conicals in a revolver, bleachhhhh!

[token tory]

Yeah I know, I was warned. :blah:

I just had to try it for myself anyway & they are horrible.

Groups opened up to 6~8" at 15 yards, but dropped back to normal as soon as I went back to cast round balls. You could actually see the bullet tip & twist as you rammed the load home, it was scary. I'm soooo glad I only bought 12 of them:rotf:

 

[Blizzard of '93]

what brand slug were you loading and what revolver?
I've had good luck with the Lee mold conicals in my '58's and ROA.

 

[Zonie]

When I bought a used brass mold for my .36 caliber guns I also just had to try it.

This mold was the typical brass mold that is a recreation of the original Colt style molds that cast either a round ball or a heeled bullet. These are often seen in cased pistol sets.

I cast the bullets out of pure, soft lead and although they did load in my 1851, because of the extra lead that needed to be sheared off when they were ramed home they did put a healthy load on the loading lever. Much harder to ram than a roundball.

Although I didn't have a cocking problem with the bullets they didn't group anywhere near as good as a plain old roundball out of my pistol.

As could be expected with the heavier bullet, the recoil was greater too. About like a wadcutter target load in a .38 Spcl.
Lymans BLACK POWDER HANDBOOK & LOADING MANUAL lists several .36 cal revolver loads for a roundball and a 124 grain Buffalo conical bullet.
With a load of 20 grains of GOEX 3Fg the roundball had a muzzle velocity of 794 fps and a 25 yard energy of 98 ft/lbs while the 124 grain bullet had a muzzle velocity of 695 fps and a 25 yard energy of 121 ft/lb showing what we all know. The bullet carries its velocity better than the roundball but even so, darn near 100 ft/lbs of energy at 25 yards isn't something to be sneezed at.

 

[token tory]

I don't know the exact brand as I bought them made from a local shop. They were a conical front with a heeled rear end. The pistol used was a Uberti-made Cimarron copy of the '58 Remington in .44.

I was trying a suggestion from a nother BP forum where they suggested lubed conicals, but the test was an utter failure so I'm going back to the old round ball as that works for me.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

I've read that numerous Civil War veterans claimed the round ball was a better man stopper than the pointed conical, even comparing the .36 ball to the .44 conical.
The only accuracy I've ever gotten with conicals was a very short full wadcutter .45 caliber bullet cast from a mold Lee no longer produces. IIRC it was 172 grains and length was not much more than the diameter. From a .44 Remington replica I shot some honest five shot groups of one inch at 25 yards. I stupidly traded off both the gun and the mold.