Loose lead balls?

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The Sicilian

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I've got a little 1849 and the only size ball I could find locally is a .315. They are loose fitting inside the chamber, though some fit snug there is no shaving going on. What could I do to make the balls fit a little better? Could I use a patch with it or is there something else I could do? I'm leaving for the range in another hour or so, so any advice would be timely. Will using undersized balls harm the gun any? Uberti recommended a .315 but I think a .320 or .323 would be perfect. Seems like these gun manufacturers are always recommending the wrong size balls for their guns. Don't they ever shoot the guns they make! :cuss:

The Sicilian.
 
Be better if they fit tighter...might sort though waht you have and see if any are tighter than the others. May be that one or two chambers are a bit tighter and the balls are all the same size (which I'd expect if they are good quaility ball).

IF tight enough to stay put undeer recoil (and .32 recoil isn't all that strong), with a wad under neath and grease on top, will proably shoot pretty well...but not as well as a tighter fitting ball would.

Never tried patching...suspect it will do odd things in the forcing cone and just one stray thread handing out the cylinder would result in a pretty nasty rotation jam.

Best advice is to put those balls in storage and order some that are a bit larger.
 
Interesting advice...I'd still like to shoot the gun. The balls are Hornady so they are decent quality. I don't think they'd hurt anything, I guess I'll just have to do a little experimenting and see what happens. Thanks for your thoughts...Anyone else have any ideas or advice?
 
A little tap with a hemmer will fatten them up a bit, I don't know how it will affect accuracy tho but worth a try maybe.
 
Are sourses for .320" and .323" ball...of the two, would think that .320" would be tight enough, but it would be worth it to measure the cylinders. Track of the Wolf sells hand-cast in those sizes but I'd guess other suppliers are out there as well.

Still thinking about the patch idea...still not real sure what would happen at the cyindergap/forcing cone...wondering if the patch would tend to peal back at that point or stay put for the ride down the bore.
 
Thanks for all of the suggestions guys, I just got back from the range (It's late). I actually hit a can with my 1849 at 25 yards! I almost pissed myself! Seems like it is a pretty accurate little gun. Across the pond: Taylor Arms sells some .323 balls for our .31, I think they might be a perfect fit. I was using Triple 7 today, it seems like pretty good powder to me. I still like pyrodex pellets, but not for accuracy, just for fun. I also hit the can a few times with my 1858 New Army, it was a pretty hard shot for me, since I've been practicing at 15 yards. I still don't feel confident enought to move up to 25 yards yet. When I can pepper the black at will I'll move out to 25 yards. These guns are addictive as hell! :evil:

Seems like all of the powders are better than pellets as far as accuracy is concerned but the pellets are fast to load and fun to shoot. I've been trying a few different powders, like American Pioneer's Shockey's Gold (Pretty Clean) and the Triple 7. I'ver also got some Pyrodex P that I haven't tried and I've still got plenty of Goex Black powder left (So far it's my least Favorite because of the fouling but I think it deserves another try). I did notice that my 1858 has close to a hair trigger, I need to be careful with it. I wonder if there is a way to extend the grip, anyone know if it's possible without making it look bad? Longer grips would most likely go a long way for comfort and it would also help accuracy a little.

Thanks guys,

The Sicilian.
 
P.S.,

I bought some German caps RWS I think, and they really sucked, at least they sucked in the .31. They were #11's, maybe they'd work better in a larger gun with a stronger mainspring, who knows? The CCI's worked great though so I think those German caps just aren't any good. It surprised me, usually things made in Germany are high quality. I guess there's a first for everything! :neener:
 
I've used the German made RWS caps and I've never had problems with misfires with them. My biggest complaint about them is very inconsistent size, some fit the nipples on my guns very well and others are too small for the nipples and I have to really cram them on. I prefer CCI #11, I can't find Remington #11 around here and I may order 1000 from Cabelas when I can save up the cash for them.
 
1. NEVER even think about patching a ball in a revolver as it will RUIN your day. Revolvers are designed to fire unpatched round ball or conical ball.
2. Wads behind the ball can cause the same problem as patching so see #1.
3. Measured the chamber openings and use a ball that is slightly oversize and will shave when loaded. If they don't fall out when you shake the cylinder they are good.
4. Lube the front of the cylinder to prevent flashover and to keep leading to a minimum.
5. If you use cast ball (with a sprue) make sure the sprue is facing out and in the center of the cylinder when you load. If it is not centered it will adversely effect your accuracy.
6. Be consistent in your loading especially the amount of pressure you use to seat the ball. Consistent pressure = consistent results.
7. Cleanliness is very important, remover the cylinder and clean it before you reload. If at all possible use a off the frame loading tool as it is so much easier to get consistent results.
8. Enjoy the gun and remember it is capable of very good accuracy.
 
