Old Days?

[ggagnon]

Just a little history question I have been toying with over the last few days, The historical side of blackpowder is directly related to either the civil war era, or to the mountain man. My question is this, If the mountian man was truely self-sustaining, and they relyed on thier knife/tomohak/axe, and their flintlock, how were balls made and of what? Flint can be found in its natural form, and rudementary black powder can be made in a natural element, but where does one find lead in the wild to make balls? civil war soilders i understand had to make balls for their individual rifle by the fire at night, but im assuming they were givin the lead, the only thing I can think of is the mountain man had to come down and buy bulk lead and cloth/patch material, the rest could be found/made if his environment was right.. anyone have any insight to this?

 

[bdft]

That's why they came out of the mountains every once in a while and traded for powder, shot, salt sugar and flour. I guess if the ran out, a handful of rocks would do.

 

[Smokepole]

Mtn. Men were not self sustaining. The fur trade era saw trade at the forts and rendyvous. Trappers would often be outfitted by a trading company and pay their debt when furs were brought in.

 

[mooncoon]

My question is this, If the mountian man was truely self-sustaining, and they relyed on thier knife/tomohak/axe, and their flintlock, how were balls made and of what?/QUOTE]

The mountain men started out in brigades altlhough trapped in pairs. They had a central location they could go back to if their traps were taken by indians or they lost their supplies and so forth. It would not surprise me if they carried a small ball mold and bars of lead for casting balls over the campfire but I suspect most of the balls (and powder) were at the main camp.
In the north, the HBC imported flints by the barrel full as well as powder and I am sure ball for the trappers and for their staff

cheers mooncoon

 

[green]

US Civil War soldiers were issued ready made paper cartridges.
As said above lead, powder and flints were imported by the fur companies to trade for pelts.

 

[nessy357]

I read once about a farmer in the deep south, who ducked into a slough during a rainstorm. While waiting out the storm he unearthed/found a muzzleloader in a leather sheath, also a pouch with some lead bars roughly 1/2" square by a couple of inches long and some crudely made ball , that had been cut off the end of the bars and chewed to make them round.(that was back in the days when lead and asbestos were good for you )
The rifle had some stick figures carved into the stock, from which he deduced it to have belonged to a native.
IIRC lead was brought over as ballast in the sailing ships, there were entire familys that knapped flints for a living, and paid by the bushel barrel.
Cheers nessy.

 

[Arctic]

Read up on a few expeditions and their provisions lists, ................you'll find bags of shot, kegs of powder, and bars of lead as mainstays. The earliest "mountain men" went to great extremes to recover the lead balls when shot at game.

 

[ben hunchak]

Early Buff. hunters took lead bars with them on their hunts along with other supplies, like powder, primers, coffee, and other necessaties. They wanted their bullets as soft as can be so when they hit Buff., they would flatten out and cause as much damage as possible but not exit, so they could reuse the lead.

 

[JacquesT]

Under the French regime, the 'Canadiens' could not be easily resupplied in lead balls by the King'supply system due to the variety of calibers involved... this created shortage and individual had to remelt government issued balls...or captured ones....then came NATO standards...