Mortar shell

The mortar shell that served as the crucible for the Losers' Club's silver slugs was a World War II souvenir belonging to Zack Denbrough, Bill's father. Bill had found it in the back of the garage, where it had been discarded after Zack quit smoking and stopped using it as an ashtray. The shell was cut down, making it suitable for use as a small melting pot. During the evening of July 23rd, 1958, while Zack and Sharon Denbrough were at a double feature at the Aladdin Theater, the Losers gathered in Zack's workshop. Ben Hanscom, who had taken charge of the technical work, clamped the mortar shell into Zack's vise and used a blowtorch to heat it. He then dropped one of his father's silver dollars into the shell, watching it melt into a pool of molten silver. With Beverly Marsh holding a homemade funnel steady over one of the bearing molds, Ben carefully poured the liquid silver, creating the first of two silver slugs. The process was repeated for the second slug, and after the metal hardened, Ben used a chisel to open the molds, revealing two small, perfectly round silver balls. The slugs were then given to Beverly, who would use them with Bill's Bullseye slingshot in the confrontation at 29 Neibolt Street. The mortar shell, a relic of war and a former ashtray, was thus transformed into a tool of resistance against the ancient evil haunting Derry.