British Ordnance Collectors Network
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cannon ball or mortar ? weight 6 ,5oz and 31/2 " diameter ,found in my garden ten years ago in southampton , been on display in my bedroom since ,
- Thread starter rick
- Start date
usually these are shot put for sporting use, the plug is where they fill with lead to weigh out the shot. It could also be a weight or ball for milling or grinding. If it is a cannon ball it could still contain the black power contents and if drilled or tapered with using a blow torch to free the plug, black powder can still be explosive after many years. People in the US have tampered with black powder filled cannon balls that blow up killing the collector damaging the house with the large chunks crashing into the neighbours building. Usually these cannon balls mid or late Victorian sit on a wooden base with a tapered fuse at the top held by rope to hold the two together.
It a good subject to discuss as i myself are not really sure how you would identify a proper cannon ball to a shot put weight etc, do original cannon balls have markings or are they determined by weight???
It a good subject to discuss as i myself are not really sure how you would identify a proper cannon ball to a shot put weight etc, do original cannon balls have markings or are they determined by weight???
Could be nautical if found in Southampton - Kelvins balls or compensators were used to balance out the magnetic effect of iron in the ships structure in order that the ships compass read true, the lead plug being added to fill the hole where it would originally have been fixed to the binnacle
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It looks most likely to be a shotput, I have a pile of these (images below) for my carronade/gunnade display, bought from a scrap metal dealer who had acquired them from a school.
The fuze hole would be too small for a British fuze, even, I think for a sea service grenade fuze, also at 6lb 5oz & 3.5 inch diameter it is overweight and would seem, therefore, to contain quite a lot of lead.
The fuze hole would be too small for a British fuze, even, I think for a sea service grenade fuze, also at 6lb 5oz & 3.5 inch diameter it is overweight and would seem, therefore, to contain quite a lot of lead.
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thanks