Wads work fine. I use them for quicker loading: Take out cylinder, charge cylinder, place wads in chambers, replace cylinder, then load lead balls. Wads are made for revolvers and cause no problems what so ever. A patch on the other hand probably wouldn't be a good idea, thats why I passed on using them. I've also loaded my gun without using wads, instead I used only a .457 lead ball and had no problems, it's really just personal preference. If you could elaborate on why you think wads should be avoided then maybe my opinion would change. Wads are also supposed to cut down on fouling but I haven't really noticed any major difference. Time will tell I guess, I've only been shooting for a very short time. I've followed most of the advice from all of the old timers with over 30 years experience and so far they haven't steared me wrong.

The Sicilian.
 
Lowkey,

I'm surprised that you've had good luck with them, for me they've been one big pain in the butt! I switched to CCI and haven't had a problem since. I don't want to just throw away the RWS caps so I used them yesterday and the same problem, one fires, one doesn't. After the hammer hits one of them for a second time they do go off though. Maybe I just got a bad batch? Either way they are expensive and not worth the money, I'll stick with CCI. I've never used Remingtons yet, I've heard both good and bad things about them. It's possible that the mainspring in my 1849 is a little weak but why fool around with it when CCI's work great? I think those RWS caps are just duds.
 
I prefer to stick with CCI over RWS any day. I've tried the Remington # 11 and they are just big enough that I have to pinch them to get them to fit the nipples correctly, but never had a misfire with the Remington caps. With the RWS, I had some that would not fit a single nipple on any gun I have. I threw away probably 25 caps out of the 100 in the canister simply because they wouldn't fit the gun at all. I say use what works best in your gun, I could see putting up with RWS's problems if they were like $2 cheaper than CCI and Remington, but they are the same price for less quality.
 
Lowkey,

You won't believe this one: My local gun shop was selling the RWS caps for $6.99 a tin (100 caps):fire: I only bought them because I needed them in a pinch and didn't want to drive another 40 miles for CCI's which are only $3.59 a tin. Since then I've found another local shop which sells them cheap, so no more $6.99 RWS caps. I only bought one tin anyway, but can you believe somebody had the balls to sell the RWS's for $6.99 a tin? That's almost criminal. Funny thing about my 1858 (Uberti) is that it likes #10's over #11's. I think maybe that the Uberti nipples are slightly smaller than Pietta's nipples. I bought some replacements at BassPro just in case I ever lost one or broke one (The Box said made for Pietta) but I figured they might work anyway, they didn't. The nipple itself looks like the exact same size (top part of nipple-where the hammer strikes) but the threaded bottom end is slightly larger with a few more threads. So I guess I just prefer the #10 caps over the #11's, they fit better to me. I still have to crip them so they fit snuggly on the nipple, I wish they sold them already eliptical so I don't have to pinch them before I use them, it would make more sense to sell them that way. I just sit around and listen to the radio while using a small pair of needle-nose plyers to slightly crimp them out of round, that way I'm good to go when I hit the range. :D

The Sicilian.
 
You won't believe this one: My local gun shop was selling the RWS caps for $6.99 a tin (100 caps)
Click to expand...
YIKES!! :what:

My local BP shop does most of his muzzleloading business during the fall deer season, and he stocks a little bit of everything then. During the spring and summer, he cuts off his ordering because he doesn't do enough volume to justify the shelf space and he uses that space for other merchandise, thusly my supplies dry up and become hard to find this time of year. :( Right now he only has the RWS caps because he orders 1000 at a time and no one really buys them until he runs out of everything else. I tried to work out a deal where he would order 1000 CCI caps and I'd buy the whole stock but the pricing works out to where I'm eating the $20 Hazmat fee anyway. So, I'm waiting on my cash supply to rebuild a bit so I can order 2 or 3 pounds of Pyrodex P and maybe 2000 caps from cabelas. I'll still have to eat the hazmat fee but overall I'll be spreading it out over more supplies.
 
