A working firearm was a prized possession in early America, indispensable in everyday life to the hunter, farmer, or frontiersman, and often a finely crafted, costly status symbol for the gentleman sportsman. While soldiers in the standing army might have had the latest in firearms and ordnance, the countryman and militiaman often had to make do with whatever was at hand, and so firearms and ordnance from earlier time periods are often well represented in common use at later time periods.
In 1855, the U.S. Infantry adopted new standards for small arms that introduced muzzle-loading .58 caliber rifles and rifle muskets designed to use the new "minie ball" bullet (this bullet, named after its inventor Claude-Etienne Minie, was a significant milestone in the history of ordnance).
We cast our minie balls here at our Vermont shop of lead-free pewter to closely approximate the original lead ball in size and weight. Each minie ball is packaged in a poly bag with a history card.
WARNING CHOKING HAZARD SMALL PARTS Not for children under 3. Recommended for adults and children aged 8 years and above.