Eras Gone Conicals

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Smokepole14

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I looked online today and the Eras Gone Johnston and Dow .44 mold is $75. Is there anywhere you can buy some of the conicals to try them out before buying a mold? I would like to shoot some groups and see how they do.
 
Most black powder suppliers sell conical bullets.
Unfortunately my local black powder store went out of business. The next closes place to me I might as well order online because with current gas prices I think shipping will be cheaper.
 
I've got some .36 Richmond Labs conicals made with an Eras Gone mold but I haven't tried them yet.
 
Unfortunately my local black powder store went out of business. The next closes place to me I might as well order online because with current gas prices I think shipping will be cheaper.
I haven’t had a “local” supplier for 20 years and then it was a 60 mile drive one way, up to Leadville to see Bill Copper at his sporting goods emporium. It was worth the drive. Especially when the aspens turned up there. Collegiate Peaks are just amazing in full color.

It’s a shame we don’t have the easy access to black that we once did. It doesn’t make joining in the fraternity of charcoal burners any easier but it seems like much has changed and drastically so in the past 2 and a half years. I don’t see it changing back.

I did place an order for the.44 caliber bullets as an experiment. I’m particularly interested in the Kerr bullet and found an interesting technique on the n-saa forum for lubing them.

https://www.n-ssa.net/vbforum/showt...ng-the-Eras-Gone-English-Kerr-revolver-bullet
 
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If you are dead-set on the Era bullets for/from a historical standpoint I think someone on the forum would send you some. Looks like Whughett might.

In some pistols the Era bullets don't load easily, as they are very long with the pointed nose, especially in paper-cartridge form. A Kaido might actually be best as far as performance/accuracy.

For on the cheap, the Lee molds make very good, accurate shooting bullets. The 130 grain .36" and the 200 grain .44" are both nice and short, and usually load good/easy.

If you are going to make paper cartridges, there are some modified versions of the Colt and Remington bullets out there that have a reduced base to fit the paper, but a shorter, flatter nose so that they are not so long.

Good luck, good shooting whatever you do.
 
If you are dead-set on the Era bullets for/from a historical standpoint I think someone on the forum would send you some. Looks like Whughett might.

In some pistols the Era bullets don't load easily, as they are very long with the pointed nose

The Richmond Lab bullets aren't that long. The reason I haven't tried them yet is my navy is a Pietta and the ram is shaped for round balls. It would just squash the nose of the bullet down into more of a round ball configuration.

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That is true. Do they make that style in .44? I tried that style bullet in my .36", although a modified version with a metplat, they didn't do so great, not bad, but less accurate than others. I didn't like the fact that they carry no lube. I did dip some in wax, but loading just shaves that off. But yes, the Richmond is not as long as the Era Johnson and Dows in .44. But, I may be wrong, I think the Richmond is only available in .36". ??

I guess the question is, for Smokepole, are you interested in a historically correct bullet, or a bullet that loads easy and performs the best? And will you be loading them bare-naked, !!! or with combustible cartridges???
 
I guess the question is, for Smokepole, are you interested in a historically correct bullet, or a bullet that loads easy and performs the best? And will you be loading them bare-naked, !!! or with combustible cartridges???

whughett helped me out, I got some of the conicals to try out. I will be loading them with loose powder for now. I’ve tried the Kaido conicals and had good results with them. I had to load them with the cylinder off the pistol. I’m gonna go ahead an do some modifying to my NMA so I can load conicals. I was more less curious as to how the J&D would shoot plus from a historical point I was wanting to try the J&D since that’s as close as you can get to what they shot in the civil war.
 
whughett helped me out, I got some of the conicals to try out. I will be loading them with loose powder for now. I’ve tried the Kaido conicals and had good results with them. I had to load them with the cylinder off the pistol. I’m gonna go ahead an do some modifying to my NMA so I can load conicals. I was more less curious as to how the J&D would shoot plus from a historical point I was wanting to try the J&D since that’s as close as you can get to what they shot in the civil war.

Okay, right on, I get it. Yes, opening up the loading port will allow easy loading of the J&D's. My 1862 could use some 'opening up", but the blue is just too nice to do that without re-bluing the whole thing. My 1860 is a bit tight, but the LEE 200 grain loads easy, so I'll stick with that bullet.

I have a Uberti New Model Army in .36", it has so much room you could load anything in it. It shoots a Kaido with great "authority", although I haven't been able to get a good group at 50 yards with it. Deadly at 25 though.
 
Okay, right on, I get it. Yes, opening up the loading port will allow easy loading of the J&D's. My 1862 could use some 'opening up", but the blue is just too nice to do that without re-bluing the whole thing. My 1860 is a bit tight, but the LEE 200 grain loads easy, so I'll stick with that bullet.

I got the frame cut back a little bit and re-touched up the finish. It’s a pietta, so now I’ll have to work on the rammer since it’s setup for round balls. I haven’t ever tried the lee 200 conical. In my Uberti .36 so far every conical I’ve tried fits just fine and the loading rammer is set up for round balls or conicals.
 
I was wanting to try the J&D since that’s as close as you can get to what they shot in the civil war.
I think it WAS what they shot in the war, and many years after. Not everyone rushed out to get the new-fangled SAA, the cap-N-ball revolvers were in civilian service for a long long time. I wonder at what date they dropped production of combustible cartridges? (someone here knows I bet!)
 
I think it WAS what they shot in the war, and many years after. Not everyone rushed out to get the new-fangled SAA, the cap-N-ball revolvers were in civilian service for a long long time. I wonder at what date they dropped production of combustible cartridges? (someone here knows I bet!)

To my knowledge yes that’s the exact conical they used to make the paper cartridges. When I said close as u can get I meant as in your probably not goin to find an original J&D conical cast in the 1860’s. I’m sure there were lots of people who couldn’t afford to have a gunsmith convert their cap and ball over to metallic cartridges. Ole cap and ball was probably just fine as is. As far as paper cartridges I’d love to know when they quit manufacturing them.
 
I got the frame cut back a little bit and re-touched up the finish. It’s a pietta, so now I’ll have to work on the rammer since it’s setup for round balls. I haven’t ever tried the lee 200 conical. In my Uberti .36 so far every conical I’ve tried fits just fine and the loading rammer is set up for round balls or conicals.

You can fit an Uberti plunger to your Pietta NMA, the part is around $20 and is cut deeper to load the conicals without deforming the nose as much.
 
You can fit an Uberti plunger to your Pietta NMA, the part is around $20 and is cut deeper to load the conicals without deforming the nose as much.

I did look online at Dixie gun works for that part. The only thing is it looks like the plunger is attached to the loading lever by a roll pin. I’m not sure how difficult it would be to replace it. I have thought of that option though.
 
I did look online at Dixie gun works for that part. The only thing is it looks like the plunger is attached to the loading lever by a roll pin. I’m not sure how difficult it would be to replace it. I have thought of that option though.

It's a solid pin that comes out easily.
 
If you are dead-set on the Era bullets for/from a historical standpoint I think…
Good luck, good shooting whatever you do.

Have any of you fellas seen the Moose Moulds revolver bullet? I’d like to see what they look like. Thanks!
 
Have any of you fellas seen the Moose Moulds revolver bullet? I’d like to see what they look like. Thanks!

I wasn't aware they made molds for revolver bullets. I had one of their molds for my 63 Sharps. A very high quality, heavy duty aluminum mold.
 
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