Ammunition in the 30 Years War

[Battlefield 1866]

The standard projectile used in the matchlock and wheel lock rifles and pistols was the round ball. These were made of lead or an alloy like pewter. These “pewter” balls are really gray in color and have a lot of flaking. They were carried separately in a purse type pouch with the powder in pre-measured wooden tubes on a bandoleer belt. Some balls are found with a large sprue still intact and this was used since the mid 1500’s to tie off a paper cartridge with the ball outside of the paper. See the illustration – top cartridge.

As you can see from round balls found on the battlefield some are with sprue, other without. Also the diameter varies greatly with the average from .64 to .71 inch.

The artillery canister is found as iron cubes, iron balls – one you can see split in half, or very crudely cast lead balls the largest over .80 inch.


Brad