Civil war bullet questions

[mspence]

Can someone tell me how a solider would use his bullet mold for example for a navy colt pistol after they poured the bullet into the mold what did they do to prepare that bullet to be shot? Or for a spencer carbine would they cary empty brass casing's? Thanks for any info.

 

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[d2]

Not all soldiers carried bullet molds. Most ammo came already packaged and ready to go. The ones that did pour their own lead in molds had no way to load the few types of brass cases that were available, those came from the factory ready to go. Most of the molds I have saw found at camps were pistol molds, and very few of them, and they were used to make the ball or bullet. They were set aside to cool after the sprue was cut off, depending upon the type of mold and then put in a pocket or where ever they were kept to be used for reloading their pistols. Most of the cavalry soldiers carried several cylinders, one in the pistol and one extra, if not 2 extra's for the pistols for quick reloading. Powder was put into each chamber on the cylinder then a patched ball, if round, was pressed in on top of that. Once the cylinder was loaded caps would be placed on the nipples and it would be ready to go...d2

 

[mspence]

Thanks bud, what about the pistol molds that have 2 diff shapes for ex little round ball and small coned or typical colt pistol bullet shape? Was it there choice to use either, or did both ball and bullet get loaded at same time. Thanks again.

 

[Davers]

IMO they used one type at a time.

99.9% sure. Just would not seem logical , def, not that safe.

Ill bet more than one person tried to use both tho.
There is always some fool willing to try something.