Musket ball or fishing weight?????

  This is a pic of three things that I found Sunday.  I finally found some silver after a six week dry spell.  I was starting to think that I had bad Karma since I try to hunt a little every single day if only on the way home from work for an hour.

  The merc was found at around five inches or so with my new 10 inch coil.

  The round ball of lead on the right was surely my first musket ball that id'ed like a copper penny or clad dime but then I found a hole through the middle.  Now I have to wonder if I have found a fishing weight. 

  I hunt in south Louisiana and people fish everywhere around here.  These finds were, however, nowhere near water and I would never expect to find a fishing weight there.  If I would have found this stuff near water I would not even post a pic of it.


   So my question is simple....  Has anyone ever heard of drilling a hole through a musket ball?  Could a Civil war soldier have taken some weight out of it for better range or accuracy?  could it be a way to get their projectile to fragment a little?  Could a soldier have just wanted to conserve on lead and took a little out of each musket ball in order to be able to make a couple more in all?

  Maybe I am reaching but this is the first musket ball that I may have ever found and I would kinda like it to stay that way.

  Also, I would love for someone to date the bullet on the left for me.  It is definately larger than a 45 cal. slug but smaller than a20 ga. shotgum slug. 

  Thanks in advance for any insight.

 

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,22684.msg161023.html#msg161023

Tri City Ditty

The only reason that I have any doubt at all is because I have found a number of bullets in the area.  This is a area that is far away from water and is wooded.  In fact, I went into the woods behind the cemetery that I had been getting lucky in recently but I was not on the outskirts of the cemetery.  I might have been a quarter mile from it and it sure is a very odd place for a fishing weight.  Bullets would be expected though.  I would love to be able to see what the area looked like around the mid 1800's.  For all I know there could have been a fisherman's house back there.

  Unfortunately though, I must agree with you.  The more that I look at it the more that I see a fishing weight. 

  One point I should make however is that it seems to be honed to it's shape by hand instead of being made in a cast.  There are a whole bunch of little hit marks all around it that made me think of something other than a weight for fishing.

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,22684.msg161029.html#msg161029

Tri City Ditty

No doubt.  Like I said, I am really just reaching.  The weight could be very old as well and made by hand out of something else for all that I know. 

  Maybe it will wind up being my super lucky fishing weight next time I go saltwater fishing on the Gulf Coast?  There has top be a bright side here!

  Do you have any thoughts on the bullet on the left?

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,22684.msg161033.html#msg161033

Tri City Ditty

the bullit looks a simular to a 450/557 martini, But i am not sure

AU

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,22684.msg161047.html#msg161047

Actually thats a good idea, if you get to many musket balls you can convert them if your running low on weights

AU

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,22684.msg161063.html#msg161063