A study on firearms tools

[Marcus den toom]

There might already be a thread about this, but i couldn't fid it :/

The purpose of this thread is to share knowledge about firearm tools, like bulletmolds, wheel lock spanners, powder horns etc.

Tools which have been discussed before can of course just be linked


To start of, i show you my bulletmold.. it looks pretty old, but how old is for me a mystery. It is definitly before the 1800s but no clue on it other than this.
It has an 8 bullet capacity, 7 of 6mm and one of 14mm. The "arms" are hinged.

[fernando]

Nice 'rustic' mould you got there.

[adrian]

A "buck & ball" bullet mould. It would have been for a musket of a caliber to suit that ball. The user could fire either a musket ball, at large game, or buckshot at smaller game, or both at an enemy - individually or buck & ball in the one load. So quite versatile & quite handy with its foldaway handles.

[JamesKelly]

Looks like this mould makes different size "buck" shot. What caliber is that large ball?

To add to this thread, here is what Grandfather said was a gun tool. He had a good handle on family events of the 18th century, but I am not so sure of this. Dad looked in his tool box one time, found this & asked Grandfather what it was? "Oh, its a tool to remove the drum from a rifle". Dad quickly traded him a nice Sears & Roebuck screwdriver. The rifle in question would have been my great-great grandfather's rifle, made in Western Pennsylvania, USA, some time before 1850. My Grandfather hunted & won turkey shoots with this rifle, never having fired a breech loader until age 18 (1900 A.D.)

Clearly a screwdriver, I personally cannot figure out how that U-bottomed side extension could unscrew a drum, or really do anything. Wood handle 102mm (4 inches) across, steel blade 108mm (4-1/4 inch) total length. U-shaped extension fits an 8.4mm (0.33" mm) diameter round, too small to fit the drum of the rifle in question. So I really do not know for sure what it is, beyond what Grandfather said.

Ideas?

[adrian]

It perhaps fits the breech plug of a small caliber rifle, it is the right shape etc. This might have been what was meant by "drum".

[kahnjar1]

Originally Posted by JamesKelly

Looks like this mould makes different size "buck" shot. What caliber is that large ball?

To add to this thread, here is what Grandfather said was a gun tool. He had a good handle on family events of the 18th century, but I am not so sure of this. Dad looked in his tool box one time, found this & asked Grandfather what it was? "Oh, its a tool to remove the drum from a rifle". Dad quickly traded him a nice Sears & Roebuck screwdriver. The rifle in question would have been my great-great grandfather's rifle, made in Western Pennsylvania, USA, some time before 1850. My Grandfather hunted & won turkey shoots with this rifle, never having fired a breech loader until age 18 (1900 A.D.)

Clearly a screwdriver, I personally cannot figure out how that U-bottomed side extension could unscrew a drum, or really do anything. Wood handle 102mm (4 inches) across, steel blade 108mm (4-1/4 inch) total length. U-shaped extension fits an 8.4mm (0.33" mm) diameter round, too small to fit the drum of the rifle in question. So I really do not know for sure what it is, beyond what Grandfather said.

Ideas?

You don't say how wide the middle of the U bit is, but it could well be a nipple wrench, for unscrewing percussion nipples.
Stu

[Marcus den toom]

@JamesKelly, the bal is 14mm wide.

Khanjar1 has a very plausible answer here, since the tool does not look like it was designed to take the mechanical stress that a breechplug would cause.