![](\"https:\/\/projects.cah.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2016\/12\/RagarFig1.jpg\")
<\/a>Gunpowder and shot were imported to the English colonies directly from Great Britain. In the early years of colonization, it was both more cost and time effective to import these items from already established manufactory hubs across the Atlantic than constructing new plants locally.[1]<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0Physically, gunpowder appears to be the shavings of a metallic substance, dark in color and flaky to the touch. Shot (ammunition) conversely, came in the form of round lead balls that varied in size due to the variance of musket caliber or gauges (the diameter of the bore of the rifle). By the latter end of the 1700s, the British Empire had established a quasi-standardization of musket balls due to their dependence on the Brown Bess musket (.71 caliber).[2]<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0Shipments of gunpowder were transported across the Atlantic in large barrels only to be divvied and distributed amongst consumers. The personal transportation of gunpowder for consumption came in the version of a smaller more convenient container. The use of powder horns was common place in the 18th<\/sup> century.[3]<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0These horns would be the hollowed horn of an animal and filled with gunpowder with a plug to enclose the powder and a small opening at the opposite end to feed powder to the matchlock of the rifle.<\/p>\n Upon studying the mercantile ledger from Glassford and Henderson\u2019s Colchester store\u2019s Ready Money account for 1760-1761, this is perhaps the most enlightening resource in uncovering the enigmas of gunpowder and shot. In those accounts, the ledger specified a vague sense of the cost of the ammunition and the volumes of purchases for cash. For example, the Ready Money account entry for the month of September, 1761, has five purchases of powder and shot together, and one purchase each of powder or shot. Based on this sample, powder appears to be valued at about two shillings and six pence per pound, while shot was less expensive at only 6 pence per pound.\u00a0 The most common purchase was for \u00bd pound of powder to every 2 pounds of shot. [4]<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0This example presupposes that the commodity of gunpowder and shot was relatively affordable to a citizen of the New World that might have arrived as a homesteader, trapper, or entrepreneur. It becomes obvious to the reader that these items were used in daily life and from the frequency of the purchases which implies various applications and steady use.<\/p>\n [1]<\/sup><\/a> Jimmy, Dick, \u201cThe Gunpowder Shortage\u201d Journal of the American Revolution<\/em>, https:\/\/allthingsliberty.com\/2013\/09\/the-gunpowder-shortage\/.September 9, 2013, accessed November 10, 2016,<\/p>\n [2]<\/sup><\/a> \u201cThe Price of Freedom: Brown Bess Musket,\u201d accessed November 10, 2016, http:\/\/amhistory.si.edu\/militaryhistory\/collection\/object.asp?ID=88.<\/p>\n<\/a>Infographic on Shot<\/a><\/p>\n