Gearing up gradually for my first 36 C&B revolver. Hopefully, in six months I will get Pietta 1858, Target, stainless, 6.5" barrel. So, I started looking for a bullet mold. Suddenly, I realized that something doesn't add up; barrel bore should be .375", but round balls on the market are also .375". If we want to press ball into cylinder, chamber bore has to be somewhat smaller, like .004*.005" for a nice, tight fit. Well, from what I know about lead bullets in revolver, rule of thumb is that bullet coming out from cylinder should be at least the same dia as barrel groove dia, or larger, preferably .001-.002".
Then I started searching about dimensions of barrel and cylinder chamber on Pietta 36 revolvers, and found these two interesting threads:
Tweaking a New Pietta 1851 36 Navy https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/tweaking-a-new-pietta-1851-36-navy.771583/
pietta 1858 .36 cyl./bore size question
"...If you want a truly accurate Cap & Ball Revolver you are supposed to by the "Shooter Model" that is made with the correct chamber diameter... If your bore/groove diameter is .360/.375, the correct chamber diameter is .376-.378". Reaming the chambers to this diameter (assuming this could be done correctly) and using .380 diameter round balls will give better accuracy with all loads..."
https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/pietta-1858-36-cyl-bore-size-question.99340/
To make story short, looks like that cylinder chambers' dias in 36 revolvers have, at least, strange dimensions, that are opposite from "conventional wisdom". BTW, both threads are from 2015, so things could get changed in last 7 years.
So, what is your experience and opinion about all this, especially about late Pietta cal. 36 models? Should cylinder chambers be something like .376-.377", and lead balls ,380"?
Then I started searching about dimensions of barrel and cylinder chamber on Pietta 36 revolvers, and found these two interesting threads:
Tweaking a New Pietta 1851 36 Navy https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/tweaking-a-new-pietta-1851-36-navy.771583/
pietta 1858 .36 cyl./bore size question
"...If you want a truly accurate Cap & Ball Revolver you are supposed to by the "Shooter Model" that is made with the correct chamber diameter... If your bore/groove diameter is .360/.375, the correct chamber diameter is .376-.378". Reaming the chambers to this diameter (assuming this could be done correctly) and using .380 diameter round balls will give better accuracy with all loads..."
https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/pietta-1858-36-cyl-bore-size-question.99340/
To make story short, looks like that cylinder chambers' dias in 36 revolvers have, at least, strange dimensions, that are opposite from "conventional wisdom". BTW, both threads are from 2015, so things could get changed in last 7 years.
So, what is your experience and opinion about all this, especially about late Pietta cal. 36 models? Should cylinder chambers be something like .376-.377", and lead balls ,380"?