ball depth

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

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

t.l.a.r. eng

40 Cal.
Joined
Dec 18, 2009
Messages
131
Reaction score
1
I'm new to cap and ball and am wondering how the depth of the ball in the cylinder affects accuracy.
I am shooting an 1858 Remmington target [pietta] 27 grains Goex, .451 balls and no wads or fillers. accuracy is fair, but it could be better.

At 27 grains the ball goes quite deep in the cylinder. When the .451's are gone, will use the .454's
Should I be using wads to space the ball closer to the forcing cone?
 
I've never noticed that it made a difference in accuracy. If you are worried about it and don't wish to shoot a hotter load you can always add in some corn meal prior to seating the ball to make it flush with the cylinder. You'll just have to fool with the amount needed for your cylinder size so as to not over fill it and make sure there are no gaps between the ball and powder.
 
You won't gain anything going to the .454 ball except making it harder to load. Pietta chambers are .445 so once it's in it's .445 no nmatter what it started out as. With pure lead balls it should bump up to bore diameter when fired. Check your forcing cone. Occassionaly Pietta forgets that little detail or only gives it a hit and a miss.
 
Accuracy is most often better when the ball is closer to the barrel. Up your powder charge until there is minimal clearance, or try a filler over the powder. Some revolvers also have undersized chambers which size the ball down too small for the bore. This used to be very common in repros.
 
I guess more shooting with different loads is required, not that I mind that, this thing is addictive.
It is also highly possible that it is the shooter and not the revolver causing the larger groups.
 
My problem often is the jerk behind the trigger :wink: . However, when I do shoot my New Model Army for score, I use 20 grains of 3F, Cream of Wheat filler (I have a separate flask & spout for that), & a wad. I also carefully seat the ball to level with the cylinder mouth. It does make a difference, but takes a while. When shooting at iron or just for fun, I just load w/o all that effort.

And as previously stated, often the repros have the cylinders the same diameter, sometimes smaller, than the bore. I've miked most of my revolvers, & only 2 were really correct. Only remedy is to ream out the cylinder mouth just a bit, but reamers are expensive & my abilities to hold don't make it worth while.
 
My Walker digests a lot of powder. I use over powder wads to make up the difference -- easier for my fat fingers to work with than meal.
 
I have that same pistol and that is about the same load I use. I can't say it improves accuracy but it just seems to "shoot" better with a filler. I use corn meal. Also, a .454 ball is better in this pistol, the .451 does not seem to shave a complete ring of lead and the .454 does. Now I must say this pistol is accurate, I have shot a few bullseyes. But I have shot alot more all over the target :surrender: I think it has something to do with the jerk behind the trigger (as mentined above).
 
I have noticed that the .451 ball won't shave off a complete ring of lead all the time. Going to try the .454 size for a while.
I have been using 27 grains Goex black and noticed the Cabela's manual that came with the gun calls for 35 grains black and the .451 ball while Pietta calls for .454 ball and 12-15 grains black? Huh. I'm not sure the loading lever is long enough for 12 grains alone.
I have found the revolver starts to bind up after 3 cylinders of shooting. It can be cleared up by wiping the face of the cylinder off and a couple of drops of RemOil at the face of the cylinder where the pin goes through. Shot 24 rounds through it the other day with out having to stop.
These things sure are addicting.
 


Write your reply...

Latest posts

Back
Top