Identification of a Cannon Ball

[steelbonnet]

Good Morning All
This is my first post here and am hoping someone can help.

My primary collecting interest is Victorian campaign medals but have acquired many associated things down the years and here is one you guys may be able to help with

I am correct in believing that the item pictured is an 18 pound cannon ball from Peninsula wars / Waterloo era

It weighs 18 pound 0 ounces
is just over 5" in diameter.
is magnetic
Has been machine turned into perfect sphere.
Turn up in Scotland

Gordon.

 

[Snufkin]

I am correct in believing that the item pictured is an 18 pound cannon ball from Peninsula wars / Waterloo era

It weighs 18 pound 0 ounces
is just over 5" in diameter.

I am unsure whether you were intending to ask a question rather than making the statement, but the 1877 Treatise on Ammunition gives the calibre of an 18pr Smooth Bore gun as 5.29". With a windage (gap between shot and barrel bore) of 0.1" to 0.2", the diameter and weight of your cannon ball does appear to correspond to an 18pr shot, solid, spherical, common.

The stabbed plugs seal the threaded hole where the cast shot was held to be finished on a lathe, and where inert filling was added to make the exact weight. Whether that machining was carried out as early as 1810-1815 I cannot answer. It might be an 1850s Crimean-era job or later.

 

[SG500]

Hi Steelbonnet, welcome to BOCN. Nice item.

Dave.

 

[vegetius]

It is either an 18 pounder or a 5 inch solid shot.

 

[adrian]

The spherical ball that you have is a modern made shotput.

 

[wingsofwrath]

The spherical ball that you have is a modern made shotput.

I'd have said so as well, because it looks exactly like one, including the caps with the two key holes (I've also never seen a lathe turned cannon ball, all have been cast, most with a visible seam), but the maximum weight for modern shot put is 7.26kg or 16lb, not 18lb.
The diameter itself is meaningless, because shot put of this weight exist in various diameters, from 110mm to 129mm (5-inch). But since I see a "16" engraved on one of the caps... are we sure the weight isn't actually 16lb?

EDIT: also, looking closer, I see traces of blue paint - this clinches it for me, because, while there is no unified colour scheme, I have seen plenty of blue shot put in my time.

 

[steelbonnet]

I found a good set of scales and it is 16 pounds, there is also trace of red paint so the final conclusion is a Shotput. I have had it on display in my room for years just wished I had sought advice before
Thanks for all the help
Gordon