example seems to be very rusted and deteriorated).

View attachment 559468



Some images of Civil War era canister shot found in here...

SolidShotEssentialsMod

And more here...

Cannon bore, shot, shell, canister, and grape shot diameters for rifled and smoothbore cannon.

Rifle Canister Cannon Bore Diameter Cannon – RifledPattern # of PiecesDiameter & Shot Material 1.7-inch Whitworth? 24 .65-inch lead shot 2.25-inch CS Mountain Rifle 27 .70-inch lead shot 2.6-inch 6-pdr.

www.historicalpublicationsllc.com

Some excellent history of Fort McClary...

Maine Forts

Contains historical information on many Maine forts some still standing and others that have been destroyed.

www.google.com

That's pretty cool!

I did a little more digging and found this. Seems some 3" ordinance rifles had .65" shot. Does that sound right?

Edit: I just realized it said lead. Any of the irons perhaps?

 

[RedRover]

The lead canister shot was for rifled guns, to prevent injury to the rifling. Tousard's "Artillerists' Companion" (1809) mentions lead shot for canister, but that iron was preferred, as it could ricochet better, etc. He gives the following sizes of common iron canister shot... Some just under an inch...

The standardization of the iron shot was apparently imperfect, particularly going back some more decades into the mid-1700s.

At Fort Ligonier, a French & Indian War Fort in Pennsylvania (1750s-60s) archaeologists dug 17 cast iron canister balls. These solid cast iron balls include one of 0.7 inch diameter, one of 0.82 inch diameter , two of 0.88 inch diameter , two of 0.94 inch diameter , and one of 1.1 inch diameter .
(Grimm, Jacob L., Archaeological Investigation of Fort Ligonier, 1960-1965, Carnegie Museum, 1970, page 76.)

At Fort Stanwix, New York, occupied also in the French & Indian War, and in the Revolution, iron canister shot of .78 inch was found (and others that were too corroded by rust to measure for original dimension)...
From p.78: