Conical bullets in a .44 ROA and 1858

I've only used ball in the past but a couple of years ago I started powder coating so my Star sizers no longer have or need lube.

I have a few Q's about conical bullets.

Should these also be pure lead or is a hard alloy usable / preferable?
How does powder coating do in BP revolvers?
If powder coating is not desirable, and not lubing in the sizer, what other methods will work?
I saw a video of a fellow using plain unlubricated conicals, no wad, no lube over the bullet. Why no lube of any kind?

Lastly, I have a few thou 235 grain bullets for a .45 ACP that are wax lubed and sized to 453. Any reason I cannot use these?

gnappi said:

I've only used ball in the past but a couple of years ago I started powder coating so my Star sizers no longer have or need lube.

I have a few Q's about conical bullets.

Should these also be pure lead or is a hard alloy usable / preferable?

Click to expand...

I've run up to 9 Brinell without trouble. If you can load them without overly straining the loading lever, you're fine

gnappi said:

How does powder coating do in BP revolvers?
If powder coating is not desirable, and not lubing in the sizer, what other methods will work?

Click to expand...

Don't bother with powder coat, if your bullets fit like they should you'll just wipe it off. Pan lubing works great, as does dip lubing base first in melted lube, while holding the bullet in pliers or tweezers. You could even wipe it on with your fingers if you don't mind putting the time in.

gnappi said:

I saw a video of a fellow using plain unlubricated conicals, no wad, no lube over the bullet. Why no lube of any kind?

Click to expand...

For one cylinder it wouldn't matter, but there will be a lot of fouling. I've run lubed wads under bare conicals with a slightly reduced charge, it works fine at the range.

gnappi said:

Lastly, I have a few thou 235 grain bullets for a .45 ACP that are wax lubed and sized to 453. Any reason I cannot use these?

Click to expand...

Only reason not to is the base band is oversized for your chambers. You'll play hell getting them centered and straight. If you can size the base and middle driving bands to .001" under the chamber diameter you should be fine. Others have done it but they've commented on the difficulty.

Good luck to you,
Pete

I got some JD conicals just to play with. While they seat fine ok in the ASP NMA/Pietta NMA and the ROA, they have not yielded anything remotely accurate.

I will shoot them up and then stick with balls.

At a guess at Horse Pistol range it would make no practical difference, trying to shoot a B Eye in that situation would be impossible. Probably just shoot the other horse and take it from there.

That's a bummer, I've had great luck with conicals. If you're not hunting anything bigger than rabbits, you won't be missing anything. Balls shoot fine as you already know. Still, it's fun to try different things. Maybe post pictures of your bullets and list your load, maybe we can help

Pete453 said:

I've run up to 9 Brinell without trouble. If you can load them without overly straining the loading lever, you're fine

Don't bother with powder coat, if your bullets fit like they should you'll just wipe it off. Pan lubing works great, as does dip lubing base first in melted lube, while holding the bullet in pliers or tweezers. You could even wipe it on with your fingers if you don't mind putting the time in.

For one cylinder it wouldn't matter, but there will be a lot of fouling. I've run lubed wads under bare conicals with a slightly reduced charge, it works fine at the range.

Only reason not to is the base band is oversized for your chambers. You'll play hell getting them centered and straight. If you can size the base and middle driving bands to .001" under the chamber diameter you should be fine. Others have done it but they've commented on the difficulty.

Good luck to you,
Pete

Click to expand...

Simple is usually best.
Powder, Lubed Felt Wad, Ball.
Cap.
Repeat as necessary.