Mold for Canister

[old fort]

gentlemen just picked up a large mold ..thought by the seller to date to the Rev War period and sized to produce musket balls .... in looking it over it has 6 cavities and with handles is a little over 20" long weights close to 8 #
 
What's curious is that there are substantial "gates" between each of the cavities and one that estends out of the end of the mold ....i haven't cast a batch yet but the material that wold fill the "gate" between the balls would be at least a 1/4 " in diameter ..leaving way too much material to clean up for a normal musket ball
 
But if it were used to manufacture "canister" those gate could just be chopped off or broke off and it wouldn't matter at all
 
hope to post a picture later ...but any thoughts on this ??

[Artilleryman]

Size of the cast balls would be helpful in determining what they might have been  used for.

[KABAR2]

Do you have a way to post photo's? they would also help.....

[cannonmn]

If battlefield recoveries of any canister shot showed evidence of having come from such a mold, your theory could have some merit.  I'm no expert on canister shot, but all of them I've ever seen or heard of were quite round, as if they'd come from a standard bullet mold.

[A.Roads]

In British service any small iron balls were know as "sand shot" because any shot larger than 4lbs used to be cast in iron moulds & the 15 sizes of 4 lb shot down to 1 1/2 ounce were cast in sand moulds. Later generally all natures of shot were cast in sand. Sand shot were mainly used for making up case & grape shot.
Adrian

[A.Roads]

I should add to the above that (again in the British service, circa 1853 to at least some time beyond 1866) shrapnel shells, of at least the Improved Shrapnel & Diaphragm Shrapnel shell patterns, were filled with lead balls. These being Carbine balls up to & including the 6, 9 & 12prs & Musket balls for the other natures to 150pr. These balls were hardened, with antimony, so as not to deform when pressed against the side of the shell as it burst open. Pistol balls & buckshot were also shaken in to fill up spaces between, in addition was added melted resin for improved shrapnel & coal dust for diaphragm shrapnel, the latter shell pattern superseded the former in 1858. I am not absolutely certain how these lead balls were cast, certainly not in sand moulds though. The earlier shrapnel shells, called spherical case shot, were merely a fuzed hollow shell filled with both balls & powder - but tended to explode prematurely due to friction between balls & shell upon shock of discharge & so were improved by Col. Boxer, by separating the powder from the bullets. The name "Spherical Case Shell" was dropped, some years after the death of Henry Shrapnel, in favour of "Shrapnel Shell", as a memorial to Henry, the inventor.
Adrian

[cannonmn]

I suspect the mold you have as intended to cast connected balls to be sewn into the edges of large commercial fish nets.  The design would be a good one for that purpose as there are no sharp edges to wear or tear the nets, but many good anchor points to use in tying it to the net.
Photo of the item would be most helpful.

[old fort]

Thanx for all the input I'm going to try and cast a mold full this weekend and will take pic's of both the mold and the product .... I'm sure that will help everyone
 
i have a reasonable collection of cannon ball, canister and grape and i too have never seen a remnant of a "gate " on any small shot
 
the fishing net may be a possible answer ...however the polish on the inside of the cavities seems to be way beyond what would be required for a sinker ....especially when you see the age and the method of construction

[bluelake]

If battlefield recoveries of any canister shot showed evidence of having come from such a mold, your theory could have some merit.  I'm no expert on canister shot, but all of them I've ever seen or heard of were quite round, as if they'd come from a standard bullet mold.

Here is what I posted in an earlier thread regarding 1.05" lead shot my son and I found from the 1871 US-Korea military action:
http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,260288.msg1099542254.html?PHPSESSID=vf695r3dlur427crl5k7o6h7f0#msg1099542254
Iron shot that was also found was completely round, but the large lead shot still had the sprue.
 
 
 

[old fort]

thanx so much for the follow up .... hope to make a string of balls from the mold and post a picture of the end product and the mold ...haven't had the time as yet

[cannonmn]

however the polish on the inside of the cavities seems to be way beyond what
would be required for a sinker

Most two-piece molds for lead etc. are given a high polish so the casting can be removed easily, not because the casting necessarily requires a finish that smooth.  Get some rust pitting in an iron mold and see what happens when time comes to eject the castings.  Nothing.