One for the Whitworth fans.

[dromia]

http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums/s618/joe152/p53%20014_zpsufey8csf.jpg (http://s1308.photobucket.com/user/joe152/media/p53%20014_zpsufey8csf.jpg.html)

http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums/s618/joe152/p53%20015_zpsbfe0wve8.jpg (http://s1308.photobucket.com/user/joe152/media/p53%20015_zpsbfe0wve8.jpg.html)

[Doc Highwall]

dromia, that is neat looking, thanks for posting a picture of it a 6 sided bullet. I wounder what was involved in machining it?

[dondiego]

Show us some of the finished boolits.

[GoodOlBoy]

yeah I agree, that's an amazing mold... I would love to see some of the bullets cast from it as well.

GoodOlBoy

[DCP]

I want one. If they don't cost a arm and a leg

How much do they cost?

[dromia]

They were only made for a short time I believe and there aren't that many around, I have seen them be offered for over £300 recently.

Haven't cast from it yet though I've had it a while, when I see them going for these prices I wonder whether I should or not.

There is something about a grease groove hexagonal Whitworth bullet that doesn't quite sit with me.

[GrayTech]

Certainly is interesting looking. If the bore was twisted hex shaped that would make sense. Maybe better than rifling for cast. Can't see how that would work in a round bore.

[GrayTech]

Turns out it was used in a hex shaped barrel and was very accurate. I want one!

[dromia]

It was designed as a mechanical fit bullet and was originally paper patched, this grease groove rendition is a modern take on it.

No it doesn't work on round bores but interestingly round bullets work in the Hexagonal bore very well, at least the do in my PH Whitworth.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I'd guess that it may have been die-cast, possibly with the flat surfaces machined afterwards. Sir

The Whitworth rifle was indeed phenomally accurate, at a time when few rifles were. At the opening of the first Wimbledon meeting Queen Victoria fired a Whitworth set up in a machine rest the previous day, and placed the bullet within an inch of the centre of the 400 yard target.

http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/2941854/the-whitworth-rifle-fired-by-the-queen-at-wimbledon

Sir Joseph Whitworth did indeed revolutionise the science of musketry, but not by his hexagonal bore. He was an eminent mechanical engineer, called in to rectify the deficiencies of the .577 Enfield. His hexagonal system did indeed prove very accurate, but it fouled far too rapidly for a military rifle, and the grip on the bullet it offered was described by others as enough to spin a field-gun shell.

What he did was to establish the value of far higher standards of precision in barrelmaking, and the correct rifling twist for an elongated bullet. His rivals, notably William Ellis Metford, soon got just as good results with cylindrical bullets and shallow-rifled bores.