Lee Conical in a Cap and Ball

[spur0701]

I've read a lot of stuff about how the best (most accurate) bullet for a cap and ball revolver is a ball not a conical. But noticed that Lee has a mold for a conical for a ROA, I noticed it in their catalog, I usually buy my stuff from Midway and hadn't noticed it there. Anyone have any expirence with it in either a ROA or any other cap and ball (I believe they have several different sizes)? Also why is this? I understand it can be difficult or more difficult to seat a conical properly but is there some other reason? If this is true for a C&B why not for other ML rifles?

 

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RB

Believe me, all the top shooters at the nationals in Friendship where we can
shoot either bullets or round balls, shoot round balls. All the matches are won
with round balls. For hunting use bullets.

 

[Voodoochile]

I shoot the cast Lee Conicals as well as cast Round Ball out of my .44 caliber C&B revolvers & usually get a better gouping with the ball but it's usually only about 1/2" - 1" better depending on the Revolver.

My Pietta NMA .44 with a 5.5" barrel is usually loaded with the .456 220gr. Lee Conical for the extra punch it gives when I take it out in the back woods & the accuracy is pretty decent out of it @ 2.5" - 3" groupings average at 20 yards using 30gr. FFFG Goex, 702fps./242ft. lbs. average. off hand.


As far as to why there is 2 different sized .44 caliber conicals is because most repro's have a .450ish chamber size where the smaller 200gr. conical would be ideal for ease of loading & the Ruger ROA's nominally have a .454ish chamber where the 220gr. would be a better suit.

 

[arcticap]

I've read a lot of stuff about how the best (most accurate) bullet for a cap and ball revolver is a ball not a conical. Also why is this? I understand it can be difficult or more difficult to seat a conical properly but is there some other reason? If this is true for a C&B why not for other ML rifles?

Pistol target shooting usually does use ammunition loaded to lower velocities for best accuracy. So maybe part of it is that the round sphere is the more efficient design for lower velocity shooting.
But that's not to say with absolute certainty that the round ball will always be the most accurate when fired from a C&B.
The problem would be how to measure the accuracy while eliminating all of the human variables during testing.
I'm sure that you know that it would involve using a machine rest, perfectly identical bullets, powder & compression, environmental conditions, cleaning regimen, barrel temperature etc....
However, there may be some revolvers that do shoot conicals better than round balls.
One of our members Voodoochile described how he modified and enlarged the chamber diameter of one if his C&B's to become most accurate with conicals.
And then there's the report about the Clements Custom Guns .50 caliber conversion of the Ruger OA that is said to shoot custom conicals slightly more accurately than round balls. However going back to the opening statement, the higher velocity is not what most folks would consider to be target velocity, and it's not an average C&B revolver either.

So far accuracy testing has turned in several 25 yard groups under 1.5" with both conical bullets and round balls. The bullet has a slight accuracy advantage with the loads I tested. Thus far the best 25 yard group has been just under .70" with the bullet.

http://www.imageevent.com/fiveshooter/ccgoa

They fell with metronomic consistency into 1.5" and under. The best group so far measures just a bit under 70 - caliber center to center with the 250-grain bullet load. The overall impression is that this load has a slight accuracy edge over the swaged round ball.

http://www.gunblast.com/Cumpston_ClementsFugett.htm

Here's an impressive group fired by mec with Buffalo Revolver Bullets:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=4827893&postcount=27

 

[Hellgate]

I use conicals whenever I want to knock down a large falling target in CAS matches. I will load 30grs powder under the LEE 200gr conical in my Remingtons. I only have shot the conicals in my ASM Hartford 1860 Colt Army as the Pietta does not have enough clearance under the rammer and barrel. The originals have significantly more room to seat a conical. The LEE bullet in 44 & 36 cals has stepped driving bands so the bullet will center in the chamber before being rammed. The 36 cal will seat in my Uberti '61 Navy. They all shoot a few inches higher than the round ball. I have gotten excellent accuracy from the conicals in the Colt Army. I haven't shot conicals in the Remingtons for accuracy so I don't know how accurate they are compared to the ball.