Original British American Revolutionary War Shale Mold for Wall Gun

Original Item. One-of-a-Kind. This is a lovely piece of Revolutionary War era firearm technology, a 3-part ball or bullet made from shale, as opposed to soapstone as more commonly found on Revolutionary War sites of the Continental Army. With a cavity of one-inch diameter, this mold was almost certainly made for balls used in a wall gun, rampart musket or "amusette", as they were sometimes referred to during the period. These were flintlock arms in the form of an oversized musket in terms of barrel diameter and length, intended to fire an extremely large lead ball longer distances. The British wall guns of the 18th century were much larger and heavier than their French rampart muskets. Allowing for up to 1% shrinkage rate when casting soft lead, that still leaves a ball that would be too large for a British Pattern 1738 wall gun, which had a 0.92 caliber barrel. However, this ball is admirably suited for the rifled wall guns being produced by James Hunter's Rappahannock forge, some of