Seeking Info on Bullet Mold - Delvigne

[3b2ginva]

Hello.  I'm new to this forum.  I recently bought the pictured bullet mold for my collection.  As pictured in bullet reference books it is a Delvigne bullet but I can't find much information about the bullet or mold.  Can anyone provide me any information on the bullet.  Timeframe it was used - Civil War era or before?  Any information on the bullet mold?  Does anyone have information on rarity and value of the bullets and mold?  Thank you all in advance!

[emike123]

Welcome.

The bullets are rare.  Unfortunately, an older man in Tennesse who at one time had a very large bullet mold collection by his own admission cast and aged some of them and this has cast a pall over the bullets for collectors. 

Still, a very few of these bullets have come out of Civil War camps.  Mine was dug out of a Texas troop position in Arkansas. 

Given the scarcity of these bullets, I have to think they were private issue arms.  This makes the mold a little less interesting to martial arms collectors, but it has to be an uncommon mold and therefore desirable.  I only have a handful of molds and that one would get my interest!

[emike123]

Found the documentation on mine (phew!)

"Recovered 2 miles North of Cane Hill, AR in Major John W. Whitfield's Texas Cavalry Battalion Winter of 61-62 quarters."

[dlw1610]

My Delvigne was dug in Shelbyville, Tennessee.  I think it very likely a sharpshooter's rifle bullet (about .502 X 1.27).  Several veteran collectors feel it may be for Swedish rifle.  The late John Marks recovered a dropped & a fired mini-delvigne's (about .31 caliber) in Tennessee.   I have the fired one.

Great mold!

[ETEX]

Agree with the above answers. Mike that should be my Delvigne in your collection. I was a very nice person for some reason when Steve listed it.

[emike123]

Yes, you were kind enough to let me deplete my life's savings to acquire it.  I'll tell my shoeless children to come to Uncle ETEX for support!

I do not think the Mini Delvigne that has been associated with a Swiss rifle has anything to do with the bigger one this mold would cast.  Bill can chime in, but I think he gave it that name in his article based merely on the somewhat similar external profile appearance.

[dlw1610]

Didn't mean to infer the Mini-Delvigne had anything to do with the larger bullet made by the pictured mold.  Just mentioning that there was also a smaller Delvigne noted by Tom Stelma & others.  The  possible Swiss rifle usage referred to the larger Delvigne not the mini  & came from a noted collector/dealer.

[emike123]

This has always been an oddball bullet with limited information available on it.  Delvigne was French and his system a forebearer of the Minie ball, but do we have drawings associating this bullet pattern to him?  The one drawn on the bottom of page 176 in M&M looks different.

I wonder what McKee and Mason were drawing on or what this collector/dealer has to support more information on these.  As Ross Perot would say, "I'm all ears."

[3b2ginva]

I thank you all for your input and thoughts on this bullet and mold.  I figured this was a rare mold based on the very little information and scarcity of the bullets.  I guess the question remains on the type of weapon these bullets came from.  It's good to hear that multiple individuals have found these bullets in Civil War related sites.  If anyone has any additional information or references please PM me or add a post.  Thank you again.

[Bill Ewing]

Ah - a name is a name by any other name.  The name game.

Mine was found in Warsaw TN in an area where many of the TN whitworths were found. 

The mini-delvigne as I called it (solely based on appearance) was also found in Tennessee maybe around Frankin.  I would have to check my records.  There were several found there in one general area as I recall.

As the gun, one could only speculate based on caliber and such.  The swiss rifle references come from the back supplement of M&M that list a long small caliber bullet as from a swiss rifle.  As my actual weapon expertise is more WW2 related vs CW/1800s era, I will keep my mouth shut on further rable.

Hope this helps
Bill