cannon ball

[spotter]

I was given this solid cannon ball today,sorry for bad pics, it still has some remaining crust which ill clean off completely when ive got time but underneath it appears to be in very good solid condition.Weighs approx 33lb and approx 20 inches circumference.
Can anyone tell me what gun and era this would be from,

 

[glevum]

Allan,

This sounds very close to a 32lb ball which was a standardised British Calibre from the early 18th C.

The following link may help.

http://arc.id.au/Cannonballs.html

Regards,

Will.

 

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Spherical Solid Shot;

Spottter,
The diameter of 20 inches is way too large for a 32 pdr which is 6.4 inches in diameter and weighs 32 pounds.
If it is 20 inches in diameter and only weighs 32 pounds I suspect it has carbonized and lost most of its iron content. Bear in mind this is by American Civil War standards. See:

http://www.civilwarartillery.com/ , Heavy Projectiles, Smoothbore.

Regards,
John aka Bart

 

[TimG]

Bart,

The 20 inches quoted is the circumfrence not the diameter. 2 x pi x 6.4/2 = 20.11 inches.

Regards

TimG.

 

[dano1917]

3.1416

Do you have any information as to where the canonball came from? Where was it found? Could and should have a rich history story with it...Dano

 

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Ball Diameter;

OOps,
spotter use a caliper and measure the ball's diameter.
John

 

[spotter]

Do you have any information as to where the canonball came from? Where was it found? Could and should have a rich history story with it...Dano

no rich history dano,,believe it was from an old UK range used by naval and land forces.
Its around 6 inches using calipers

 

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Diameter Measurement;

Spotter,
A 32 pdr (6.4 Inch caliber) can be found from 6.23 to 6.29 inches in diameter, lots of windage - by U.S. standards.
Regards,
John

 

[CampX]

Thats a very nice Cannonball...32 pounders are very hard to come by in Canada.

I don't have one in my collection yet..however I do have a very nice 64 pounder.

The British used 32 pounders mainly on board ships...during the War of 1812 between Canada and the US the British used most in cannonades...very short barreled "cannons" carried on Warships and small sloops....sometimes on barges.

Also in Canada, I find that many "Cannonballs" are not Cannonballs at all.
Some are shotput...but many are rock crushing balls.

Most proper Cannonballs have a ground off seam around the middle...this can still be seen on most cannonballs.

Take a very close look at that 32 pounder...try to see if there is a Broad Arrow on it....balls with the Broad Arrow are quite rare as most did not have them....the Broad Arrow would have been cast into the ball when it was made.

Again, a very nice find!!!

Dean

 

[spotter]

Thanks for all your help identifying this cannon ball ,,hopefully ill be able to clean it up properly this weekend ,i will post pics of the finished item then...
again thank you everyone ...allan

 

[spotter]

Well i couldnt wait untill the weekend,The cannonball cleaned up nicely ,i didnt find any marks or stampings it has some minor/light pitting overall but i think this just adds to its character,gave it a quick spray over with some satin black and it now sits on the fireplace with the wifes approval

 

[leeski]

that looks a lot better spotter nice find

regards lee