Whose balls are these?

[whiskeyjoe]

A friend of mine showed me a couple of musket balls that his mother found a number of years ago while digging in her garden. She lives in the town of Virgil, right in the very heart of the Niagara region which bore the brunt of most of the fighting during that 1812 dustup. Both balls are perfectly round, no deformation,just oxidized. they both mic. .684. Would they be British or American? Wasn't the standard American infantry musket of the time similar to the Charleville and 69 caliber? I would think they are too small to have been used in the Besses?

 

[wulf]

That number seems like a Frenchy..The Brits also
used that size wrapped in paper for cartridges.
I use a 69 cal ball for cartridges in my Bess
and a friend who has a Charley uses a 687ish..
Both muskets shoot very well...It's a crap shoot
as to who they origionally belonged to...

 

[bingo1952]

Ther wer probably for a Bess. The Brits liked about .030 windage for easy loading as the musket fouled.

 

[Trench]

I thought the Bess was bored to .75 caliber. Were later Bess' bored to .69?

 

[bingo1952]

They were but you won't get but a couple of shots off out of a Charleville or any other .69 caliber musket using a .684 ball (bare by the way) before fouling makes it impossible to ram the ball home. Those balls have only .006 thousandths clearance total. :hatsoff:

 

[bob308]

there is no way for sure to tell unless you were there and saw them being loaded. the u.s. used a lot of captured b.b's.as well as lot of home made muskests just about anything that would shoot. they could even have been used in.a cannon.

 

[Mulebrain]

Pic's would be nice :grin:

 

[almrl]

Isn't that a line from some poet?
Robert Frost, I think.

"Whose balls are these?
I think I know.
His musket's in the village though."

Can't remember the rest.

Old Coot

 

[fluggies4]

I would think they are too small to have been used in the Besses?

The original military British Bess cartridges used a .685 ball. This allowed for the cartridge paper and buildup of fouling so that the round would load easier. Accurate aiming was not what counted...mass volleys were the tactics of the day.

 

[Stumpkiller]

I thought the Bess was bored to .75 caliber. Were later Bess' bored to .69?

Nope. (though I did have a 16 bore (0.662") Bess - the Light Infantry model of 1758).

As others have noted, the fit to the bore in the Bess was loose by modern standards. You had to be able to get 4 shots a minute even on shots #40 & #41 if that's what it took. No time for a stuck ball.

 

[RedFeather]

Isn't that a line from some poet?
Robert Frost, I think.

"Whose balls are these?
I think I know.
His musket's in the village though."

Can't remember the rest.

Old Coot

They belonged to a Captain Miles.

"Cast for Captain Miles, to go."

Yeah, I know. :barf:

 

[Zonie]

The original military British Bess cartridges used a .685 ball. This allowed for the cartridge paper and buildup of fouling so that the round would load easier. Accurate aiming was not what counted...mass volleys were the tactics of the day.

I wonder if that explains why so many authors have stated that the Bess was a totally inaccurate weapon beyond 50 yards?

.75-.685=.065 diametrical clearance. Even with a paper wrapper that would still be fairly loose.

I know that folks shooting modern Bess's actually get pretty good accuracy at 100 yards if they shoot a snug patch/ball combination.
:hmm: