Where to find real 32 Caliber soft lead Ball for the tiny BP Revolvers

[Larry-in-Eastbay]

So where do I find the 32 caliber balls for the Uberti and/or Pietta 32 caliber cute little revolvers.
Spent parts of several different days reading internet including searching this forum, .... where the answers are
-Use Hornady 0.315" Lead Ball
-Use 00 Buckshot.

Internet Experts that have a cushy government jobs,.... so they have time read the internet all day and become such a thing...... retype what they read stating 0.319 to 0.324" Diameter is what you need-at least for the uberti baby.
Hornady seems to be the only mass producer of lead balls these days (remember-lead is evil-get use to using airsoft balls in your M/L!), .... and only in 0.310 & 0.315".... nothing larger except too large.
Also found on internet there is this Black Powder ballistic table that says using the undersized 0.315" ball can loose not only accuracy but 45% of muzzle energy (poor gas seal) so at least one real person went outside his house and did some real shooting to come up with this to share his real experiences-you do not see this often these days!
Do to advanced age I cannot say from personal experience that using 0.315" ball is much less accurate than if I used a real 32 caliber ball...... as it could be my shaky hand and blurry eyes. I do much better with the Navy though.
I cannot even find the too hard Single 0 Buckshot except loaded.
Some of Internet says to use 00 Buckshot-but then other parts of internet says its too large and too hard and combined you will surely break your dainty loading lever and poke your eye out!-and I read two internet stories of such-surely they were not made up as one poster showed pictures-so it must be true and not the result of some other misuse nor staged. I could always use an external press but using the correct ball size and hardness doing the actual revolver loading lever ritual I find a much more appealing experience when at the range.
Alternatively I could melt and pour my own but I have not started/setup for this, .... so it would be another setup and cost and to occasionally shoot the 32 revolvers-driving cost up to many dollars per round.....might as well shoot my 50 BMG at this price. Also as you get old you downsize, instead of expanding.

So, to get to the point with my questions instead of .... rambling on, and nows the time, the time is now, to sing my song........
Does anyone have a source for the real 32 caliber soft lead ball?
Is there such a thing as "soft" buckshot?
If so where would I find such in Single 0 or 00?

Thank you in advance for your time to read this and your kindly helpful response.
larry

 

[rusticbob]

There goes five minuets I will never get back!

 

[jdw276]

Call eddie may in chatsworth georgia......

 

[nkbj]

Know what diameter is really needed?

I've seen a .31 replica revolver with .310" chambers and .320" groove diameter and another with .32 chambers. Don't know what's considered normal these days for modern manufacturing.

 

[Dusty_Traveler]

The pietta 1863 pocket I had pin gauged .316 in the chambers and .301 in the bore. I never shot it, didn't feel good in the hand, but was going to use .319 ball....Lee makes a .319 mould that would have worked well....

But since a mold doesn't sound like something you want to do, give track of the wolf a look, they have lots of odd sized ball for sale... their item number is

BALL-320-X

 

[AlexB]

I find .33 to be the best for the Uberti 1849.
I cast 00 buck from a lee mold for roundballs and use the eras gone conical for conicals which is my preferred round on 15 grains of pyrodex or t7.
The most frustrating and hardest pistol to get running reliably in my collection.
Doubled mainsprings and slixshots with cci#11 magnums or printed caps is what works on mine.

 

[Grenadier1758]

@Larry-in-Eastbay, before you go chasing off after soft lead round balls, measure the diameter of the cylinder at the chamber mouth and the diameter about 3/8" from the chamber mouth. You will need a ball that is 0.006" to 0.010" larger than the smaller of the two measurements. The round ball has to be over sized at the chamber mouth to seal the cylinder and hold the ball in place.

The 0.310" are generally used with a patch in 32 caliber rifles.

Graf's in Mexico Missouri has Hornady 0.310" and 0.315" balls.

Stonewall Creek has 0.310" and 0.319" hand cast balls
https://stonewallcreekoutfitters.com/shooting-supplies/bullets-balls-and-slugs/

And of course, Track of the Wolf with a large selection of swaged and cast round ball.
https://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/127/1

Remember to measure your revolver first before you place an order.

 

[ZUG]

First you need to measure the I.D. of each cylinder chambers then add 0.005" - 0.007" to the average diameter measured and look on Track of the Wolf for the closest diameter lead cast ball that they sell and give them a try. My two cents worth. These small caliber revolvers are not target guns by any means. They are 10 foot tin can shooters at best.

 

[TNGhost]

Graf and sons also has #0 buck 10# for $27 in stock as of this posting, should last a lifetime

https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/product/productId/77083

 

[Grenadier1758]

The #0 buckshot is about 0.320" in diameter and has antimony that makes it a bit harder than the more desirable soft lead.

 

[Whitworth]

So where do I find the 32 caliber balls for the Uberti and/or Pietta 32 caliber cute little revolvers.
Spent parts of several different days reading internet including searching this forum, .... where the answers are
-Use Hornady 0.315" Lead Ball
-Use 00 Buckshot.

Internet Experts that have a cushy government jobs,.... so they have time read the internet all day and become such a thing...... retype what they read stating 0.319 to 0.324" Diameter is what you need-at least for the uberti baby.
Hornady seems to be the only mass producer of lead balls these days (remember-lead is evil-get use to using airsoft balls in your M/L!), .... and only in 0.310 & 0.315".... nothing larger except too large.
Also found on internet there is this Black Powder ballistic table that says using the undersized 0.315" ball can loose not only accuracy but 45% of muzzle energy (poor gas seal) so at least one real person went outside his house and did some real shooting to come up with this to share his real experiences-you do not see this often these days!
Do to advanced age I cannot say from personal experience that using 0.315" ball is much less accurate than if I used a real 32 caliber ball...... as it could be my shaky hand and blurry eyes. I do much better with the Navy though.
I cannot even find the too hard Single 0 Buckshot except loaded.
Some of Internet says to use 00 Buckshot-but then other parts of internet says its too large and too hard and combined you will surely break your dainty loading lever and poke your eye out!-and I read two internet stories of such-surely they were not made up as one poster showed pictures-so it must be true and not the result of some other misuse nor staged. I could always use an external press but using the correct ball size and hardness doing the actual revolver loading lever ritual I find a much more appealing experience when at the range.
Alternatively I could melt and pour my own but I have not started/setup for this, .... so it would be another setup and cost and to occasionally shoot the 32 revolvers-driving cost up to many dollars per round.....might as well shoot my 50 BMG at this price. Also as you get old you downsize, instead of expanding.

So, to get to the point with my questions instead of .... rambling on, and nows the time, the time is now, to sing my song........
Does anyone have a source for the real 32 caliber soft lead ball?
Is there such a thing as "soft" buckshot?
If so where would I find such in Single 0 or 00?

Thank you in advance for your time to read this and your kindly helpful response.
larry

I got .320 balls from Dixie rather than bothering to cast them. The price of a .320 mold bought me years worth of balls for a gun fired infrequently like my 1849.

 

[TNGhost]

The #0 buckshot is about 0.320" in diameter and has antimony that makes it a bit harder than the more desirable soft lead.

Yes it does have a bit of antimony, but I have used it in my pocket 1863 Remmy with no apparent issues.

Haven't used #00 but I have read and been told it is hard to load in the little pistols.

As far as accuracy the "pocket" revolvers have been known from the day they were first manufactured as having "cross table accuracy". I think sights, sight radius, barrel length and ergonomics probably have a lot more to do with that than the projectile.