Ball mold?

[jr baker]

I was in a antique shop the other day and I saw in several cases a ball mold I think one or two said civil war era one looked dug I didn't buy any but i got to thinking would solider carry a ball mold with them?

 

[johan_steele]

I was in a antique shop the other day and I saw in several cases a ball mold I think one or two said civil war era one looked dug I didn't buy any but i got to thinking would solider carry a ball mold with them?

An officer might for his pistol but both sides were issuing cartridges by that point.

 

[Woods-walker]

I was in a antique shop the other day and I saw in several cases a ball mold I think one or two said civil war era one looked dug I didn't buy any but i got to thinking would solider carry a ball mold with them?

Yes. I have dug many of them in camp sites.

 

[Woods-walker]

One recent find is attached that was dug in a Southern winter camp in Virginia

 

[Lampasas Bill]

This is an interesting question, since we know that ready-made cartridges were the norm, but molds do appear in Confederate campsites. Perhaps the molds were from the early months of the war when many inexperienced recruits loaded themselves down with items that were later discarded as excess baggage? Or they could be from early war units that still were armed with miscellaneous civilian weapons?

 

[Woods-walker]

I think the latter is probably more relevant- but that's just my guess

 

[Package4]

This is an interesting question, since we know that ready-made cartridges were the norm, but molds do appear in Confederate campsites. Perhaps the molds were from the early months of the war when many inexperienced recruits loaded themselves down with items that were later discarded as excess baggage? Or they could be from early war units that still were armed with miscellaneous civilian weapons?

When you were issued a revolver or brought it from home, it usually came with the mold, flask and tools.

 

[Tom Hughes]

Yes, they molded balls in the field...I even dug a French Dragoon bullet mold near Vicksburg a few years back.

 

[UCVRelics]

I was in a antique shop the other day and I saw in several cases a ball mold I think one or two said civil war era one looked dug I didn't buy any but i got to thinking would solider carry a ball mold with them?

One thing you have to take in consideration is that if its just a round ball mold, everybody back then had a musket, powder and a bullet mold. When you find a conical bullet mold in a CW camp then the answer is yes.

 

[redbob]

Whitworth rifles came with a bullet mold for casting it's .451 caliber bullets in the field.

 

[jr baker]

Reason I been wondering my ancestors unit the 12th tn cavalry was poorly armed at first and was later on better equipped and I just was wondering if they been more likely to carry mold then say a unit fighting in the eastern and since they was fighting closer to home