Reloading Lever Damaging Balls

[Smokerr]

These are a couple of the groups out of the 47 Walker at 25 yards

 

[RATKAS]

Ever wonder why so much is made about shaving a lead ring with a ball but no mention of it when shooting conicals ? I would think a conical not seated perfectly straight (**** eyed and they often are) and not shaving lead off would be at least as vulnerable to chain fire as a ball that will always self center.
This is the main reason balls are usually more accurate in my opinion.
Makes me wonder about those who feel chain fire is always from the front end !

Hmmmmm......very interesting!

 

[Felix the Cat]

Have you ever done any chamber reaming,forcing cone cutting , barrel re-crowning or shot lead alloy with some tin in it in a percussion revolver ? None of those cutting operations are left sharp and they will be sharp enough to cut you very easily after machining. The sharp edges are always broke/chamfered enough to remove the fins and ragged steel left from reaming, turning or milling.
Also you won't be able to tell the difference when shaving lead at loading between pure lead at a bit under 5 BHN and an alloy of tin/lead at 8-9 BHN from home cast balls.

... yes, I have machined barrel parts many times thank you for asking! The final condition of the edge I leave will depend on the situation, and in some situations will, I assure you, be left sharp. That said, I would not consider any of these strategies appropriate to cure excess loading pressure and my reply was to this effect.

I would be careful in making precise statements regarding what is and what is not "shaveable" on the basis of hardness. I use Vickers rather than Brinell, and yes, I do have a hardness tester so I probably can tell the difference. My advice was that if loading pressure is excessive, then check the alloy and hardness of the bullet first before changing anything else..

The other advice is to mike the bullet and check you have picked up the right one!

... don't ask how I know this!

 

[M. De Land]

... yes, I have machined barrel parts many times thank you for asking! The final condition of the edge I leave will depend on the situation, and in some situations will, I assure you, be left sharp. That said, I would not consider any of these strategies appropriate to cure excess loading pressure and my reply was to this effect.

I would be careful in making precise statements regarding what is and what is not "shaveable" on the basis of hardness. I use Vickers rather than Brinell, and yes, I do have a hardness tester so I probably can tell the difference. My advice was that if loading pressure is excessive, then check the alloy and hardness of the bullet first before changing anything else..

The other advice is to mike the bullet and check you have picked up the right one!

... don't ask how I know this!

When would you ever professionally leave a machined edge with no dressing,sanding, chamfering of any kind ?
I didn't say you cannot measure the difference in hardness of a lead alloy I said you wouldn't notice the difference in 3 or 4 hardness numbers when shaving lead at loading.

 

[Felix the Cat]

When would you ever professionally leave a machined edge with no dressing,sanding, chamfering of any kind ?

On what basis are you accusing me of unprofessional gunsmithing?

 

[OldSmoky1967]

Hi guys! Quick question from a noob in the sport. I have a Pietta .31 Remington Pocket Revolver. The cylinder chambers measure .314" or 7.975mm. I have made a brass mold to cast my own ammunition. My ammo comes out as .324" or 8.23mm. When I load it a firm pressure is needed and a nice lead ring is shaved off, but the reloading lever makes a round ring indentation on the ball when pressed in. I presume this is because the underside of the reloading lever is hollowed out for a diameter of .31. That means my slightly oversized ball does not snugly fit inside that hollowed out section of the reloading lever and leaves that ring indentation. Something I need to worry about?

No. As a ring is shaved off anyway, the ball is no longer perfectly round but sort of cylindrical. More like a bullet. It won't hurt.

 

[M. De Land]

On what basis are you accusing me of unprofessional gunsmithing?

Disagreement not accusation is in my mind and a simple question, where would you ever leave an undressed (sharp) machined edge if being paid to provide a gunsmithing service ? I can't think of a single place this would happen, certainly not on a chamber ream, forcing cone or muzzle crown job.
Perhaps our understanding of what is meant by the term "shamfer"or chamfer or champfer is the confusion here. I'm talking about removal of left over machine tool marks to creating a smooth and defined edge be it chamber mouth, forcing cone lip or muzzle crown .

 

[Felix the Cat]

I would never leave a machined edge rough unless there was a very good reason to do so.. (and I can't think of one off hand..)

