Hello, I' am a N00B when it comes to Black Powder. I recently acquired some stuff from a family members estate. I am trying to identify a few things and can use some help.

I got a .44 Remington Arms New Model Army (Percussion) and a .44 Starr Arms cap & ball, and a Midd Conn 1847 Percussion. I'll research these things, maybe see if they can be fired but that's a project for a later time.

What I am interested in is some of the supplies that came with these things.

1) Lyman 457 Bullet Mould Block. From the Lyman website it looks like the 457 is for a .45 bullet, but there are several versions of this block. The block I have has 457 476 stamped on it, the 476 does not appear on the Lyman website. The top of the box has 457-RB hand written on it, I'm guessing RB stands for Rifle Bullet? I am interested in figuring out if this bullet mould is for one of these guns I received, or just learning more about the thing in general.

2) Also in this stuff are several unlabeled small boxes with what appear to be round pieces of black or white paper/cloth that measure about 3/16 across. I'm assuming these are wads?

3) A few small cans of black powder, the stuff has to be 40 years old at least. Any chance it is still usable or should it be destroyed? I have heard about smelling gun powder when it gets old but I don't smell anything unusual with this stuff.

4) The last thing is another small unlabeled box full of round black pieces of what appear to be paper, but these are big, 1 inch or so across. I can't imaging how these are for these guns, maybe some odd thing thrown in the gun box. Does this make any sense to anyone?

Thanks in advance for your time and comments.