Falconet ball with hole
 

I purchased this Falconet ball together with 14 others but only this one has a strange hole into it. The ball itself is around 30mm in diameter and the hole is around 8mm deep before hitting a black surface.

Is there any record of incendiary falconet bullets/ grenades?

The hole seems to be man made.

http://i57.tinypic.com/211nfk6.jpg

Isn't that too small to be a grenade, Marcus?
Try and extract some material from inside, to see whatever it is ... or check the dark with some light.
... Or send it down to me for inspection :rolleyes: ;)

I hope it is not Nando :D

Sure, if you would send me your aljubarrota barrel so i can aim this ball into your mailbox ;) :cool:

Hi
work out volume of sphere 4/3 x Pi x radius power of 3

i work it out at approx 14 CM cubed

then density of iron is 7.8g per cm power of 3

approx =112 But I am doing rough calculations here and i might be out a power of 10


weigh your ball and this will tell you if ball is filled with less dense substance

if scraping black stuff I would advise against using metal, and if me i would do it under water, just to be certain
Regards
Ken

Ken's calculation makes sense. Not that i knew how to do it but because my solid ball with 31 m/m weighs 124 grams.
Let's not assume that some smart ass made a hole in that ball of yours in order to use it as a knob or something :(

Hi Marcus,

Yes, I do have records of hollow iron balls/grenades fired from pieces of ordnance from at least the 17 through the early 19th centuries.
So your guess that that piece might be a falconet ball is also backed up by the diameter of ca. 30 mm of the piece.

Until 6 years ago, there used to be a huge and complete original breechloading falconet (German: Bockbüchse auf Lafette) in my collection. The barrel was dated 1619, the second year of the Thirty Years War, and struck with a maker's mark wuith the initals VR in a shield, Zella, Thuringia, and the Saxon coat-of-arms (Zella was part of Saxony in the 17th century). The bore was 35 mm.

The whole ensemble was purchased by the museum of the castle of Burg Stolpen, Saxonia, Eastern Germany, where it is on exhibition today.

Next to that singularly complete ensemble, the first attachment depicts my friend Armin König, who builds the finest replicas of earliest arsenal arms worldwide, many of them made after originals from my collection.

His address is
Armin König
Kirchstr. 3
D-95691 Hohenberg a.d. Eger
Bavaria, Germany
ArminKoenigHbg@aol.com
http://www.engerisser.de/Bewaffnung/.../Firearms.html

The first photo is copyrighted by Armin König, the others are copyrighted by Heinz Grodon and Hermann Historica.

Best,
Michl

The breech block and its action.

...

,,,

Beautiful machine, Michl :cool:
The balls in the illustration are all solid.
Do you have pictures of such small ammo (30 m/m) hollowed for grenade purposes ?

Hi Nando,


As I posted, I faced a severe computer crash and consequently can only access parts of my 2.7 TB data at the moment. :shrug:

You certainly noticed that I reserved two more follower threads but was not able to edit them in time, filling them with the material reserved for that purpose.
So please have patience on the humble self which is me; I will be right back on line providing you with the images I intended to present! I promise! :cool::eek:

Btw, my self-acclaimed computer expert is driving me sort of out my mind ...


Best as ever,
Michl

Good morning, Nando,


It's 3 a.m. over here in Bavaria; still I have not succeeded in finding any sleep since the day before yesterday, which is some 40+ hours. Things just seem to be working out at least as hard as quickly over here - and sadly against me. At least that's the way it seems to be for the time being ...

My email program still seems to be maintaining a rhythm of mulishness of its own which an elderly and physically disabled mercenary like me just cannot grasp ...:D;)
So anybody trying to mail me: please have mercy on me for I am totally innocent of what is going on over here at the moment.


I promise you though:
Michael/Michl WILL BE BACK AGAIN -
or vanish ...
I'm gonna do MY VERY BEST as ever.


Whatsoever: please be assured of the fact that my heartfelt thanks are going out to you all.


Best as ever,
Michl

Good morning Michl and all,

Thank you all for providing so much information, i am amazed everytime about the willingness of people to share what they know and i am gratefull for it. :)

I don't have a small (digital) scale so measuring the ball's weight is problematic, but it does feel lighter than the others i have. The thought of a doorknob still haunts me though :o

That breechloading falconet is magnificent!!! If i understand correctly, the powder and ball are shoved into the barrel from the rear. Would the load be secured by a ramrod from the front as well after loading was complete?
And that little bowl at the rear sight, i have seen this before on other firearms but never figured out what it is for (to reflect light or..?)

Thank you Michl and i will be patient, cuivis dolori/problemata remedium est patientia

Take your time, Miguelito :cool: ;) :D