After 1 year with My Pietta NMA w/ 5.5" barrel.

[Voodoochile]

Well it has actually been over a year since I had this little revolver in my hands from Cabelas & the engineering side of me turned this little jewel into a Conical Launching machine that is is today.

As some may remember I started my work by smoothing & tuning the action.
Reamed all 18 Chambers to .451 from .446 to better fill the .4495 groved bore.
Recrowned the barrel.
Opened up the nipple area of the cylinders for use of a Snail Capper.
Widened up the right side of the loading window to accept the .456 220gr. Lee Conicals.

Now after all that work & tailoring a load that it likes with the Lee .456 conicals it'll shoot 2.25" groups at 25 yards "as long as I do my part" & with only 30gr. FFFG Goex I witnessed it chrono at an average of 718 FPS. with a extreme spread of 84, temps were 40*F intermittent 2mph cross wind.

Those conicals load very easily & even with the moderate charge the felt recoil is in between a .38 spcl. & a .44 spcl. out of a 6" barreled revolver but I was supprised that I was pushing a 220gr. bullet at over 700 FPS.

These were taken from 16' on my Pro Chrono.
Bullet = .456 220 grain Cast Lee conical bullet .147 BC
Powder = Goex FFFg black powder.
Primer = Remington #11
5-1/2” Barrel Average Ballistics.
30gr. Volume = 718 fps. 254 ft. lbs.

It's not a super power but it surely isn't a slouch.

What do y-all think?

 

[black_powder_Rob]

WOW, I like it. I have been thinkin about gettin a remmie but had some quambs about the looks, but the way you have presented yours gives me something to think about.

Thanks for the pics.

 

[arcticap]

And it doesn't even require using brass cased ammo!

 

[Gatofeo]

Niceeeeeeeeeee!
Looks like a fun shooter.

Your load nearly duplicates the one I shot yesterday that amazed me with its accuracy. It remains the best group I've fired with the Lee bullet, and any conical bullet.
Generally, I've found balls to be more accurate than conical bullets but this group rivals groups I've shot with .454 inch lead balls.

Six bullets into a group 1-1/2 inches vertical, 3/4 inch horizontal
Range: 20 yards
Benchrest
Sunny, temperature in the 40s (4-9 Celsius) with the Sun at my left.

Here are the load details:

Uberti-made Remington 1858 with 8-inch barrel, Serial # 419XXX
Stock pistol, no refining done to it.
Lee 200 gr. conical bullet, stock no. 450-200-1R
Cast of very soft, it not pure, lead
Bullet used as-cast, not sized.
Gatofeo No. 1 lubricant (a mix of mutton tallow, canning paraffin and beeswax) filling all grooves.
Goex FFFG black powder
Approximately 26.4 grs. spout, as thrown from a flask
Remington No. 11 percussion cap, pinched into an oval so it clings to the nipple.
No greased wad used beneath the bullet. Not necessary if the bullet itself is well lubricated.

And even more information:

Bullet started into the chamber with fingers, until the heel of the bullet rests well within chamber and the bullet's lower driving band rests squarely against the chamber mouth.
Maneuvering the bullet and thumb-pressing it straight into the chamber can be difficult because of space constraints between the bullet, frame and loading lever.
However, it's worth it. Simply placing the bullet over the chamber, without ensuring the heel is in the chamber before ramming, will likely result in a bullet that's been seated at a cant.
A bullet seated into the chamber at an angle will be unbalanced as it leaves the muzzle, affecting accuracy.

Once the bullet was aligned in the chamber, it was rammed firmly into the chamber with the pistol's rammer. Pressure was firm but not hard, to avoid deforming the bullet with too much pressure.

At 20 yards, the above load placed its bullets about 1-1/2 inches above point of aim. The group was about 1 inch to the right of the sighting point; this could be compensated for by moving the front sight slightly to the right.
My pistol shoots in perfect vertical alignment with lead balls so I have no plans to change the sight setting; I shoot far more balls than I do conical bullets.

At the risk of sounding pretentious and self-serving, I continue to believe that the lubricant others have dubbed, "Gatofeo No. 1" remains the best black powder lubricant I've found.
It is not a lubricant recipe I created. Rather, I discovered the recipe in an old American Rifleman magazine but it listed general ingredients. I refined the recipe by specifying the ingredients.
The old recipe called for paraffin, beeswax and tallow without specifics.

