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Simple fact.

What ever size ball or bullet you use will be the size the cylinder is after loading. Every time you push one in it will size to the cylinders throat.

If you want the ball or bullet to be the size of the barrels groove you will have to have the cylinder worked on if it is big enough to actually be opened that big
 
This is true nhmoose. My chambers are chamfered and the forcing cone changed to 11 degrees. Loads easy and shoots stout. Been thinking about counter boring the chambers for about.100 to .252 so bullets just drop in for easier straight start and no need to taper base. Still not sure yet. Anyone else done this?
 
rodwa
Once i taper the base they load easy and straight. If i was to use them only i would modify the bullet ram head. Been thinking about paper patching them and using them in my 10" 4 5 cal barrel. That barrel measure .448-.449. My Patriot 45 measures .450-.451 dia.

I thinking heeling common projectiles is a great thing. If I had read about that way back when I likely would have forgone a custom mold.

There’s a fellow on another forum who has shown me how an epoxy made for an excellent ram nose modifier for wide meplat bullets. I figured I’d go that route once I work up the modifications and determine whether or not to make one or two projectiles. For the cost I like the idea of a universal bullet.

I also like the idea of paper patching and trying them through a .45 cal barrel. Been wondering about the .45 cal 285 grn WFN I have a mold for. Figured sending it downrange at 1500 fps sounds awesome!
 
Yeah your talking about Omnivore on the '58 Forum. He does alot of experimenting. The 200 grn LSWC is a good bullet. I have always used LSWC bullets in my 38 Specials. 700 to about 800 fps is good for these bullets. On the 45 cal LSWC i figure 650 to 750 would be good, however i dont have a chrono so it is just a guessing game right now.
 
Yeah your talking about Omnivore on the '58 Forum. He does alot of experimenting. The 200 grn LSWC is a good bullet. I have always used LSWC bullets in my 38 Specials. 700 to about 800 fps is good for these bullets. On the 45 cal LSWC i figure 650 to 750 would be good, however i dont have a chrono so it is just a guessing game right now.

Yep. And I’m glad he’s been doing it and posting about it. I’ve had some good conversations with him.

Why do you feel the lower velocities are good for those bullets?

As one who has hunting in mind I’m wanting closer to 900 fps.
 
I dont know if i can reach 900 fps in my 8" Remingtons. Now in a Ruger Old Army you got deeper chambers and it is a lot stronger. Maybe no problem. The ASM Bealls model has a smaller grip and with my big hands is hard on the ring finger with recoil. If i could find 2 replacement trigger guards i would modify them and maybe not hurt so bad.
 
I dont know if i can reach 900 fps in my 8" Remingtons. Now in a Ruger Old Army you got deeper chambers and it is a lot stronger. Maybe no problem. The ASM Bealls model has a smaller grip and with my big hands is hard on the ring finger with recoil. If i could find 2 replacement trigger guards i would modify them and maybe not hurt so bad.

Finding chronographed results gives just few look sees. It’s hard to say without measuring yourself, and so I’ve given myself a parameter of varying velocities, but looking at what Duelist gets from the ROA he’s lent using a slighter lighter charge and heavier projectile I assume I’m topping that a bit, and so 900 fps shouldn’t be too hard to imagine I guess. He’s getting 881 fps with 3 grns less (assuming we’re on the same page here) of a powder that produces slightly less velocity with a heavier projectile (assuming it’s the 220 grn Lee mold).

I sanded my NMA (and ROA) grips down a bit as I have smaller hands.
 
Excuse my mistake. I have ASP Bealls NMA not ASM NMA revolvers. The grips are smaller.
Your mention of a Beals causes me to wonder if everyone knows what it is.

Beals worked for Remington and he's the guy who came up with the design we call the Remington 1858.

The first of these pistols offered to the military is called the Remington Beals Army model revolver. This was patented in 1858.
It had several things that the Army didn't like. One of these was a lack of safety notches in the cylinder. Another thing that caused some problems is there was very little room between the front of the cylinder and the frame. This caused the gun to tend to lock up because of the buildup of fouling on the front of the cylinder.

Remington fixed these issues along with a couple more and designated it as the Remington 1861New Army which is the revolver many of us call a "1858".

