Revolver lead ball

[Adkarcher]

Ignorant question, but never had a blackpowder revolver before. I was in one of the box stores recently looking at the BP stuff and they had a box of revolver balls. If/what is the difference between those and lead balls you would use in a long rifle?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Phil Coffins]

Size. A 36 caliber rifle or single shot pistol uses a .350” ball to allow for the patch but a 36 caliber revolver uses a .375” ball and is press fit into the cylinder.

 

[Adkarcher]

Gotcha, larger diameter with no patch...thanks.

 

[Zonie]

As Phil said, there really isn't any difference between a ball made for rifles and for revolvers except for the size.

The caliber of a muzzle loading gun is defined by the bore size so a rifle or a single shot pistol which shoots a patched ball will use a ball that is smaller than the bore. Typically, a .45 caliber rifle will use a .440 diameter ball with a .015 thick patch.

A cap and ball revolver does not use a patch on the ball so the ball needs to be larger than the bore so it can engage the rifling grooves in the barrel. Because of this, the chambers in the cylinder are larger than the bore size.

In order to seal the chambers tightly and to keep the balls from moving forward when the gun recoils, the ball, before loading must be larger than the chamber diameter. That's why the ball for a .36 caliber revolver will be somewhere around .375 diameter.

 

[Rat]

I have an old, original rifle that is somewhere around .40", shoots my Remington Navy .375" balls real well. So in that case, there's no difference. !!!

 

[Patrick Thomas]

As Phil said, there really isn't any difference between a ball made for rifles and for revolvers except for the size.

The caliber of a muzzle loading gun is defined by the bore size so a rifle or a single shot pistol which shoots a patched ball will use a ball that is smaller than the bore. Typically, a .45 caliber rifle will use a .440 diameter ball with a .015 thick patch.

A cap and ball revolver does not use a patch on the ball so the ball needs to be larger than the bore so it can engage the rifling grooves in the barrel. Because of this, the chambers in the cylinder are larger than the bore size.

In order to seal the chambers tightly and to keep the balls from moving forward when the gun recoils, the ball, before loading must be larger than the chamber diameter. That's why the ball for a .36 caliber revolver will be somewhere around .375 diameter.

So, I was recently gifted an old (reproduction) 1851 Navy in .36 caliber. It’s in great shape and I want to start shooting it. .375 ball, #10 cap? How much powder? What do you use to seal the chamber? Load one, skip one, load the rest, cock and lower on empty chamber?

 

[rodwha]

So, I was recently gifted an old (reproduction) 1851 Navy in .36 caliber. It’s in great shape and I want to start shooting it. .375 ball, #10 cap? How much powder? What do you use to seal the chamber? Load one, skip one, load the rest, cock and lower on empty chamber?

Some require a .380” ball, and many claim better accuracy by using a larger ball. It would certainly make the shaved edge (driving band) longer giving more to grip the riflings and maybe more lead for obturating.

The dimensions I was given for the Uberti Pocket Police was that it has .372” chambers. A .375” ball wouldn’t give much of a driving band. And the groove diameter was .376”. That doesn’t sound like the tiny driving band has much lead to fill those grooves as a .380” ball would. This is seen more drastically in the Pietta Remington .31 which has grossly undersized chambers.

I load all 6 and use the safety IF it’s reliable. I had to work on the hammer nose on my Pietta NMA to get a more secure fit.

You may want to use lubed felt wads under the ball.

A .36 cal Navy tends to hold around 30 grns of 3F as a max/near max charge. I’m not sure what the minimum amount would be, but a filler (or additional wad) can be used.

Rem #10’s work well on my Pietta NMA, my ROA, and my Lyman rifle. I had issues with their #11 as well as CCI’s #11.

 

[bore_butter]

I often wondered if anyone has taken that .375 round ball and used a ball starter and put it down the barrel of a .36 cal Seneca or the like and shot it like an unpatched conical. seems to me that it would work ok.

 

[nhmoose]

Bet it would lead the barrel heavily after a few shots.

 

[flntlokr]

So, I was recently gifted an old (reproduction) 1851 Navy in .36 caliber. It’s in great shape and I want to start shooting it. .375 ball, #10 cap? How much powder? What do you use to seal the chamber? Load one, skip one, load the rest, cock and lower on empty chamber?

The pistol will handle all the powder you can get in there and still put a ball on top. Usually a more accurate load will require somewhat less powder. If you go to a lighter load, fill the extra space with an inert filler like Cream of Wheat or corn meal under the ball. (You don't want the ball to get going too fast before it jams into the cone of the barrel). I usually used a bit of Crisco over every second chamber, to help keep the fouling soft, and reduce leading (although I never had any problem with leading) If you load more than one cylinder at a time; cap them all! (the flash can set off a chain fire) I had a Ruger, which had safety notches between cylinders in which to rest the hammer while holstered, (if for some reason you are walking around with a loaded pistol) otherwise put the hammer down on an empty cylinder as you said.

 

[Kansas Jake]

If I’m at the range I load all six. If I’m going to be carrying I load five and rest the hammer on an empty chamber.

 

[SDSmlf]

I often wondered if anyone has taken that .375 round ball and used a ball starter and put it down the barrel of a .36 cal Seneca or the like and shot it like an unpatched conical. seems to me that it would work ok.

Would likely break the stock through the wrist unless gun was very well supported.

 

[ugly old guy]

So, I was recently gifted an old (reproduction) 1851 Navy in .36 caliber. It’s in great shape and I want to start shooting it. .375 ball, #10 cap? How much powder? What do you use to seal the chamber? Load one, skip one, load the rest, cock and lower on empty chamber?

.380 ball. If I'm remembering correctly, my .36 (reproduction) "Colt Navy" cap and ball revolver enjoyed 25 grains FFg and Fg (I never had any FFFg to play with. The CW Artillary group I was with supplied all our powder.) No wad between the ball and powder.
Because you're shaving a ring off the round ball when loading it, you really don't need to "seal" the chamber mouth. The ball itself seals it.
However, I've always used (uncooked) Cream of Wheat or Malt-O-Meal compressed over the ball.
1) It can't burn.

2) It does seem to help remove any powder fouling from previous shots.

3) It is softer than the barrel, so does not damage the rifling.

4) If you shoot blanks (no lead ball) while participating in reeinactments, it makes for a lovely non-penetrating frangible "bullet" (note quotes) that is safe to shoot during a skirmish or battle in the direction of the "enemy", even if y'all is only 5 to 10 yards apart.

 

[Patrick Thomas]

Good stuff gentlemen. Thank you.

 

[Eras Gone]

You can load as much as it will hold under the ball and it will not hurt the revovler. However the US Army load was 17 grains and a 126 grain conical bullet. For a round ball you might go up to 20 grains. Your accuracy will begin to suffer with heavier powder charges and much of it wont burn before leaving the barrel thus it wont add much too muzzle velocities. Safe shooting!

 

[rrebuck]

I just picked up a 36 caliber Uberti revolver and with mine you can set the hammer forward 1/2 way between chambers as a safety.