propper ball size?

[Pinkerton]

I have two 1851 navy's both in .36 cal.
One is a Navy Arms, the other is a Westerners Arms.
I use .375 round ball for both.
With the Navy Arms pistol, the balls fit snug to tight in the cylinders.
In the Westerners pistol, the same size balls are barely snug.
I have tried to load .380 in this pistol, but they seem really hard to get started.
These balls are home casted balls by a freind of mine, and I have measured them to affirm that they are .380
You have to use extreme preasure to even attempt to load these, so I don't use .380.
I used a vernier caliper to measure the cylinders and there is a difference between the 2.
Navy Arms cylinder is .371
Westerners Arms cylinder is .376
Should I try .380 factory lead balls in the .376 cylinder?
How tight is a ball supposed to be?

 

[Don]

The ball should leave a thin ring of lead behind after it is loaded. Dixie Gunworks now sells a .376 size ball for ..36 cal revolvers. I would definitly try the .380 balls in the revolver that measured .376.

Don

 

[Pinkerton]

Thanks for the reply.
I will have to make a run out to local supply shop and bring the cylinder in question, and try .380 factory balls.
The home casted ones are "fuzzy" grey from age, and that may be the problem.
I can remove a nipple, so a punch can knock out the seated ball after.
I am finding that even one gun makers "run" of gun making, can vary between each gun being made.
I guess these were the ones made before CNC machining.
One pistol uses #10, and the other uses #11 caps.
Now that trial and error fact finding was another story by it self.
Both people that I bought these pistol from ,
had no idea either.
I found that I stuck to one brand after trying them all, and then turned down the nipples slightly to custom fit them.
It's a good thing that I love the Cap-n-balls, as I have to keep track of two different caps in two different cappers, and now possibly two sizes of balls to work with.
I use both of these pistols in CAS.

 

[Rebel]

Are you sure the balls he cast are Pure lead and no additives? If they are Pure lead they should load without excessive forcing of the loading lever.

 

[Pinkerton]

No I am not sure if they are pure lead, and if not, that would explain why it is hard to load the home casted balls that are only around 4 thousands larger than the cylinder.
I would tend to think that soft pure lead
would go properly.
That maybe the answer to my problem.
because the factory .375 balls fit great in the cylinder that is .371

 

[Pinkerton]

I took one of the home casted balls that a friend
gave me that measured .380, and put it on the bench anvil, and gave it some soft hits' then some harder ones with a hammer.
They are definitly not pure lead.
Thanks for the tip, on checking to make sure they were pure lead or not.
Guess next Sat I am back to BP store to get 4 more box's of balls in .380

 

[Rebel]

Glad you got it figured out.

 

[Pinkerton]

An update to the trip to my local BP supply store.
He does not have .380, and is not aware of any that are made.
He suggested .395, and it would go no problem.
.395 is a long ways from the .376 cylinder bore I have.
So I am off to another place that is bulk powder and bullet dealer that is also a LEE dealer,
so I can get a double cavity .380 ball mould,
so I can cast my own.
This I am sure will resolve the issue. :thumbsup:

 

[Smokin6Gun]

Yup you can get a Lee mold... they sell a two cavity .380" dia RB 82gr mold. That's what I use for use for my Uberti 1851 Navy. About $18 -$20 ...

 

[Pinkerton]

yup, picked up my .380 RB mold, and a bar of pure lead from another source today, and will get started tomorrow night after that crap work thing ,
and get going on getting some balls casted.

 

[WRussell]

Hey, Pinkerton, (sorry, don't mean to sidetrack the thread -) with a name like that, do you happen to know if the Pinkertons used Tranter C&B revolvers at any point?

 

[gooddw]

If you can find 0000 buckshot, it is .380 and you can buy it by the pound. It comes to around 2-3 dollars per hundred.

 

[Pinkerton]

I casted up a wack of .380 balls with pure lead, and that did the trick.
They fit great.

I did try to get 0000 buck, but my guy only carry's 000 buck.
But with a "LEE" production pot, you can crank out a pile of balls in a short period of time.

As for the Pinkertons and what guns they used, not sure, but with the research I did,
Bill (William) Pinkerton favored carring 2 1851 Navy's in both .36 cal loaded at near max.
I think it was the near 5" barrel version,
:thumbsup: and not the 7 + I use.