I would guess that cast-iron shot is quite late in the ammunition stakes;
earlier references are to stone and lead shot (particularly for
muskets/harquebus), and arrows.
Ruth Brown
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Hutchison" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2000 7:33 AM
Subject: Re: Metal moulds for cast iron
> >how did they get their shot to be round before that?<
>
> Peter
>
> There is no difficulty casting spheres (or any other shape - look at the
> Greek bronzes) in clay, dry sand, or green sand moulds if that is what you
> want to do. The problem is, of course, that these moulds are "disposable"
to
> use a modern adjective. Needing skilled labour, time and materials to
> prepare they would be too expensive to cast cannon balls compared with
> re-usable metal moulds.
>
> Biringucchio in "The Pirotechnia" suggests that they used metal moulds to
> cast cannon balls from the beginning (about 1495) and were using cast iron
> before 1540. His text also suggests that cast iron moulds came in with
what
> might have been the first cheap (and nasty) mass-produced medium- sized
iron
> castings - cannon balls. Iron balls for muskets may have been cast in
metal
> moulds earlier than that but I have not found a reference for that. It
just
> seems unlikely that comparitively large cannon balls were the first.
>
> Peter Hutchison
>
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