Whitworth Hexagonal Bullet Mould

At long last I have new stock of the fantastic 2-Piece Whitworth Hexagonal Bullet Mould.

This very clever mould casts a .442″ hexagonal bullet ready for paper patching. It requires RCBS, Lyman or Lee mould handles. It casts a bullet of approximately 540 grains.

The finest Whitworth Bullet mould available.

History:

The Whitworth rifle was designed by Sir Joseph Whitworth, a prominent British engineer and entrepreneur. Whitworth had experimented with cannons using polygonal rifling instead of traditional rifled barrels, which was patented in 1854. The hexagonal polygonal rifling meant that the projectile did not have to bite into grooves as was done with conventional rifling. In 1856, that concept was demonstrated in a series of experiments using brass howitzers.

Whitworth believed that the same type of system could be used to create a more accurate rifle to replace the Pattern 1853 Enfield which had shown some weaknesses during the recent Crimean War.Trials were held in 1857 to compare Whitworth’s design against the Enfield. The Whitworth rifle outperformed the Enfield at a rate of about three to one in the trials, which tested the accuracy and range of both weapons. Notably, the Whitworth rifle was able to hit the target at a range of 2,000 yards (1,800 m), whereas the Enfield was only able to hit the same target at a range of 1,400 yards (1,300 m).

While the trials were generally a success for the Whitworth rifle, the British government ultimately rejected the design because the Whitworth’s barrel was much more prone to fouling than the Enfield, and the Whitworth rifle also cost approximately four times as much to manufacture. The Whitworth Rifle Company was able to sell the weapon to the French army, and also to the Confederacy during the American Civil War.

While the barrel design of the Whitworth rifle was innovative, the rest of the rifle was similar to other rifles and rifle-muskets used at the time. The rifle was muzzle loaded, and used a percussion lock firing mechanism. The lock mechanism was very similar to that used on the Enfield rifle-musket.

Whitworth chose to use a longer and more slender bullet than was common at the time, which resulted in a bore diameter of .451 inches (11.5 mm) calibre, significantly smaller than the Enfield’s .577-inch (14.7 mm) calibre bore. Whitworth’s bullets were more stable at longer ranges than the shorter and larger diameter bullets found in other rifles of the time. Whitworth also engineered the barrel with a 1-in-20-inch (510 mm) twist, quite a bit tighter than the 1-in-78-inch (2,000 mm) of the 1853 Enfield, or the later 1856/1858 variants with five-groove barrels and a 1-in-48-inch (1,200 mm) twist. The extra spin the tighter twist imparted to the projectile further stabilized the bullet in flight.

The Whitworth rifle weighed 9 lb (4.1 kg). Other long-range rifles of the period tended to have much larger and heavier barrels, which made them too heavy for standard infantry use.