Just do a search on eBay for "antique bullet molds" "antique loading tools", etc. and you'll find various loading tools made by such companies as Ideal and Winchester for a wide variety of cartridges from the late 1800's.
I have shot BP for over 50 years and have cast a lot of round ball - usually I tried to use as pure of lead that i could, but soetimes, like our ancestors, you have to use what you have.
I love 38 spl. I recently picked up a fairly decent Winchester mold for the "38 S & W Spl" (38 spl.) I have cast a number of rounds out of it - they are falling at about 160 to 162 gr. - it is the standard round nose slug - a tad longer than the round nose that falls from a Lee mold that I have that is classed aas a 150 gr. I love vintage handguns - I got the Winchester mold just to try it out and see what it would do. The rounds I cast are out of "range lead" but I have some nice soft lead that i'm going to use as well. I'm going to shoot them out of my Ruger New Vaquero.
In the 1800s, molds, loading tools, components were available and I'm sure wierre widely utilized by many. Today, we get too caught up with the technology, ballistics, FPS, etc. You have to remember that for most back then, the primary use of their handguns and rifles were limited SD but more widely, putting meat on the table and shooting critters that would harm the livestock. If it would go in the cartridge and ultimately out the barrel and do the job, I doubt very much if they were too concerned with the things we are today. Today, we hunt because we want to, they hunted because they had to (for the average person). Today, our guns are really part of a hobby, back then, they were everyday utility tools needed to hunt and protect.
I don't think that things have really changd a whole lot though - back then, factory made cartrtidges were available for those that could afford them - the same as they are today. And then, there were those who could save miney by "rolling their own" either as a way to save money or as a result of being in isolated areas where it was a long way to travel to get to a source of ready made cartridges. Today, we reload - sometimes for the same reasons - save money, lack of ready made cartridges, expense of factory made cartrtidges, etc. I think that such companies as Winchester and Ideal, as well as others recognized that there was a market for reloading tools and there was a niche for them in thier product lines. For the average "Joe", if the metal would melt in a small ladle over a wood fire (and I have cast many bullets this way) - and cast a bullet that would fit the case, he wasn't too concerned on the hardness it was - he was more concerned about if it would "do the job".
Interesting thread - glad you posted it!