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Frank&Earnest
8th May 2008, 10:54 PM
A small challenge for the collective wisdom. In the photo is what obviously is a mould to make a lead ball. The question is: would that be for an 18th century pistol bullet or a more mundane 20th century fishing sink?

Barely visible near the cutter is the number 17 (the shape of the 7 is rather European looking), which could be a maker's reference or possibly the diametre of the ball, which looks close to 17mm or 5/8".

Has anybody seen one of these before?

DavidG
8th May 2008, 11:04 PM
Rough guess - 18th century pistol bullet mold.

bsrlee
8th May 2008, 11:24 PM
Its a musket ball mold, the bit between the handles is for clipping off the casting sprue, then if you want really good round balls you roll them between 2 glass plates. The number 17 could be referring to 17 gauge - 17 balls to the pound, which would be a quick load for a 16 gauge musket or shotgun, which were often loaded with a mix of 1 full size ball and some pea sized shot for man or medium sized game.

Frank&Earnest
9th May 2008, 12:00 AM
Thanks guys, you have been very quick. Armed with your info I have googled "musket ball mould" and found it immediately. The image is absolutely identical. It is Civil War American, its Google twin was found in Gettysburg. I knew I could count on the forum's wisdom! :2tsup:

prozac
18th May 2008, 01:11 PM
From experience I think that brslee is quite a repository of information looking for a good home.

prozac

echnidna
18th May 2008, 02:17 PM
do you want a recipe for black powder etc?