Cylinder ball problem

It's fairly well known that most of the Uberti .36's need .380 balls.
It's the Pietta's that use the .375's.
That does make the Uberti's a little more problematic to buy ammo for.

Are you buying the balls or casting??

1. http://www.trackofthewolf.com/

a. .380's are $10 per 100

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/127/1

2. http://www.logcabinshop.com/

a. .380's are $10.15 per 100

Log Cabin Sport Shop
8010 Lafayette Road
Lodi, Ohio 44254

330-948-1082

Monday - Saturday 8:30 am to 6:00 pm

well, that explains why even hollow based .38's aren't all that accurate in my Kirst converted Uberti Remington.

Actually the bore size on both the Pietta and Uberti .36s made in the past 10 years is very similar (.375-.377) But most of the Piettas have chamber sizes of .367 to .372. The chambers on Uberti .36s I have measured over the past few years are closer to bore size (.374-.376"), even a tiny bit over depending on the gun. If you want good accuracy from a cap & ball revolver, it is more likely if the chamber is slightly larger than groove diameter and you load a ball that is .004-.006" larger than the chamber size. .380 round balls will give better accuracy in most .36 revolvers regardless as well as help to prevent chain-fires.

.380s if you can find them are your best bet, as stated above.

An alternative when it is available is 0000 buckshot, which mikes .380 to .382:

http://www.ballisticproducts.com/Super-Buck-Lead-Buckshot-0000-8lb-380/productinfo/SBK40/

Buckshot is not pure lead so it takes a bit more pressure to seat in the chamber, but I have used it for years in my 1851s using just the rammer on the gun. I do not remove the cylinders for loading. And the price is attractive...you get close to 800 balls for about $40.

or you can put a watch for .385 mold on evil-bay , I won't feed my 36's anything else.
robert

There's a fellow on another forum who casts RB's, as well as some other projectiles, at very good prices. You'd need to become a member of the forum.

For .380" RB he charges $6/100 and $29/500.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?87136-Forefather-s-Casting-Shop

LEE sells a nice 2 cavity .380 mold. For not too frequent shooting it will serve you for many years. For serious shooting you can either get a 6 cavity .380 gang mold from biglube.com (around $80) or from buckshotmold.com a 0000 buckshot mold (around $40) that will throw 10 balls at once. No sprue cutter on that one but cast very economical balls that have a slight flat diameter ring on them but for most plinking and CAS matches they are plenty good ammo.

My ASM's chambers are .374 and obviously doesn't shave a ring with .375s. The .380s (TOTW) shave a nice ring.

http://gadcustomcartridges.com/ - These fellas charge $6 per 100.

How about the .44's...Uberti vs Pietta? Size difference needed?

Bluehawk said:

How about the .44's...Uberti vs Pietta? Size difference needed?

Click to expand...

My latest Pietta's have .448 chambers so .454 balls would be undersized. Ideally, the chambers should be .452 and use .457s for best accuracy.

I'm not sure if I follow...
.454 - .448 = .006" how does that make yours undersized? (the chamber is .006" smaller than the ball)

Bluehawk said:

I'm not sure if I follow...
.454 - .448 = .006" how does that make yours undersized? (the chamber is .006" smaller than the ball)

Click to expand...

When you squish that .454 into a .448 chamber it becomes a .448 ball. Then you pull the trigger and that .448 ball goes through a .451 barrel...

Reaming the chambers out to .450 will increase accuracy and you can still use .454 balls.