Proper Gatofeo No. 1 lubricant is made with canning paraffin (the purest paraffin generally available), mutton tallow (no other tallow works as well) and real beeswax, not the synthetic beeswax typically used for today's toilet seals and in other applications.

The recipe is by weight, not volume:
1 part paraffin
1 part mutton tallow
1/2 part beeswax

I generally mix 200/200/100 grams of ingredients after measuring on a kitchen scale. This results in nearly a quart of lubricant, plenty for hundreds of wads and bullets.

Mutton tallow and beeswax are available from Dixie Gun Works. Canning paraffin is available at your local grocery store in one-pound blocks.

Try the above load in your own Remington and see how it shoots. I don't think you'll be disappointed. But remember, any substitution of components such as caps, powder or lubricant may result in lesser results.

I've been firing cap and ball revolvers since 1971.
I've never met one that was male, they're all female, because they're finicky and cantankerous if they don't get exactly what they want.

 

[Voodoochile]

I'll try your load the next time I'm out, as a matter of fact I do have both the .456 220gr & .450 200gr. Lee conical molds but I'll have to stick with the heavier bullet for this little hand cannon because the chambers are just wide enough to make the lighter bullets slide in & possibly walk forward under recoil.

I am in the process of getting some Mutton Tallow & Parafin because I do want to try out your lube.

 

[martysport]

These were taken from 16' on my Pro Chrono.
Bullet = .456 220 grain Cast Lee conical bullet .147 BC
Powder = Goex FFFg black powder.
Primer = Remington #11
5-1/2” Barrel Average Ballistics.
30gr. Volume = 718 fps. 254 ft. lbs

If you had an 8 inch barrel instead would the velocity/energy by much more (care to give a percentage guess?)

I have reamed my chambers to .4540 (just 0.003" larger than yours) but I do seem to get a measurement of 0.451" for the barrel so my chambers are now 0.003" oversize.

I have tried a few 0.454 balls, they cut a VERY small lead ring and idealy I need something a hair thicker. I have orderd a LEE .456-220 conical mold and I'm hoping it will work quite well.

Just a guess now, but do you think 900+fps would be possible with the 8" barrel using Swiss powder?

 

[BHP FAN]

that's about on a par with the original .45acp load!

 

[Armored farmer]

After a year, do you ever wish you had bought the stainless version instead of blued??

 

[Voodoochile]

After a year, do you ever wish you had bought the stainless version instead of blued??

Nope, I even antiqued it & now it has a slight browned finish to her.

martysport;
The Lee Conicals are stepped so the base just slips into the chamber easily & stops at the second band & stays straight during loading so you should get really good results with them.

Goex FFFG:
Max charge would be 32gr. & still have enough room to load the projectile.
I've settled with 28gr. because my revolver seems to like that load as far as accuracy & performance goes.

As far as achieving the velocity of 900+ FPS, I guess it'd be possible with 777 but with that powder & the larger heavier projectile the pressure will be higher but to what levels I can not tell you, I would suggest starting with 20gr. 777 & work your way up Benching as you go to see what load your revolver likes in accuracy because it will have some impressive performance at even 20gr..

 

[45-70 Ranger]

Working on that too.

I was waiting for delivery of the 200 gr. .450" version of the Lee conical for a couple of weeks. Funny thing is that I've had an old, but very clean, Lee single 456-220-1R Mould for years. Used it with my ROA when I had it, but sold it years ago. Still got the mould. Been using it for .45-70 lights with paper patching and such. Never even thought about using it in my Pietta Remmy! DOOOOHH!!!!:banghead:

Did a little shooting with the .450 200 slug Sunday, but nothing was really conclusive. I was shooting from a sitting position with the knees drawn up bracing my arms. No bench was near! A tree at my back was the best I could do. It did shoot high (expected that) and was pretty good keeping a good group. But now I'm gonna cast up some of the 220's and see how well they do being larger and all.

My BP is almost gone, Pyrodex is ok, I guess, but there is still 1/2# of fff 777 in my box. I'll use that with the bigger slugs as I did with the smaller ones. Haven't measured the chambers or even slugged the bore on this pistol and I got it in 1996! Boy am I lazy

Gonna try them as soon as I can get time to cast and get to my range out back!

You guys have inspired me more than I was just going at it on my own here. thanks!

Wade

 

[junkman_01]

Wade,

I see the 'inspiration' part as the primary function of this whole rodeo!
There are some very knowledgeable and good folks on this blackpowder forum for sure.

 

[Armored farmer]

Well, I guess I was properly inspired....
I put an order in for a blued, 5 1/2" '58.