I would not however leave a coned or chamfered edge on the inside of an ML revolver cylinder unless this was a feature of the design. I would leave the inside edge sharp with the front face of the cylinder. It is supposed to shear off the surplus lead from the bullet, not swage it into the cylinder.

The one exception to this is a Webley cylinder which is designed to have the cylinder tapered towards the mouth for use with hollow based bullets, but this is straying way to far off the subject matter for this board!

Muzzle crowns, as distinct from cylinders are of course normally chamfered, even if the crown is flat, although there again I have seen examples of no chamfer being used on the face of a match barrel fitted with a false muzzle. The false muzzle itself was chamfered. I think they made them by soldering the false muzzle on the barrel, drilling and rifling them both together and then separating them..

I suppose the point I was trying to make is that I find there are very few "rules" in this game, particularly when dealing with historic arms. I am never surprised as to what folk have tried in the past (and continue to do so!)

 

[smoothshooter]

Thank for the reply. Yeah I have also heard those levers are not that strong. I don't think the amount of force I have put on it will break it, but I will definitely consider loading with a press outside of the gun. I have melted lead air rifle pellets to use as my ammo. The balls came out perfectly on my first cast, yay.

I would be concerned about loading the cylinder off the gun on Colt-type guns because of the extra wear and tear on the arbor slot and key from taking it apart just to load the gun.

 

[RATKAS]

I would be concerned about loading the cylinder off the gun on Colt-type guns because of the extra wear and tear on the arbor slot and key from taking it apart just to load the gun.

Hi Smoothshooter. I don't have a Colt type gun. I have a Remington Pocket Revolver. Cheers mate.

 

[smoothshooter]

Hi guys! Quick question from a noob in the sport. I have a Pietta .31 Remington Pocket Revolver. The cylinder chambers measure .314" or 7.975mm. I have made a brass mold to cast my own ammunition. My ammo comes out as .324" or 8.23mm. When I load it a firm pressure is needed and a nice lead ring is shaved off, but the reloading lever makes a round ring indentation on the ball when pressed in. I presume this is because the underside of the reloading lever is hollowed out for a diameter of .31. That means my slightly oversized ball does not snugly fit inside that hollowed out section of the reloading lever and leaves that ring indentation. Something I need to worry about?

Ream out the cylinder mouths a little?

No. Fill the hollow part of the rammer with metal set epoxy.

 

[Smokerr]

Pretty basic. Take down the Load system, look at the end of the rammer.

Take the correct size ball for the gun (any one of the right ones will do) and see how it fits.

Like I said earlier, my Pietta had a cross thingy where it should be perfectly round.

So taking my grinding attachment for my die grinder, I ground away that cross hatch cross checking with a lead ball as I went. Had to cut the Ram off a bit as well.

When said and done it was a nice fit like the 47 Walker, the Old ASP or the ROAs

I also checked it against a conical to ensure that fit right as well though I have given up on Concials as not accurate.

 

[SwampBilly]

Hi guys! Quick question from a noob in the sport. I have a Pietta .31 Remington Pocket Revolver. The cylinder chambers measure .314" or 7.975mm. I have made a brass mold to cast my own ammunition. My ammo comes out as .324" or 8.23mm. When I load it a firm pressure is needed and a nice lead ring is shaved off, but the reloading lever makes a round ring indentation on the ball when pressed in. I presume this is because the underside of the reloading lever is hollowed out for a diameter of .31. That means my slightly oversized ball does not snugly fit inside that hollowed out section of the reloading lever and leaves that ring indentation. Something I need to worry about?

I have the same gun and I would not worry about it. I got round ball from track of the Wolf and I believe it is 323 or 324.

I do not use the loading lever on mine and I do not have a stand but what I do is put the cylinder on the kitchen counter and I take a 1 lb lead ingot and I hammer the ball in with that and finish it with a short piece of wooden dowel.

I don't trust that loading lever screw to hold up to the force.

 

[RATKAS]

I have the same gun and I would not worry about it. I got round ball from track of the Wolf and I believe it is 323 or 324.

I do not use the loading lever on mine and I do not have a stand but what I do is put the cylinder on the kitchen counter and I take a 1 lb lead ingot and I hammer the ball in with that and finish it with a short piece of wooden dowel.

I don't trust that loading lever screw to hold up to the force.

Yes I agree. I don't trust that reloading lever as well. Heard many stories of that thing breaking.