Ball size?

[unspellable]

What size ball do you guys favor for:

Pietta Colt 1860 Army

Pietta Remington 1858 New Army

Uberti Remington 1858 New Army

Thanks

 

[dickydalton]

.454

 

[midland man]

which ever fits nice and snug!

 

[Blackpowdershooter44]

.454 is generally the size to go with

 

[Panzerschwein]

.454 is the one. The best one, in fact.

 

[IlikeSA]

I use the .454 on the Pietta. You want there to be a halo of shaved lead when you ram the ball down on blackpowder revolvers. If there isn't, you have to step up to .457.

 

[Fingers McGee]

.454 of course

 

[Panzerschwein]

Make sure that when you squish down that ball, you get a FULL(!!!) ring of lead, not just a few disjointed wisps. You want there to be a TOTAL SEAL to prevent chain fires.

 

[swathdiver]

Mike the chambers, that Uberti might like .457s.

 

[mr wack]

I only have the one mold and it's .454 so that's what I use .

 

[Branko_D]

Since Uberti Remingzon 1858 chambers are .448, the .451 should be enough, but I prefer .454, myself.

 

[rodwha]

I had always read Uberti made their chambers 0.450".

My Pietta NMA had the chambers reamed to 0.449" and share the 0.457" ball and 0.456" bullets as my ROA.

 

[BullRunBear]

I use .454 balls for all the Remington 1858s and Colt 1860s. The .457 balls are for the ROA only. I tried .457s in the other 44 caliber C&Bs but thought they took too much pressure to seat.

Jeff

 

[Dr.Rob]

I've used .451 round balls and .454 round balls an .451 conical bullets in my Pietta 44 Army. I use fiber wonder wads but I always get that full ring of lead when I ram the balls home.

 

[swathdiver]

.457 balls are for the ROA only.

2nd Generation and earlier Colts also use this diameter as do many Uberti and ASM sixguns. Conversely, we've an ASM Walker that shot just fine with .451s; shoots even better with .454s. We've also an ASM 1860 Army with .461 grooves and an Uberti '61 Navy whose chambers are so large, .380 round balls drop right in. It takes .395s so is in essence a .40 caliber!

Mike your chambers and slug your bores fellas!

Someday, when I get around to it, my .44 caliber sixguns will get their chambers reamed to be over groove diameter by 1 or 2 thousandths. This then will require the use of the .457 round ball, the Lee mold already patiently waiting in my casting crate.

 

[RecoilRob]

I've got molds for both .451 and .454 and use whichever balls feel right when loading. If I'm struggling with the .454...we go to the smaller one. And, unless you're buying a quality swaged ball....what is supposed to be .451 might not actually be precisely that.

The suggestion to mike your chambers, then mike your balls is a good one. You don't need a massive ring to stop chain fires. Unless the ball has a void at the surface just a slight ring of lead should be enough for safety...especially using a wad or grease as you likely are.

 

[Branko_D]

I had always read Uberti made their chambers 0.450".

My Pietta NMA had the chambers reamed to 0.449" and share the 0.457" ball and 0.456" bullets as my ROA.

Probably differs by year of manufacture, who knows. Both of mine are 2014 make and all 4 cylinders have .448" chambers. Of course my calipers have an accuracy of 0.001", so the measurement might be wrong. Others have reported .449" chambers on their Ubertis of also recent manufacture.

The groove diameter in the Uberti is advertized (http://www.cimarron-firearms.com/bore-groove-twist/) at .458" (.440" lands), while on the competition Hege-Uberti it's advertized at .447" (.439" lands) and visually there exists a difference.

However it's hard to measure since it has 7 grooves to confirm, so I have to take the catalogue as relevant. Measuring a bullet rammed through the barrel seems to agree, but this is too imprecise due to uneven number of grooves.

I need to borrow a chronograph from someone (or buy one) and run a full battery of tests with different loads to see how much difference it makes in both velocity and accuracy. From observation, pure lead 200 grain conicals are very accurate in the Uberti. My guess is that they obturate and together with the fouling they form an adequate gas seal. However, only a true test with a chronograph and weighted charges would reveal everything.

As for round ball, I use .454 in both, but I have used .457 also which takes a bit more force to ram in. The Uberti is, however, zeroed for conicals (with a six hold assuming a firm high grip, or a sub-six hold with a less firm grip) and that's what I shoot out of it mostly.

 

[D. Buck Stopshere]

Add to the ".457 RB fraternity", the Pietta Remington New Model Army .44 "Deluxe Model" (introduced in '85 or '86). Sold by Dixie Gun Works at $950, it's now called, "The Shooter's Model. It was designed for the International Muzzle Loading Competition market to compete with the Hege & the Pedersoli.

 

[RecoilRob]

the Pietta Remington New Model Army .44 "Deluxe Model" (introduced in '85 or '86). Sold by Dixie Gun Works at $950, it's now called, "The Shooter's Model

Is that the one with the gain-twist barrel? Have seen them in the Dixie cataloge...nice!