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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;afantiques, post: 88517, member: 25&quot;]The only danger would be if he dropped it on his foot. It is a popular Hollywood fantasy that has cannon balls exploding on battlefields like modern artillery projectiles. Your muzzle loading cannon takes a sold iron ball that merely knocks things apart, but it is tricky to make knocked down and apart people look exciting on screen.</p><p><br /></p><p>Only mortar shells of the period were filled with gunpowder and fitted a with a fuse that in theory would cause them to explode on landing, but since this was a piece of burning string, basically, some times it failed to work. Mortar projectiles were much larger than the balls used in field artillery. The people you spoke to were probably more ignorant than your son. </p><p><br /></p><p>Your Civil War cannon ball might simply be a superannuated sports ground shot from the shot putt event. Exact dimensions and weight might allow it to be matched to a common field cannon, or may indicate it was never a warlike projectile at all.</p><p><br /></p><p>Balls were cast in two half moulds. Any seam should have been ground flat and probably not be visible after a century and a half, but that I can&#039;t say.</p><p><br /></p><p>I expect spring can tell you exactly what to look for. I only posted my non expert answer because your quoted comments from ignorant fools are typical nonsense from the general public.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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