This is a FINE condition example of the fairly scarce Hall’s Patent Rifle Bullet Mold. The Hall Rifle was important development in the history of US military small arms, in that it was the first breechloading firearm to see any kind of significant production and issue to the US military and that it was the first firearm to be produce on the principle of interchangeable parts at a US arsenal.
In 1819 John Hall received a contract from the US Government to deliver 1,000 of his interchangeable parts, breechloading flintlock rifles and started the process to establish the Rifle Works at Harpers Ferry for the express purpose of producing his patent rifle. The construction of the Rifle Works, production of the machinery, and training of the workforce all took more time than anticipated, resulting in only 22 rifles having been produced and delivered by 1823. In the end the 1,000 initial production rifles were delivered in 1824. The rifle was a .52 caliber gun with a 32 5/8” barrel that was secured by three flat barrel bands that were initially retained with conventional band springs but were later replaced with pin on Harper’s Ferry guns made after about 1832. It utilized a flint box lock action with a breechblock that tilted up in the front for loading. The barrels were rifled with 16 grooves that extended from the breech to 1 ½” from the muzzle, with those last 1 ½” of barre left smooth. The rifles incorporated an extended pistol grip triggerguard, with sling swivels mounted on the front of the triggerguard bow and on a lug on the middle barrel band. The rear sight was a fixed notch dovetailed block that was slightly off center to allow sighting around the center mounted flintlock cock. The Barleycorn style front sight also had an offset blade to align with the rear sight and the base of the sight served as a lug for a friction fit socket bayonet. The rifles were browned with both the barrel and iron furniture receiving that finish, while the breechblock, cock and flintlock battery were casehardened with a dark bluish black appearance that tended to be duller and darker than the more vibrant case colors that were typical of later 19thcentury hardening processes at Springfield Arsenal. The stock was of American black walnut and extended to within about 3” of the muzzle. During the period of production at Harpers Ferry, which ran from nominally 1823 to 1840 in three production periods, some 19,680 of Hall’s Flintlock Rifles were manufactured. An additional 5,700 were produced on contract by Simeon North between 1830 and 1836. The rifles were also produced briefly as percussion guns at Harpers Ferry from 1841 to 1842 with another 4,213 being made during that period. In all some 29,593 Hall’s Patent Breechloading Rifles were manufactured for US military use, in both flint and percussion over a roughly two-decade period. To put that relatively low production number in perspective, during roughly the same period, more than 325,000 US Model 1816 Muskets were produced at Springfield Arsenal, another 350,000 or so were produced at Harpers Ferry and many thousands more were produced by contractors, with total production reaching about 850,000 muskets; fully 28 times as many guns, or for every Hall Rifle produced about 28 US Model 1816 Muskets were manufactured. This explains the relative scarcity of the Hall Rifle and its associated accessories that survive to be on the collector market today.
Offered here is a FINE condition example of a Hall’s Patent Rifle Bullet Mold. The molds for these guns were marked on one of the arms to indicate what gun they were for, reading HALL’S RIFLE. The mold was a single cavity round ball mold with a sprue cutter incorporated into the arms of the mold, to the rear of the mold block. The mold measures 6 ¼” in overall length with 5 ¼” tapered arms, a 1” mold block and a roundball mold cavity that measures nominally .525”. The mold itself is mostly bright metal with the mold block showing a heat blued color that is likely the result of the mold being used and the mold block heating up. The bottom of the right arm is clearly stamped HALL’S RIFL’E. The metal of the mold’s arms was lightly cleaned at some point and has a medium dulling steel gray patina with freckles of surface oxidation and age discoloration along with some small, scattered areas of minor pitting and scattered small patches of surface roughness. The mold cavity remains crisp and sharp and would still cast fine roundballs for a Hall Rifle today.
Overall, this is much nicer example of a Hall’s Patent Rifle Bullet Mold than is normally found for sale on the collector market, when you can find one at all. The mold is in lovely condition, is well marked and has a very crisp and usable mold cavity. This would be a great addition to any collection of Hall’s Patent firearms or a collection of US military bullet molds. With most of these molds being priced above $700 these days, this mold is very fairly priced and in much nicer shape than most examples that come to market.