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Old 3rd November 2013, 01:49 AM   #6
kahnjar1
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND
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Quote:
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
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