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Another summer find. Not found on a civil war site!

1

1859large

New member
A musket ball mold ( half) about 70 cal by guess. Made of lead or something lead like which was a surprise to me. It is the first mold I have found even seen despite the fact that everywhere we detect we find bits of lead splatter and chunks which probably relates to fishing gear mostly and not bullet making.

A 50 cal ball looks small in it and the only other ball I have is 65 or 68 cal and it is a sloppy fit. Found near an old farm house site, near the sea, the site was mostly covered in too deep grass to swing but I did find a 1750s shoe buckle frame on a path near by. and nothing else but un-dug iron.

HH 1859

(Wow that picture came out huge.)
 
The muskets carried by the Brits (the famed Brown Bess) and by revolutionary Colonials (Charleville's) were .69cal. Deffinately older than Civil War.
And that block is much more likely to be brass. Certainly not lead.
 
Could it be zinc? It is white on the surface and grey/silver underneath. It has marks on the edges that suggests that it is somewhat soft.

Lead would not be my first choice for making a mold but these early settlers where quite resourceful, maybe some alloy with a slightly higher melting point? These guys where making bullets for hunting and not self defense, mostly, so taking time to cool the mold might not be an issue. The block is most irregular outside but for a well made hole for the lead, possibly homemade?

I admit it seems strange.

HH

1859
 
Are you sure it is a bullet mold? Why don't you lub up the inside of it and pour hot wax into it and let it cool. Then pop it out and see how it looks. Just an idea. I always thought bullet molds were made with 2 pieces. Tim
 
bigtim1973 said:
I always thought bullet molds were made with 2 pieces. Tim
Click to expand...
They are. It's only half of the mould.
I have, seen, and use moulds made of brass, and steel, but I have no idea what that is made of. Certainly not lead...'cause pouring molten lead into it would be like cementing it shut. Antimony also has too low of a melting point, and I don't think that Zinc was used for much but an alloy back then.

The mould blocks need to be very warm to cast properly, so the blocks need to be made of something capable of holding heat, yet not be damaged or distorted by temps as high as molten lead.
 
Well half a bullet mold. A 65 call ball has a somewhat sloppy fit. Ya do have to split them to get the ball out.

Who ever lost it was just not that considerate to place both pieces in the same hole. As well as the family pewter and a few gold coins, if you get my drift. ;)

HH

!859
 
Bigtim, you make good points from experience. You are probably correct in that it is either not lead or not used to mold molten metal.

It does look like it would be used to mold something as it appears to have index marks to align it. The whole thing does look sort of crude and maybe homemade. Maybe it was a crude attempt at a mold that was chucked.

HH

1859
 
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