Coldengham, New York
Store of Cadwallader Colden, Jr.
Powder and Shot
1768 was a leap year. Today, 250 years ago, was the 29th of February. It was a quiet day in the Colden store with only six transactions on three accounts. Peter Mullendorf [Mulender] purchased one half pound of black powder and one and one half pounds of shot.
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This article is one in a series of a daily accountings of Colden Store transactions. Be sure you read the first installment for an introduction to the store. You should also read this article which appeared in the Journal of the Orange County Historical Society.
The shot and powder purchased by people in the vicinity of the store was probably for use in muzzle-loading flintlocks. The model copied in many colonial reenactments is known as the Brown Bess.
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| Brown Bess reproduction of 18th century. Image courtesy of militaryheritage.com |
About 150 grains of black powder were used to prime and load these flintlocks for each firing. [Spearman, J. Morton, The British Gunner, 1828] There are 7000 grains in a pound, so Mullendorf will get about 23 shots from his half pound purchase. The ball size was about an ounce, so one and one half pounds of shot is 24 balls.
Powder and shot (or lead) were often bought together at the store. The normal ratio was 2 to 4 pounds shot per pound of powder.
In the prior six months about 50 pounds of powder were sold in about 75 transactions. That equates to about 2300 shots or only about 13 shots per day. Clearly these people were not using hunting as their main source of subsistance.
About 80 pounds of shot (including swanshot which was a finer irregularly shaped lead) was sold at the store in the prior six months. That equates to 1280 one-ounce balls, or only seven balls per day. This does not match with the quantity of powder purchased as the yeomen may have been making their own shot from lead and shot molds.
Indeed, about 70 pounds of bar lead was sold at the store over the prior six months. You can search on these items yourself in the database by clicking on the link below and entering the item to search for.
Powder was around two shilling per pound, shot was seven pence (7/12ths of a shilling) per pound, and lead was half a shilling per pound. So Peter Mullendorf's purchase, 250 years ago today, gave him 23 shots from his flintlock for about the price of a half-day's labor.
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