Bullets for early firearms were made as lead balls in iron scissor moulds. The moulds had scissor action, with ends shaped as a hollow half-sphere that formed a ball when the handles closed. Melted lead was poured into a small filling hole in the top of the closed mould. When the lead was set the handles were opened and the ball was released from the mould. Excess lead was trimmed using the cutting edge of the mould. The task of pouring the melted lead into the mould had to be performed slowly so that air pockets didn’t form. The shot would have a join line around it, which would make it inaccurate; the join needed to be carefully filed to make the ball into a smooth sphere. Larger quantities of lead shot were often cast in a multi-bullet mould that was used in a similar way. Lead shot mould; cast iron, scissor type metal object with sphere shaped mould at end used to make lead shot balls for a shotgun. Mould has a cutting edge to trim off excess lead.flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, firearms, bullet, cast bullet, lead ball, lead shot, scissor mould

Bullets for early firearms were made as lead balls in iron scissor moulds. The moulds had scissor action, with ends shaped as a hollow half-sphere that formed a ball when the handles closed. Melted lead was poured into a small filling hole in the top of the closed mould. When the lead was set the handles were opened and the ball was released from the mould. Excess lead was trimmed using the cutting edge of the mould. The task of pouring the melted lead into the mould had to be performed slowly so that air pockets didn’t form. The shot would have a join line around it, which would make it inaccurate; the join needed to be carefully filed to make the ball into a smooth sphere. Larger quantities of lead shot were often cast in a multi-bullet mould that was used in a similar way. Lead shot mould; cast iron, scissor type metal object with sphere shaped mould at end used to make lead shot balls for a shotgun. Mould has a cutting edge to trim off excess lead.flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, firearms, bullet, cast bullet, lead ball, lead shot, scissor mould

Musket balls are the ammunition used in muskets the weapons used during the English and American Civil Wars. The balls could be made from any metal alloy, but many were made from lead. Lead can be melted at reasonably low temperatures and so lead musket balls could be made over a camp fire. Lead could be readily sourced from such places like church roofs or even coffins, and recast from old musket balls, so it was an easy material to work with while preparing for battle. The soldier would carry a crucible in which to melt the lead, he would put the material into it and place it over the fire until it had formed into a liquid. Musket ball moulds like the subject item, had a small hole above one of the domes where the liquid could be poured into once the two domes were closed together. The soldier would wait until it cooled then opened the mould to reveal a solid lead ball inside. Because these were cast in halves even though pressed together, there would always be a small amount of liquid lead leakage which would form a thin crust around the ball. These needed to be filed off before being used inside a musket, so some soldiers would pop a few in their mouths and roll them around, chewing off the excess until the ball was smooth. The obvious downside to this method is that lead is poisonous. A tool used to make ammunition for black powder firearms either muskets or pistols from the early part of the 18th to mid 19th century. After this time enclosed brass cartridges that held the propellent powder and bullet were starting to come into wide spread use, negating the need for a firearm to first have black powder placed in a barrel then the ball rammed on top and finally the firearm primed with powder or a percussion cap.Musket rifle/ pistol bullet mold. Makes .50 -caliber- round balls with a sprew cutter to cut off excess lead.Marked 50flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked coast, flagstaff hill maritime museum, maritime museum, shipwreck coast, flagstaff hill maritime village, great ocean road, shot pliers, lead shot, shot, armoury, firearms, bullet, cast bullet, lead ball, lead shot, scissor mould

A black painted brass bullet mold which casts a single round bullet. It has square ends with a hollow inside for the mold.bullet-mold arms