Help ID please....bullets?

[ndhill1976]

I these around my house over the last year or so within a 1 mile radius. One in the woods close to a field, one on the edge of a field, and one near a 1800s home site (in a field). The all have 1 side that is flattened, as you can see from the one on the right. One is smaller than the other two, and I am pretty sure they are lead. I live in east Tennessee, any thoughts?

 

[maria8forever]

ndnll1976,they look to me to be musket shot,i live in a area that was settled in the 1600's so i find them in all shapes and sizes,the early french militia loved the pistol,those will be smaller,the earlier the shot the more unperfect it will be made,due to mold making etc...If i were you i would hunt the area very hard to find a button or something else so you can develop a story on why you found them there,trust me it is not easy,it could take years of looking and research,for i have done it myself.Good luck.

 

[silvernail]

Maybe my GGG-Grampaw or some of his kinfokes shot those balls in east TN while exercising a southern mountain style "Tennessee" rifle or something like that. Prior to the Civil War (1861- ) virtually every bullet fired on the continent was loaded from the muzzle, over a charge of loose black powder, and ignited with a flint (lock) or a percussion cap (lock). The vast bulk of those projectiles were round balls of lead like you are looking at. Guns were typically hand made by individual gunsmith/makers, and the bore size (ball diameter) selected to match the user's demand for the type of game available. Large bore military arms were typically .60 - .70 caliber (20 - 12 "gauge") smoothbores that would also handle smaller "shot" well. Rifled pieces for game or battle ranged down from there. Balls for deer and small game ("squirrel rifles") typically ran in the .30 -.45 cal. range. If preparing for deer and the odd bear or Indian fight, the rifle selected would likely run in the .48 - .55 caliber range. Measure the ball with calipers in hundredths of an inch, and you have the "caliber" approximated. Muzzle loading arms were still in common use in backwoodsy and frontier areas even after 1900, and amongst some of us die-hards even today. There is quite a lot of material available about the history of firearms -- books and the web. A look at the reproduction arms for sale on the Track Of The Wolf web site will give you a quick overview of the types of sporting arms in question.

 

[ndhill1976]

I have found a couple more since posting this message the other day. I think I agree with silvernail that these were probably old hunting bullets. It is hard to tell exactly what caliber they are because they are a little misshaped, but they measured to be around .32-.34 for the little one and around .36-.38 for the larger ones. I just used a ruler, so these measurements are probably off a little.
Thanks for the insight.