A 250 year long tradition

[contender]

Well, as we wind down our July 4th 2026,, celebrating our 250th Birthday as a Country,, I chose to continue a tradition that started over 250 years ago,, AND was very normal activity in 1776. It has continued for the entire 250 years,, and was a total necessity back then.

What is this activity? What kind of tradition has lasted longer than our Country? All that as well as still being done a lot in today's modern society?



Bullet casting.

I made a bit over 500 bullets today. Happy Birthday America!

 

[blume357]

Wish I had the discipline ... yep, even before 7/4/1776 we were casting a lot of bullets... on April 19th 1775 'we' sent a lot of them down range as the British scampered back to Boston... something like 300 hits too.

 

[contender]

Yep,, a LONG history of a great tradition!

 

[Watertender]

I wonder if anyone was shooting anvils for the 250th? If you have seen it done it's impressive but dangerous.
2 anvils are used with a black powder charge between them. The bottom anvil is placed top down and black powder is placed in the hollow base. The top anvil is carefully placed on the top with the horn up and a fuse between the two. The fuse is lit and it sends the top one through the air and as it flies it makes a ringing noise like nothing else.

 

[M118LR]

And to think that lead is a toxic substance Nowadays?

 

[jimbo1096]

Contender I thought you were going to say making black powder smoke

 

[blume357]

I wonder if anyone was shooting anvils for the 250th? If you have seen it done it's impressive but dangerous.
2 anvils are used with a black powder charge between them. The bottom anvil is placed top down and black powder is placed in the hollow base. The top anvil is carefully placed on the top with the horn up and a fuse between the two. The fuse is lit and it sends the top one through the air and as it flies it makes a ringing noise like nothing else.

Cousins husband was doing that a few years back at some gathering and blew an anvil apart... it did not go up but parts went horizontal, luckily no one was hurt.

 

[contender]

"And to think that lead is a toxic substance Nowadays?"

Lead is a natural element. And yes,, it's toxic,,, if taken internally. Just ask the British 250 years ago.

 

[blume357]

Which brings up some questions... in the westerns they were always having to dig the bullet out... which from the toxic standpoint makes sense but sometimes there would be someone who was carrying a bullet left in them... how does that work?

 

[Mobuck]

^^^Back in those days, most often it wasn't the bullet that killed, it was the resulting infection.

 

[contender]

Mobuck is correct. A LOT of Civil War deaths actually were the result lead poisoning by a bullet or fragment left in the body & leeching lead into the internal organs & blood stream.

Westerns on TV got that part wrong along with so many other gun related things.

 

[blume357]

I know infection got most folks ... it just seems kind of strange that we keep hearing about bullets left in... but then back then digging around to get the bullet out probably caused a worse infection than the entry of the bullet.... I've been told that bullets are real hot when they go in .. prefer not to find out.

 

[Jeepnik]

Imagine it's 1863. You are a doctor in a military hospital. A battle rages around you. Due to the sparsity of physicians, adequate facilities and a patient load consisting of hundreds of seriously wounded per doctor per day. Infection control is not generally understood yet and pretty much impossible under the circumstances.

Civil war doctors did one heck of an amazing job saving the lives they could.

If you have ever worked a large vehicle accident, with literally dozens of injured, and with modern medical knowledge and equipment you might have an inkling of what those doctors faced. Most people would never be capable of comprehending the situation.

The toll that war took on doctors and the resulting PTSD (it would be a century plus before that was even adequately diagnosed) is never discussed in the history books. Even the medical community doesn't really comprehend that horrifying situation.

 

[Watertender]

The movie The Horse Soldiers had a fairly accurate scene of medical treatment during the Civil War

 

[Jeepnik]

The movie The Horse Soldiers had a fairly accurate scene of medical treatment during the Civil War

Sorry WT, but it isn't even close to the horrific conditions at places like Gettysburg or Bull Run.

 

[blume357]

I think it was pretty much if a limb was damaged.. .chop it off and tie it up... I suspect most center mass injuries were poke around try to find anything foreign in the next minute and pull it out... other wise sew it up.