That sucks! You need a BassPro arond your way or just a few more gun shops. I can get almost anything I want except supplies for my .31 pocket. I'll have to do some online ordering eventually. Have you or anyone else ever used clean shot? I'm looking for the cleanest powder I can find. So far it's a toss up between Shockey's Gold (AP) and H777. I'm going to shoot some regular Goex Bp today and see what kind of a difference I get in accuracy. I don't think it'll make any big difference but you never know. I'm a firm believer in the shooter being the main cause of either good or bad marksmenship. I guess it is possible to get a bad firearm that ain't worth ****e. I did hear that Clean Shot was out of Business, is this true? Maybe their powder was sub-standard?

The Sicilian.
 
I've been thinking of that Mcgunner, probably from one of your earlier posts, is 00 pure lead? What is the diameter of 00 buck shot? It would be nice if I could buy a whole bag full of 00 buck shot, at least if it works good enough. I'd still like to know what diameter the balls are in 00, any ideas as to their size?
 
I've got a similar problem w/different caliber. I was in a hurry at Cabela's the other day and grabbed a box of .36 Hornady round ball for my 1851 Navy Uberti. Didn't even look at the box til I got to the range and THEN noticed that the label said .35" actual. I can easily press these into the cylinder, over a wad, with my finger

Anyway, I've searched on Cabela's website before and the only .36 swaged round ball they list is .375" actual. Not sure why they had these .35s on the shelf.

I've also considered patches as a means to a tighter fit, so I'm interested in all replies.

Patches and wads are totally different apps though; not sure what that other guy was talking about. Wads are your friend; patches in a revolver are.... <insert response here>.
 
All I have ever bought or molded were .375" or .380" round ball...Lee has both molds less than $20 for a 2 cavity I think it was. Pietta take .375" in 1836,1851,1861&1858 Navys...and Uberti seem to take the .380".
 
Have you or anyone else ever used clean shot? I'm looking for the cleanest powder I can find. So far it's a toss up between Shockey's Gold (AP) and H777. I'm going to shoot some regular Goex Bp today and see what kind of a difference I get in accuracy.
Click to expand...

I've used Goex BP, H777, and Pyrodex but I've never tried clean shot. As far as fouling, from the 3 powders I've used H777 shows the least amount of fouling on the gun. The fouling from 777 isn't as soft as BP or Pyrodex fouling but it will wipe off with plain water or windex. As far as accuracy, I can't tell a difference between the three and I really believe that at the short ranges that most of us shoot with bp revolvers, you wouldn't be able to tell much difference if any...now if you were trying to get a group at 100 yrds or so with one of these revolvers I think you would see some difference and the preferences of the individual firearm would come into play and really make you say "HUH???" :confused:

I'm a firm believer in the shooter being the main cause of either good or bad marksmenship.
Click to expand...

100% agreement there brother! The more I shoot, the more I'm finding that it's more mental than physical. I've found that with the gun empty I can hold on a target for a really long time steady as a rock... the sights don't even twitch, but load that gun up and get ready to pull the trigger and the sight drifting starts. There's no physical reason for bad accuracy on my part, so long as I use the good shooting habits we're all supposed to practice. I get good groups at 10-20 yards pretty consistently, (1-3in), but that one ragged hole group at 20 yds is still eluding me and I know that with me it's just the mental aspect of shooting that's keeping me from it.
 
.35 balls

The .35 caliber balls are designed to be patched with .36 caliber rifles.
The Clean Shot fffg (from Clean Shot Technologies) that I have shoots fairly well in rifles but has larger granules sized in between Pyrodex P and RS.
 
Lowkey,

Seems like you're a fine shooter, getting 1-3" inch groups! I'm all over the place compared to you, though I've only been shooting for around five weeks. I'm doing fairly well so far. I've befriended a target shooter at my local range and he's really excellent with his forty-five. I was wondering if my gun was off (1858 Uberti) so I aske him to check it out for me. At 50 feet offhand-dualist, he shot a 2 in group! And remember, he was shooting cold with a strange gun! The second time he shot offhand- using a two-handed grip at 50 feet (17 yards or so) and the group was around 1 and 1 half inches...Amazing!

He told me I needed to get my sight aligned, his point of aim was at 6 o' clock below the black and the bullets were hitting around 2 inches to the right. I'm hittting a gunsmith tonight to get it re-aligned so I'll be ready for Sunday shooting. I think the front sight needs to be moved .050 of an inch to the right. Anyone have a quick comment about that before I leave for the smithy? I'm going in the next 15 minutes or so. Someone told me it needs to be moved to the left, not to the right, but i trust my buddy. Remember, the front sight is centered right now, so if the gun is shooting to the right, shouldn't the front sights be moved slightly to the right?

The Sicilian.
 
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