• Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.

    We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.

    Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103

1860 Colt Army 44cal questions

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Miss Kitty

32 Cal.
Joined
Apr 27, 2010
Messages
16
Reaction score
0
Mornin Guys

I have ben shooting round ball in my 1860 Colt Army 44cal with no issues using wonder wads. Now I would like to try conicals. I plan on casting my own. I chose a Lee .450 200gr double cavity mold. It has two lube rings. First,Did I get the correct mold? And second. Will I need to change my powder charge? I have ben using 22gr of FFFg
for all my round ball shootin with a .451 ball.

Thanks guys
 
Sounds like you got the right mold. You needn't change your powder load, I shoot conicals on top of 25 grains of Pyrodex P and get good accuracy and managable recoil. Good luck.

Don
 
Thanks Don

This will be my first time casting my own. I also ordered a Lee production pot and a mold for my CS Richmond Musket in .58 cal. The mold I got for the Musket is the same type used in the Civil War the old stile in .575 500gr.

Janet
 
Just make sure you are using pure lead when casting the conicals....wheel weight lead aint so soft and the 60's loading lever may not be up to it.......
 
I'm sure you'll enjoy "sperimintin" with the conicals but balls are generally more accurate. During Mr. Lincoln's war the federals were issued paper catriges with conical bullets while Confederates generally had to make do with loose powder and ball.
An interesting fact is that several veterans claimed the round ball over a chamber full of powder as used by Confederates was a better man stopper than the conicals issued to the Federals. But maybe the Blue Bellies were just easier to stop because they knew they were in the wrong. :haha:
 
You didn't say which company made your 1860 Colt and it may make a difference.

If it was made by Uberti it will have the Uberti trademark on the frame. This consists of the image of a rifled barrel with a capital U in the middle.

If the gun was made by Uberti it should have .450 diameter chambers (according to Dixie's catalog) and the .450 diameter bullets your mold will cast will be a light push fit into the chamber mouth.
Perhaps too light because although they should seal the chambers if some grease is applied to the grease grooves the loaded bullets may "jump" forward due to recoil when the gun is fired.
If that happens it will lock the cylinder and prevent the gun from operating properly.

If the gun was made by Pietta, Dixie's catalog says it will have .446 diameter chambers.
These should work with your .450 diameter bullets but they may be difficult to ram with the guns loading lever.

As to the type of bullet from the mold your buying, I can't say if your bullets will duplicate the originals or not.

The original bullets were called "heeled" because the lower area below the bottom grease groove was slightly smaller than the main body.
This undersize area pilots in the chambers and aligns the bullet so that it will not be canted and will shear off lead from all sides when it is loaded.

As for loading pressure, any bullet will take much more force to load than a round ball, even if it is made from the purest lead.
The 1860 Colt reproductions barrels are left soft or unhardened in the area where the holes that the teeth of the loading lever engages it.

We have had more than one person on the forum say that the barrel holes were damaged by the loading lever teeth when they were loading balls that were much larger than the chambers mouth and loading bullets would take even more pressure.

If your determined to shoot bullets in your Colt that's fine but I thought you should be aware of the damage that may be caused from their use.
 
My Pietta 1860 Army (made in 1982) has 0.444" diameter chambers. DGW's numbers may be for the more recent guns.

In case her gun isn't by Uberti or Pietta:

My Euroarms 1860 Army (made in 1997) has 0.448" diameter chambers.

I have two FAUL 1960 New Model Army revolvers; both have 0.444" diameter chambers.
 
Thanks mykeal

It's just my opinion but if the diameters of the chambers on Miss Kitty's guns are as small as your .444 that would make loading bullets even harder on the barrels holes by the loading lever.
 
Im sorry guys, I should have stated what make it was in my first post. Its a Pietta 1860 Army and came from Cabelas.
 
The Lee bullets may end up measuring .451. If those prove to be too tight then a loading press may help to load them, or they can be resized to fit better by using a [Lee] sizing die.
 
CoyoteJoe said:
I'm sure you'll enjoy "sperimintin" with the conicals but balls are generally more accurate. During Mr. Lincoln's war the federals were issued paper catriges with conical bullets while Confederates generally had to make do with loose powder and ball.
An interesting fact is that several veterans claimed the round ball over a chamber full of powder as used by Confederates was a better man stopper than the conicals issued to the Federals. But maybe the Blue Bellies were just easier to stop because they knew they were in the wrong. :haha:

Well, Are you gonna PULL those pistols or WHISTLE DIXIE?? said Clint! :rotf: :haha: One Blue Belly laughing my gut til it's sore!

And to Janet: Good luck with the expirimintin'!

All the best!

Dave
Wearer of Two Dragoons...Why? Cause I only have two hands, silly! :haha: :shocked2: :)
 
You may also want to get a Lee double cavity .454 round ball mold for your 1860. Check out F&M Reloading for the best prices: http://www.fmreloading.com/ . Casting can be a lot of fun. Enjoy :thumbsup:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks guys for all the help. Pietta dose recommend using the .454 round ball. I will pick one up and just have another option. Uses less lead as well. I wont be shooting this weekend as its grape harvest time. We make wine and that comes first. I will tell yall how all this works out after I make a few and shoot them.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top