grenades or cannon balls?????

[paul the grenade]

hi all.
i have these 3 cannonballs/grenades and was wondering if anyone has any good info on these old bombs. is there any way of positively identifying which they are. the mills is for size comparison.:tinysmile_hmm_t:
the largest is 4 inches diameter the next is 3 inches and the smalles 2 3/4 inches.
any info will be well appreciated.
cheers, paul.

 

[dano1917]

Hi Paul, I think they could go either way. In the case of early Dutch grenades and the American Civil War (even though there were regular grenade designs at the time) canon balls that were deemed not fit for firing from a canon were used as hand grenades with a rudimentary fuze. I am sure it would be true in other cases also....Dano

 

[phonque]

you might find somethings under : "No 5" grenade (english) and i am quite positive that the french had a similar grenade.
I have attached some info about canonballs, maybe that helps ?

greetz

 

[phonque]

oh, and there also is a dutch grenade called; ronde granaatkartets.
This is also a round canonball filled with smaller steel balls.

just so you know