shooting .44 cal balls from .45 cal rifle

[BlackPowderKeg]

Got whole bunch of .451 Hornady balls at Midway last year when they had clearance for my Army replica. Now this year I wanted to shoot my .45 cal TC but I have only one box of .445 balls and 60 boxes of .451 so I decided to compare them side by side to see if I can substitute one with another.

I was shooting 90 grains FFF, patched .445 as for .451 shot it non patched with rich layer of cornmeal between powder and a ball

To my surprise accuracy at 50 and 75 yards was absolutely identical

Anybody got any experience shooting non patched .451 from .45 cal rifles?

 

[longcruise]

No experience but I'd suggest a thorough lead removal regimen after shooting. You could get a mold and melt the 451 balls or just get on the classifieds with a swap offer.

 

[J.D.]

Some folks shoot patched, bore size balls. Might have to start 'em with a mallet, but they seem to go down easy enough, after getting swaged into the bore. IMHO, you might take Longcruise' advice to remove any lead in the bore from those bare balls, before continuing to shoot either of those balls in that barrel.

 

[SDSmlf]

Got whole bunch of .451 Hornady balls at Midway last year when they had clearance for my Army replica. Now this year I wanted to shoot my .45 cal TC but I have only one box of .445 balls and 60 boxes of .451 so I decided to compare them side by side to see if I can substitute one with another.

I was shooting 90 grains FFF, patched .445 as for .451 shot it non patched with rich layer of cornmeal between powder and a ball

To my surprise accuracy at 50 and 75 yards was absolutely identical

Anybody got any experience shooting non patched .451 from .45 cal rifles?

With 6000 (60 boxes) of .451” roundballs you should be set for a while…..

If the slightly oversized balls go down the bore easy enough, why not? As long as they stay on the powder charge when you move the gun, you should be ok. Folks shoot conicals all the time, though they usually carry some lube. I would imagine that without some kind of lubricant or cleaning between shots you are going to have an issue taking multiple shots on an outing, but maybe I am overthinking things?

 

[Frontstuffer070]

I would think the .001" rule applies here as well. You want .001" over groove diameter for lead bullets. As long as the lead is the right size leading shouldn't be a problem. When you have under size bullets or pushing them too hard is where leading comes in to play. I would also get some lube in the equation as well. Maybe lubed felt wad over the powder just like in a cap and ball revolver. And I would still roll that ball in some lube before loading it.

 

[BlackPowderKeg]

No experience but I'd suggest a thorough lead removal regimen after shooting. You could get a mold and melt the 451 balls or just get on the classifieds with a swap offer.

had no led buildup after 3 days of shooting
was putting bore butter directly on the ball

 

[The Crisco Kid]

I killed a javalina with a bare .451 ball after I flat missed the darn thing with a patched .440. I carried a couple of .451's in my pocket for a quick follow up shot.

 

[BlackPowderKeg]

took it to 100yds today

 

[Howard Pippin]

Got whole bunch of .451 Hornady balls at Midway last year when they had clearance for my Army replica. Now this year I wanted to shoot my .45 cal TC but I have only one box of .445 balls and 60 boxes of .451 so I decided to compare them side by side to see if I can substitute one with another.

I was shooting 90 grains FFF, patched .445 as for .451 shot it non patched with rich layer of cornmeal between powder and a ball

To my surprise accuracy at 50 and 75 yards was absolutely identical

Anybody got any experience shooting non patched .451 from .45 cal rifles?

Got whole bunch of .451 Hornady balls at Midway last year when they had clearance for my Army replica. Now this year I wanted to shoot my .45 cal TC but I have only one box of .445 balls and 60 boxes of .451 so I decided to compare them side by side to see if I can substitute one with another.

I was shooting 90 grains FFF, patched .445 as for .451 shot it non patched with rich layer of cornmeal between powder and a ball

To my surprise accuracy at 50 and 75 yards was absolutely identical

Anybody got any experience shooting non patched .451 from .45 cal rifles?

I have two molds from Italy that are marked .44. Both of them cast balls that measure 451. I use them for a 45 caliber CVA and they worked adequately. One of the molds came with the rifle, the other came with a pistol that belonged to a friend that was a 45 caliber. Both molds were short handled brass and I like them well enough, all I had to do was put on a handle extension so that I could use them for extended periods of time. They actually seem to load about the same as my 50 caliber muzzle loaders that I use .495 balls in. The 45 caliber is 1 in 60 and will outshoot my 50s that are all 1 by 48.

squint

 

[flconch53]

Maybe trade some even up. That way you wouldn't be anymore out of pocket. In my 50 cal green mountain barrel I shot .501 so it is doable.

 

[hanshi]

Never tried it but sounds worth considering.

 

[rafterob]

I would bet you could get a thin patch on that ball to aid in lubricating. Think Muslin, cotton sheet thin.

 

[mike54]

i shoot .451 balls out of my 45cal smr with a .023 pillow ticking patch. once its started it loads like any other and it shoots sub 1" 5 shot groups at 50yds. its all i shoot. years ago i shot .403 balls in my 40cal. all green mtn barrels.

 

[Notchy Bob]

In The Kentucky Rifle, Captain Dillin wrote at some length on this. He stated that old-timers often carried two sizes of balls, one slightly under bore (land to land) diameter for shooting with a patch, and one a bit larger, just big enough to engage the grooves when shot bare. How they kept the balls sorted, separated, and accessible is anybody's guess. Anyway, Dillin's hypothesis was that the rifle would be carried loaded with a patched round ball. If a quick reload was required after that first shot, the slightly larger ball would be loaded bare, exactly as described by @The Crisco Kid in post #7. I have not tried it, but evidently a bare ball just over bore diameter is easy to ram but stays where you put it, and is accurate enough for general purposes. James R. Mead, an old-time Kansas market hunter and Indian trader, also reported shooting bare balls when needed, while buffalo hunting. I think these were the same balls he was shooting with patches, though, and not oversized. Mead was not "running" the buffalo, but was shooting from a fixed position at reasonably close range, if I remember correctly. I don't remember if he was just reloading quickly, or if he simply ran out of patch material.

An article in a back issue of Muzzle Blasts (late fifties or early sixties) about Don Coble, a noted roundball benchrest shooter of the time, indicated that he preferred balls about .001" over bore size, and of course he shot them patched.

So there is some precedent for shooting slightly oversized balls, and for loading them bare for fast reloads. However, I'm not aware of people using these for repeated shooting. Again, I have not tried this myself, but I would think a well-lubricated felt wad between the powder and the bare ball might help keep fouling soft.

If it were me, though, and I fell into a lot of 6,000 oversized balls, I think I would consider recasting at least some of them.

Thanks for reporting on this interesting experiment!

Notchy Bob