1860 Pietta 44cal colt replica barrel swelling

[Sagetown]

I'm getting conflicting reports about using .454" lead round balls in the Pietta 44 cal 1860 revolvers.

REPORTS:
1. The .454" lead ball is more accurate. I've heard several statements to that effect. So I went out and bought a few boxes of them to try.

2. The .454" lead ball will cause the barrel to swell near the wedge.

In statement #2 : Since the excess lead is shaved off the ball when seating it in the chamber, I don't see how there could be a relation to barrel swelling. Wouldn't those signs of swelling be caused by improper seating of the ball in the chamber ?

 

[Old Fuff]

Not to worry. Any ball or bullet that is made of pure lead that you can get into the chamber isn't going to hurt the barrel, and relatively little surface of the ball touches the barrel anyway. What would more likely happen if you used a hard lead ball is that the excessive strain necessary to ram it into the chamber could cause the screw that holds the rammer to break, or to have the cylinder arbor crack at the wedge slot. Both things have happened, but very, very seldom.

 

[dwave]

I have never heard of #2 or seen it myself. I don't give much credit to it because you will shave a lead ring off when you load them up. The chambers will cut both sizes down to the same. The difference being the .454s will have more bearing surface since it has a bigger lead ring cut off.

However, I have seen the metal near the wedge get peened back from using too big of round balls (On my Pietta 1851 .36 cal.) Too big will put more strain on the wedge area and can deform the metal near the wedge. However, the barrel is just peachy!

 

[sundance44s]

Sounds like a barrel in need of a lapping job ...soft lead balls will not deform a steel barrel ...what you are seeing is poor factory finish on the bore ...nothing odd to the Itilian made guns ...Pietta isn`t Pedersoli ..
Never the less Piettas shoot just fine for plunking ....Pedersoli is also Itilian but you get what you pay for .

 

[madcratebuilder]

I have two Pietta's that call for .451, but I have used .454 from day one in them. No problems at all, they both shave a nice lead ring, that's the most important part to me.

 

[madcratebuilder]

...Pietta isn`t Pedersoli ..

That would be a great sig line!

 

[Mike 56]

It won't hurt your gun If you can get the ball in your chamber it is sized to fit your gun. In a lot of guns .454 or .457 balls if they fit shoot better because they have more bullet surface riding on the barrel kinda like a mini ball. But the mere fact that the bullet is in your chamber means it is sized to your gun.

Mike

 

[arcticap]

If the cylinder is properly timed & aligned that's true.
But it's also possible that if a cylinder isn't properly timed & aligned with the bore then the larger bearing surface could be more counter-productive to achieving best accuracy and cause even more stress on the frame.