over sized bore on 1861

[doug smith]

picked up a beutiful 1861 navy at the Tulsa gun show this spring. fit and finish are exceptional. from the markings on the frame it was made in 1963 (XIX)only qwerk for her is a .375 round ball does not shave the ring at loading as it should. they still need the rod to seat them, but they will back out toward the muzzle under recoil. thinking i might need .376? any thoughts?

 

[Don]

Some guys use a .380 ball with good results.

Don

 

[Blizzard of '93]

if it was mine I would go to a ball large enuff to shave a good ring off when pressed in. at least a .380. balls are available in .001 increments from the right suppliers. welcome to the Forum and --
be safe Blizzard

 

[Zonie]

Welcome to the forum.

The Dixie Gunworks catalog says the Uberti Colt 1861 should use a .376 diameter roundball.

That said, the larger balls mentioned by the others here should work even better.

After doing a bit of digging I see that Dixie Gunworks offers a .376 diameter lead roundball and Track of the Wolf offers a .380.
http://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/127/1

Although Track also shows a .389 and .399 diameter ball, they are much too large for your gun.

Yes, the mouth of the cylinder will cut them down to size but IMO the pressure needed to load them will overstress your loading lever.

If you have one of those cylinder loading presses which will load cap and ball cylinders the larger balls could be used but I think having to remove the cylinder and then load it only to have to reinstall it is kind of a PITA.

 

[necchi]

As mentioned, the .380 will shave a ring.

Might wanna use a dial caliper on the cyliders before buying lead,,

 

[hawkeye2]

A word of caution or two on using too much of an oversize ball. The 61 navy and the other Colts using a streamlined loading lever use a "rack and pinion" setup in which the teeth on the lever form the pinion and the holes in the barrel form the rack. If you use excessive pressure to load the balls you can wear the teeth and the holes in the barrel. A damaged rammer is easy to fix but damage to the barrel isn't and yes it can happen. If the revolver has a brass grip frame repeated loading of oversize balls with the heel of the grip on the bench will bend the grip frame