[LT] Price of Lead

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Diomedes

For cannon and firearms, that $20/lb. includes the cost of powder, wadding, flints, etc.

It does?

This is not at all clear from the text. Powder costs are listed seperately, for one thing.

[Diomedes]

Originally Posted by Icelander

It does?

This is not at all clear from the text. Powder costs are listed seperately, for one thing.

Not from an ammunition standpoint. Powder is listed as $20/lb, but none of the guns list how much powder they take per shot. The implication is that the weight of shot listed in the tables includes ball and powder.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Diomedes

Not from an ammunition standpoint. Powder is listed as $20/lb, but none of the guns list how much powder they take per shot. The implication is that the weight of shot listed in the tables includes ball and powder.

Very good.

I suppose that accounts for the difference, then.

[SuedodeuS]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Very good.

I suppose that accounts for the difference, then.

Not really, unfortunately. If we assume the weight of a round consist of powder+shot, the fact that the powder is $20/lb and the round is $20/lb means the shot needs to similarly be $20/lb. If we give the wadding an actual weight, this means either the wadding is expensive (clothing-grade cloth, for instance) or the lead costs even more.

I suspect the LT authors simply went with the approximation of having the entire round made of powder for pricing. If you want more accurate pricing, you'll need to figure out how much of each round is powder, and how much is shot. This is easy for 3-lb+ cannon (1/3rd is powder, 2/3rds weight) and ship's guns (subtract nominative weight from actual round weight), but the rest will require a bit more work. I'd probably use $2/lb for the shot.

[Polydamas]

The "Cost of Ammunition" box on p. 87 of Low Tech is clear to me though I see how it could be misunderstood. Its a figure you multiply the WPS by to get CPS; its not the cost of the lead, iron, or stone shot because they don't give that for most weapons (and because you may also need wadding, a patch, extra-expensive priming powder etc. depending on the gun).