Markings on old ball molds?

[Ky-Flinter]

I've been on the lookout for an old round ball mold to include in my possible bag.  (.490 if anyone wants to send me one for Christmas!).  I have noticed many old molds have numbers stamped on them that do not seem to correlate to the ball diameter.  I've seem molds stamped with 100, 175, 180, 190, 200, etc. usually on the inside flat of the handle, near the hinge.  See below.   Anyone know the significance of these numbers?





Sorry about the picture size....  couldn't seem to enlarge them.

-Ron

[Levy]

I believe the number on the old bag molds is for the number of balls the you can cast from a pound of lead.  I bought one recently from a friend and it had the #18 on it.  I was told that this was .649 cal.  It will be good for a 16 gauge smoothbore.  Woodsrunner has already laid claim to it for his 16 gauge fowler.  I believe there is a table in the back of the Dixie Gun Works catalogue that demystifies it.

James Levy

[LynnC]

I would agree with Levy - Unless it has been re-cut it is probably the number of balls to the pound.  They just didn't seem to use the decimal part of an inch caliber system back then.................................Lynn

[J.D.]

A mould casting 40 balls to the pound would mic about .488. Not quite .490, but close.

[Ky-Flinter]

Thanks guys.....  that's it.  I Googled "lead balls to the pound" and found a table of sizes 1 thru 180 to the pound.  www.lasc.us/Brennan_GaugeWeight.htm

Yep, JD....  I'll be looking for a 39 or 40 now!

-Ron

[flintriflesmith]

In the period the number of balls to the pound was much more meaningful to the gun owner than "caliber" would have been. 40 shots to a pound of related directly to the cost of shooting the rifle and to its power. I doubt many gun owners had any real concept of 1/100th of an inch and surely no way to measure that closely.

Gary

[hyltoto]

balls per pound (gauge) required a much less precise measurement system than caliber. You only need a balance and weights. Imagine what the cost of a vernier caliper or micrometer would have been in the hand-made era.