That's a good question. I haven't specifically researched bullet moulds much, but I think conventional wisdom maintains that the pincer-type moulds would be appropriate for the colonial era. As others have noted, Larry Callahan is the go-to guy for these. Track of the Wolf has "bag moulds" but Callahan moulds have a better reputation for quality. Dixie Gun Works also has this type of mould, but only in brass and in a very limited range of sizes. They catalog this as Item #MO0103 and suggest writing the size you want in the "Comments" section of the order page. I bought one of these in .530" back in the sixties, when they had them in a larger range of sizes. The balls were not perfect, but of the antique handmade moulds I've tried, imperfect balls were not unusual, and the balls I cast with this old Dixie mould were good enough for my purposes at the time.
There were a lot of gang moulds used in the distant past, but I don't know of anyone making historically correct ones now.
I don't want to vector too far off the topic of colonial era moulds, but would like to say that the Log Cabin Shop may still have a few of the old Stence moulds, which would not be authentic for the colonial era but they do
look like an old-fashioned 19th-century design:
They appear to be nice-quality forgings with integral handles. In
The Muzzle-Loading Cap Lock Rifle, Ned Roberts stated that the "swinging cut-off," or sprue cutter, was a Colt innovation introduced in 1837, but it caught on very quickly. One of these would be right at home with a plainsman's kit.
One final suggestion for the OP, back on topic, would be to look for actual antique moulds. As a test, I just did a Google search using "antique bullet mold for sale" and it turned up close to three million hits. Seriously, there are a lot of old moulds out there in the $35-$50 range. The trick, I guess, would be finding the specific size you want. A lot of sellers are remarkably ill-informed about that sort of thing.
Good luck!
Notchy Bob
