Is this how Higgins does it?

[masraum]

This is pretty cool. We don't need no stinkin' mold! (yes, I get that there's a difference between the bullets that Jeff makes and round ball)

“Filled With Hot Lead”

One piece of local history worth checking out is the Jackson Ferry Shot Tower located in Wythe County off the Ft. Chiswell exit.

A man named Thomas Jackson (no, not Stonewall) purchased the property at a public auction and finished construction of the shot tower. It was completed in 1807.

It was used to make lead shot for use in the firearms of the day. The tower itself is 75 feet tall and has a shaft inside it that drops down another 75 feet close to the shore of the New River. The shot was made by taking firewood and lead to the top of the tower where there was a furnace that melted down the lead. The molten lead was then poured through a sifter that allowed the desired shot size to drop through.

As the led fell the 150 feet the resistance created by the fall would round it into shape and cool it off enough to keep form when it hit the bottom. At the bottom of the shaft was an awaiting kettle full of water into which the lead would plunge for retention and would soon become hardened lead shot. This finished product would then be sold to merchants, traders, hunters, etc. for use in their firearms.

The Jackson Ferry Shot Tower is one of only a handful still standing and is located right here in the good ol' Appalachian Mountains. You can watch the video of our visit at this link:

Jackson Ferry Shot Tower
https://youtu.be/uaeQiMFcl04

[KFC911]

I have brown water canoed on the New river once years ago ... like the St. Johns ... flows north...

[masraum]

Originally Posted by KFC911

I have brown water canoed on the New river once. Flows north...

Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

[KFC911]

I did my white water rafting on the Nolichucky ... the New was .... shall we say ... a bit different

[Alan A]

New river is fun. Gauley better…

[Por_sha911]

I learned something about how they made shot back then. Cool.

Brown water?

Been whitewater rafting down the Ocoee upper and middle several times, the Nolichucky (after heavy rain it had class 4 and close to class 5 rapid), and the Nantahala (very mild and great for beginners).

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Thanks for sharing. Kindof a derail, but wth....
I went to Radford University very close by, and hung out at Claytor Lake, right down (up?) from the shot tower.

This YT presenter drives all over SW Va. and documents towns. I've spent hours watching him drive through rural areas in Va./Wv.

Ironically, right after watching the shot tower video, YT algorithm suggested their video of Radford- So I fast forward to my college apartment. It's the second floor corner apartment to the far end of the building past the movie theater.

In the summers, we would hang out on the ceiling over the theater to keep cool (no AC) and everyone in the theater could hear us walking above them. Very special memories here.

If you had of driven by in 1991, I would have had a small hibatchi cantilevered off the second floor window, that was until the maintenance guy saw it and yelled at me. Since we had the corner apartment, we would jump out our apartment window across a 4ft wide walkway onto the rooftop of what is now "rileys sports bar" in the video. Back then it was "lucky's." Once on the roof, we could jump into the back area and avoid cover charges.



FWIW- The New river is PLENTY of rapids for me. No need for Gauley!

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by Por_sha911

I learned something about how they made shot back then. Cool.

Brown water?

Been whitewater rafting down the Ocoee upper and middle several times, the Nolichucky (after heavy rain it had class 4 and close to class 5 rapid), and the Nantahala (very mild and great for beginners).

The New starts out as a lazy, inner-tubing float here in God's country (NC) before it reaches the heathens up north . Did the Nolichucky a few times ... at the highest levels the outfitters would make runs in the spring ... in wetsuits, and mid-summer lower levels in shorts ... picked up a hitch-hiker once too! A river-dawg that did the long run every day... he hopped into my rubber funyak for a float on the lower part.. .. a differerent river at different times... decades ago tho'. They all can become angry...

[id10t]

Still how they make shot today, and you can even do it at home from what I understand.

The shot drop method only works with small shot though. A decently sized round ball for a revolver or ML rifle would still be cast in a mold, or swaged.

[flipper35]

I have a friend that does all his shot at home for shooting clays. He is one of the best in the midwest and regularly has people ask to buy his clay loads. He has roughly 1000 pounds of lead at his house.

You all keep talking about the New river and all I think about is the one that empties into the Salton Sea.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by id10t

Still how they make shot today, and you can even do it at home from what I understand.

The shot drop method only works with small shot though. A decently sized round ball for a revolver or ML rifle would still be cast in a mold, or swaged.

Yup. All of my shot is "drop shot". I don't reload shotgun shells, but I do use a lot of it out of my muzzle loading 10 gauge. 7 1/2's for clay bird and grouse shooting, 6's for pheasant (where still legal to use lead shot). Still the most common way to make it, as far as I know.

And yes, the bigger stuff, round balls for rifles, are swaged or cast. I like just buying the swaged ones when I can. They are readily available for all of the common calibers, and are actually cheaper than buying the same weight in lead, which would then have to be cast. The swaged round balls are superior in that there is no sprue spud on them. Here are the ones I shoot, .457" for my Ruger Old Army cap and ball revolver, .490" for my Dixie Tennessee Mountain Rifle flinter, .530" for my T/C Hawken and the Hawken I built a couple of years ago. The only one I cast is for my .72 caliber double rifle, with no swaged examples available. You can see the sprue mark on top. That's the mold I use sitting behind it:





The two bullets are both for the .54's. They have a marginally fast enough twist to stabilize them (1:48"), where the dedicated round ball shooters go much slower. The .50 has a 1:66" and the .72 is 1:144". They would never stabilize a bullet.

I've hunted mostly with the bullets. They are just so superior ballistically. Both .54 bullets weight about 450 grains, where that size round ball is only 230, like a standard .45 ACP bullet. And even starting out a 2,000 fps, it's down to .45 ACP velocity by about 100 yards. The lowest ballistic coefficient possible for any projectile, the poor old round ball. No wonder we worked so hard to come up with something better. This year, though, the new Hawken will be taken to the field, traditional round ball and all. I've hunted deer with the flinter, and it does kill them, but boy is it marginal with its 180 grain ball. The .54 should be a little better...

[masraum]

Interesting, cool stuff folks, even the folks talking about the river and LS talking about his old haunts.