Revolver conicals

[jimairwin]

Hmmmm, the Walker came with a Prichet mold, no? Is Prichet the right term? The cutouts were elongated in so many of the cap n ball pistols it seems. And the military liked paper cartridges. I think I’d have to respectfully disagree.

What I’m a bit curious about is despite the paper cartridges during the war we still read of people preferring a ball for its effectiveness. So I assume they had a mold for balls as well and possibly loaded up with those and used the cartridges for fast reloads if possible. The conicals then were just poor manstoppers it would seem.

The form of ball with more or less flat base and pointed nose was called a "Pickett ball".

Hmmmm, the Walker came with a Prichet mold, no? Is Prichet the right term? The cutouts were elongated in so many of the cap n ball pistols it seems. And the military liked paper cartridges. I think I’d have to respectfully disagree.

What I’m a bit curious about is despite the paper cartridges during the war we still read of people preferring a ball for its effectiveness. So I assume they had a mold for balls as well and possibly loaded up with those and used the cartridges for fast reloads if possible. The conicals then were just poor manstoppers it would seem.

Sorry, I misspelled Picket ball. See Ned Roberts Muzzleloading Caplock Rifle p 91 for pics and discussion.
This is the general form of all bullet moulds I've seen for revolver bullets. Lee made/makes a mould for a conical for revolvers that more resemble heeled pistol pullets. These shoot very well and their increased mass adds punch on critters allbeit at some loss of velocity.

 

[M. De Land]

Another characteristic on original percussion guns designed to shoot balls that I did not mention earlier is the small loading window at the base of the rammer.

 

[nkbj]

Yep, military budgets drove weapons technology development, like now. That 1860's outbreak of mental illness had people scrambling to market new and improved maiming capabilities.
Good example is Colt tweaking their revolvers, the axially increased openings in the frames and the re-engineered loading levers.

Speaking of tweaking, some of the reproductions could be much better hand guns with just a little bit of modification. Especially the .44 guns made on a 1851 sort of pattern. As manufactured the side of the barrel won't let you position an elongated bullet before rotating the cylinder to place the chamber under the loading lever. And then of course the window under the loading lever isn't long enough. Some small changes there and a faster twist could make those revolvers more advantageous for the purchaser and certainly more fun to play with.
I've had one of those Pietta 1851 style "sheriff's" .44 revolvers for many years and pondered whether to modify it. The revamp would have to include a high front blade once I found the loads it liked.

 

[nkbj]

Another revamp I'd like is with the shorty sheriff's model 1861.
The chambers could be increased in diameter to use bullets produced using the commonly available .43 diameter revolver molds. Getting the barrel rebored to have rifling such used in 44-40 revolvers shouldn't be a problem. That skinny little pistol oughta have some bark then!

 

[nkbj]

Well golly, just figger'd out that these maxi's (made to fit Green Mountain barrels) will chamber in the .40 bore 1851.
Something new to tinker with!

 

[Bad Karma]

How much do they weigh?

 

[RG96]

I have heard that round balls were better because they dump more of their energy into the target whereas conicals tended to punch through and keep going. Idk if that’s true though

 

[M. De Land]

Elmer Kieth tells a story in one of his books I have of a civil war calvary trooper escorting a capture confederate officer back to head quarters. On the way back the two encountered a chance feral hog. The trooper snatched up his 60 Colt and gave the hog a quick slap shot behind the ear as he passed and down it went. What the officer didn't know was that it was the troopers last round in the cylinder. The trooper didn't reload but just kept going until he got the prisoner back to custody. He then sat there in the saddle and reloaded after turning the prisoner over, who then commented " had I known that was your last shot sir , you would now be my prisoner but since I saw how you so easily dispatched that running hog on the way over here I decided not to risk it"!
The round ball was found to be an efficient killer of man and horse with a full charge of powder behind it in the 60 Colt. The concicals were about speed of reloading in paper cartridges not power deficiency, in my opinion.

 

[jimhallam]

why not use a Lee Round ball mold and drill out half the ball to make a ballet that has the same length as its diameter? one flat side and one round side, could be loaded as a wad cutter or as a round ball.

I recall a company (from CA?) who made "Ballets". When I was at the Shot Show I spoke with the CEO of the company -- sounded like a 2-man [ OOPS! person ;-) ] outfit who told me that his son had mixed up the punches on their swaging machine --- bottom one from a BULLET and the TOP one from a BALL --- so they marketed them to get rid of the stock.

 

[jimhallam]

The form of ball with more or less flat base and pointed nose was called a "Pickett ball".


Sorry, I misspelled Picket ball. See Ned Roberts Muzzleloading Caplock Rifle p 91 for pics and discussion.
This is the general form of all bullet moulds I've seen for revolver bullets. Lee made/makes a mould for a conical for revolvers that more resemble heeled pistol pullets. These shoot very well and their increased mass adds punch on critters allbeit at some loss of velocity.

Robert Taylor Pritchett developed the smooth-sided, hollow-based bullet which was loaded "paper patched" (part of the paper cartridge) in the early .577 Enfield rifles. The design was also influenced by William Ellis Metford. The bullet had a TRUE hollow base - no "plug" to be driven forward to enhance the expansion of the base, as in the later bullets.
Picket bullets were basically conical projectiles, and without a significant parallel section they were very easy to tip over, leading to loss of accuracy. Sometimes truncatinh them (i.e., the tip cut off) made it slightly easier to seat the bullet concentrically with the bore.

 

[nkbj]

Just some of my bullets.
Bases slip into the chambers, front rings shear on chamber mouths.

 

[M. De Land]

Just some of my bullets.
Bases slip into the chambers, front rings shear on chamber mouths.

Looks like a good design to me and good casting job!