Bullet find Estonia

[sweguy]

Found this piece at the Vormsi island, it was just lying in the sand on one of the beaches there. To me it looks like it could have been a musket-bullet but with improvised material, it doesn't seem like led cause it's not that heavy.

What do you think of it? It is found on a ww2 battlesite but I think it's much older than that. Is it indeed a musket-ball/ bullet?

Cheers Al

[Saladin]

Could be a piece out of a shrapnel shell?

[sweguy]

Well I'm not so sure, I found some other pieces that could have been shrapnell but this is so round and approximately the same size as a musket ball. People have lived on this island for a very long time so it could have been used for hunting at the beach etc.

[Saladin]

Hi Sweguy,
I don't mean that it was a piece of shrapnel but one of the ball bearings that would be placed in some types of munitions which when they explode they scatter the balls at high velocity.
We used to call them canister shells. When fired out of the tank the shell casing would disintegrate and send the balls out much like a giant shotgun.
Perfect for use against infantry.
Earlier examples that were used in Canon were the old 'grape shot'. These were a load of balls or any other bits of hard stuff that were rammed down the barrel and fired. Again resulting in a similar weapon effect.
These were used by old field artillery against Infantry and Cavalry and also on board ships to spray the decks on some other boat.

With it being iron it is unlikely to have been used in any muzzle loading weapon as these need to be soft to fit nicely into the barrel and then fired without causing too much damage to the internal bore.

All the best
Doug

[Auseklis]

Is it magnetic then?

[Auseklis]

However, IMHO it is a marble. Nice find!

[sweguy]

Hi Sweguy,
I don't mean that it was a piece of shrapnel but one of the ball bearings that would be placed in some types of munitions which when they explode they scatter the balls at high velocity.
We used to call them canister shells. When fired out of the tank the shell casing would disintegrate and send the balls out much like a giant shotgun.
Perfect for use against infantry.
Earlier examples that were used in Canon were the old 'grape shot'. These were a load of balls or any other bits of hard stuff that were rammed down the barrel and fired. Again resulting in a similar weapon effect.
These were used by old field artillery against Infantry and Cavalry and also on board ships to spray the decks on some other boat.

With it being iron it is unlikely to have been used in any muzzle loading weapon as these need to be soft to fit nicely into the barrel and then fired without causing too much damage to the internal bore.

All the best
Doug

Interesting, your theory seems legit. Did both Germans and Russians use this kind of weapon during the war? It could be older than that.

Regards Al

[sweguy]

However, IMHO it is a marble. Nice find!

Thanks! Although I don't think it's a marble cause there isn't any hole in the ball. I don't have it for the moment but as I recall it was not magnetic.

Cheers