At one time, several Italian companies made copies of these Remington Beals but they stopped making them several years ago.
In the picture below, you can see how close the front of the cylinder is to the frame on the Remington Beals I owned (before it got stolen).
Notice that on the New Army's frame is relieved leaving the rear of the barrel's sharp edge to scrape the fouling off of the front of the cylinder.
The cylinder on my Beals does have safety notches but most of the original guns didn't.
REMINGTON.jpg
 
You are correct Zonie. Here are my 2 ASP Bealls '58's. First one is a 1980 kit gun the second is a 1977 factory finished gun. Both are excellent shooters when my 68 year old eyes focus correctly. LOL
 

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Tom, what are you wanting to do with this bullet? Are you wanting to hunt or just shoot targets. You never said. On hunting the bullet is great. On targets and plinking, roundball is the way to go for less recoil and ease of loading and bullets per pound.
I have been shooting the Ruger Old Army revolver for about 40 years, mostly in competition but I do hunt with it some.
In target shooting I would use 25 grain of 3F, black powder , cast round ball and some type of grease. I also put about 20grn of Cream of Wheat on top of the powder so when I press the ball into the cylinder it would be right at the end of the cylinder for the least amount of jump to the forcing cone.
I have found for hunting, a bullet from a guy , Kaido Ojama, on the internet. He sells cast bullets for different revolvers and weights. He also sells the molds to cast your own. On the ones I shoot in the ROA, it is 240grn cast from him or me, =/- 2 grains. From the base the bullet band is smaller, increasing in size each band going toward the nose of the bullet. They drop right in my ROA cylinder to the first ring and load easily
with the loading lever. I shoot 30 grain of 3F 777 and have shot through deer and pigs with it out to 50 yards and are very accurate.
This bullet has some YouTube tests online where it is being shot through at many at 9 or ten gallon jugs of water with this load.
They are not that expensive if you are wanting the best in hunting accuracy and penetration.
He also sells molds, made by Lee for him in large runs for about $100. I did this. It pays for itself quickly.
Check out this site- https://hoveysknivesofchina.com/201...with-percussion-revolvers-and-ojamaa-bullets/
Here is a YouTube video of about 8 in a series on round ball and conicals in this bullet.


There is an email about half way down in the [email protected]
Send him an email and tell him what you have and if you want to try some, he sells same quantities to try and "Get you Hooked" on them.
Good luck.
Mike
283.jpg
 
Just send Kaido an email and tell him what you have an he will get back to you with the cost and size that should fit your revolver.
Here is the email- [email protected]
I will look in my emails and find the cost if I can.
Found me emails from Kaido, 50 bullets of chosen size for about $32.00 shipped.
He does do a sample pack with different weight or sizes for about the same.


Mike
 
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Does any of you cap and ball shooters know if a .456 bullet will load in a chamber, or a cylinder loader? I would like to experiment with them. don'y know how they will load. I don't know always flux my lead with a product called lead ex I don't know if it's still available. I shot with a group of skirmishers at N . S. S. A for a combined time of 15 years. That's what most shooters were using at that time. Any way I try to get the purest lead I can. I thought some of you guys would know. thanks

I shoot .457 " balls in my Uberti 1860 with no problem using the loading lever.
 
I shoot .457 " balls in my Uberti 1860 with no problem using the loading lever.
Same here and one of them is a 5.5” barreled Uberti. It loads just fine. Cuts a healthy ring, notably thicker than that from the .454 balls but I just can’t see the point in keeping two sizes of pistol balls in stock.
 
anyone ever try a Lee REAL in a revolver???
Ive also been thinking about drilling out a 457 Round Ball mold to make a half conical/half ball type bullet...……..any thoughts??
 
I’ve certainly read of a few people using the .45 cal REAL in a ROA. I’ve also read of a ball mold modification like what you proposed. Don’t forget that you’ll want a base that will easily fit into the chamber.
 
Now as said earlier, Omnivore on the 58 Forum has done quite a bit of experimenting here. Since you cant find ballettes anymore he came up with a way to swage .45 cal and .50 cal round balls to make ballettes and he sent me a couple dozen to try. They look good but have not had a chance to fire them yet. Check out his posts on the process.
 
Here are some pitures of Omnivore's swaged and hollow pointed ballettes made from.490 dia balls sized to fit his 45 cal pistols. Pretty neat huh?
 

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Only one thing about bullets in a BP revolver is they take up powder space. I hunt deer with mine and want more so I stick to a RB. But for target you might be better off. Keep us posted.
 

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