ID old mold, please

[Junior1942]

My brother and I found this old round ball mold in our backyard many years ago. It's very rusty, so as near as I can tell with calipers the cavity is at least .410" across. And ideas about what firearm would have shot the ball?


http://www.castbullet.com/hunting/photos/bhunt14.jpg

[TK Grogg]

I also have four or five of this type roundball moulds. Just guessing, I would say it dates back several years, maybe to the Civil War Era. I bought mine from an estate sale and I know the fellow shooter that owned them had an 1861 or 1863 Colt cap and ball revolver that he loaded for and I think it was .36 cal.
There is very little marking on one of them and most are not marked that I can see. They are however in good shape. Not sure of the caliber of any of them.

[Shepherd2]

I have 2 moulds similar to yours. One is about a 30 cal. with a sprue cutter. It is more egg shaped than round and has either 80 or 08 stamped on one handle. The other is about 30 cal. also and looks to be hand forged. No marking on that one.

I've seen a few that have a 1 or 2 digit number on them but I have no idea what it might mean.

[Junior1942]

This old mold could easily be pre-Civil War. My house sits beside the old Natchez Trace.

[mooman76]

Try moulding a ball and see. They did and still do make a 40 or maybe it could have been for a 45 or maybe even some oddball caliber.

[madcaster]

This is a bag mould as carried by the old longhunters of the flintlock era,when the country was just being settled.
"I will resign my domestic happiness."-I think Daniel Boone said that.

[HORNET]

Junior,
IIRC, Turner Kirkland of Dixie Gunworks claimed that most of the original BP rifles that he'd collected were about .40 cal. and they imported .40 cal's for quite some time at the beginning of the current BP revival. They also made a lot of molds that look an awful lot like that one. Might want to check if a nearby museum could identify it as to approximate age.