Do have to tell a more modern day story of millitary medicine during combat... and I appoligise to those that have heard to before...

this is what my father told me... they landed at Inchon and he had it seems gotten pneumonia on the sub he was stationed on ... after a few days he was sent back down south to a MASH unit to see about getting well. He walked into the MASH tent and there was a guy sitting in a chair leaning over with the back of his skull split open and his brains showing with a doctor standing behind him poking inside his head probably trying to check for debris... the doc was smoking a cigarette and as my father watched an ash fell off the cigarette into the back of the guy's head... my father turned around and headed back North to find his company.

 

[Watertender]

Sorry WT, but it isn't even close to the horrific conditions at places like Gettysburg or Bull Run.

I'm sure it wasn't. My friend lives in a house that was a home for Civil War amputees and found some paperwork in the house that was pretty graphic. The last veterans who lived in the house died in the 1920's

 

[Jeepnik]

Between the civil war and WWI great strides were made in treating battlefield wounded. Thanks to better transportation the wounded got to medical treatment faster. But with the advent of things like machine guns and mustard gas the dead and disability numbers were staggering. And while the cause of infection and how to prevent it had improved, infection still killed many.

WWII saw further significant improvements in the speed at which wounded could get to treatment, but most importantly antibiotics came into use. Korea saw the use of helicopters for transport, and medical treatment improved even further as a result of WWII lessons. Vietnam saw the common use of medivac and again better treatments from lessons learned.

Today, infection, while dangerous, is well managed. The numbers of battlefield wounded are significantly lower and the speed of transport to treatment truly amazing. When my eldest was hit by an RPG he had a well trained and equipped Corpsman treating him in, literally, seconds. He was off the bridge at Nasiriyah in minutes. Spent only hours in a field hospital before being airlifted out to Ramstein AFB. From the first bandages/morphine/IV to surgery in one of the finest hospitals in the world and by the best surgeons in the world was mere hours.

 

[M118LR]

Quick Clot made a major battlefield difference. Nowadays Quick Clot has been replaced by Quick Clot Combat Gause on the Battlefield. Surgical Units behind the front lines can still use Quick Clot powder to save lives.

When I sent the SIL's off to Iraq I gave them all a KaBar of their choice and 3 packets of Quick Clot. They still got issued a belt designed for tourniquet use. Fortunately they only needed to use the Quick clot on their Brothers in Arms. It was effective, but somewhat painful. It only hurts when your alive.

 

[gunzo]

When I was shooting a lot & a member of several USPSA gun clubs there was always a guy or two that sold bulk cast bullets for great prices. So that's where I went.

But afterward, things kept pulling at me to cast my own. The prepper in me, patriot? But in the sense of true pioneer spirit, casting ones bullets does seem like an American tradition. Doing it on July 4th does seem truly fitting. Maybe a tradition I should consider doing as well.

 

[contender]

gunzo,, it is a great feeling to take something so simple, and make it into a very useful object. I've been casting bullets for over 35 years,, and I still marvel at the way things work.
Yet,, it's also NOT as hard as many THINK it is.
Can you make mistakes? Absolutely. Bad bullets are EASILY re-melted & turned into good ones.
Just a few good safety rules,, and a little equipment,, you can make quality bullets AND not have to rely upon supply chains to serve your needs.

 

[gunzo]

Had my my first small kit in the mid '70's but I soon discovered bulk bullets F/S. My small casting hobby faded.

Fast forward decades to a presidential change & threats to my hobby & self reliance felt strange. I didn't even have a job at the time & wasn't of retirement age, but gulped & bought some casting equipment. I already had a few molds & plenty of wheel weights I'd gathered thinking of this day, so not a huge investment.

What an uplifting feeling when I pulled my own 250 grn. 44 Keith's off the sizer. I had stepped into yet another level of self reliance as a free American.

 

[contender]

"What an uplifting feeling when I pulled my own 250 grn. 44 Keith's off the sizer. I had stepped into yet another level of self reliance as a free American."

You get it!!!!!!

 

[blackhawkshooter]

The movie The Horse Soldiers had a fairly accurate scene of medical treatment during the Civil War

Whiskey and a saw.

 

[blume357]

Years ago some customer gave me these weights that were somehow used in a large newspaper printing press... pretty much 2" x2"and 24" long and made of lead. Seems like I passed them on to some guy down in near by Simpsonville who cast his own bullets. I did not give him all of them but have not seen the extra two or three I had in a couple of years.... but if I find them....

 

[contender]

"I did not give him all of them but have not seen the extra two or three I had in a couple of years.... but if I find them...."

If you find them,, I know of a good place for them.