May 18, 1861

How to make bullets.

Bullets are made by meltin', lead and pourin', it into a mold where it hardens
into the shape of the mold.

The bullet mold looks like a pair of pliers that forms a hollow ball when the
jaws are together.  Each one of the jaws contains half the hollow.

1. Get dry oak or chestnut wood 'cause it burns hotter.  Got to be dry.
2. Make a good fire and let it burn until there's a bed of embers.  Add more
   wood.
3. Take lead bars that you buy from the store (or use old bullets that you
   take out of things ye've shot) and put  them into a small cast iron pot or
   ladle.  Cut up the bars with a hammer and chisel if they don't fit in the pot.
4. Set the pot into the embers and either blow on it or use a bellows if
   ye've got it.  This makes the fire hotter and  the lead melts quicker.
5. When the lead melts into a liquid, take a small metal ladle and dip out a
   little.
6. Make sure the bullet mold jaws are together.  Pour enough lead in the jaws
   to fill up the hollow spot.
7. Let it cool for about a minute and then open the jaws of the mold.
8. A new shiny bullet will drop out. You need to cut off the little tail of
   lead that forms where you poured the lead  in.  (That's called the sprue.)

I read that the Army don't make bullets that a way.  They use a thing called a
"shot tower".  There's one over on the New River between Hillsville and
Wytheville and it makes a lot of bullets in a short time.

The tower is a tall, skinny building made out of stone and is near about fifty
foot tall and hollow in the middle.  It has a tunnel dug under it that goes to
the river so water can get in under the tower.  At the top, is a hole in the
floor with screen wire over the hole.  They pour hot lead on the screen and
depending on how big the holes in the screen are, balls of lead form and drop
down the middle of the tower.  Falling through the air does two things; it
causes the drop of lead to get round and then cools it enough to get hard.

It falls into the water which cushions it enough to keep it from getting a flat
spot on one side and also finishes cooling it.  Somebody gets in the water and
scoops out the new bullets.

The size of the ball has to be the same size as the inside of the gun barrel
you shoot it from, or maybe just a mite smaller.  The size is measured in
"caliber" or decimal parts of an inch.  A 54 caliber bullet is 54/100's of
an inch in diameter.