Ball or bullet?

Z

ZVP

New member
Reguardless of the caliber which do you choose? If both, then say so, OK?
I stick with round lead balls though when loaded stout, the .44 calaiber 250gr RNFP is one heck of a powerfull bullet! I have just 6 left for my '58 Army. I gotta buy a set of dies and cast some more. Was borrowing a set but that's not the best way to go.
The big 250 grainer is a KICKER! The trigger guard WILL give your knuckles a good rap as each one goes off! I don't care though because just feeling that sort of FPE is a thrill!
So far I haven't had the chance to shoot a bullet in my .36's so I can't report on that. I am sure the energy increases with a heavier bullet thus so does the power of the .36. I am looking forward to trying a cast bullet i this caliber someday!
Calibers are a hard choice, as asr the brands of revolver you shoot them in Mention one and a lively debate is sure to follow!
Suffice it to say that I own both a Colt clone and also Remington copys, Hell I couldn't choose just one... Both have so many good points that you really need to own both open and closed frames. each day you shoot one, you'll swear by it then by the other on another day!
So for me it's balls in both .36 and .44 calibers!
How bout you???
ZVP
 
I haven't even tried shooting bullets. Not to say I won't. But I think that is part of the reason I am drawn to these kind of firearms. I like slingin balls. :D I would like to try some of the old time paper cartridges though. But only if I could buy them, I just don't think I could make em.
 
Hello, deerslayer303..Back in the 80's, I purchased a NIB Colt re-make of their 1860 Army .44 percussion revolver. I tried every load I could think of with R.B...always shot way high & far to left..I actually cleaned & greased it up & put it away for several years..I was so discusted with it!
Then I got ahold of Lyman mould #450229 this is a hollow-base design.
Well..the first thing I found was I couldn't load it with the lever..too long for frame cut-out..so used a small arbor type press I altered..still no-go..the base band was too wide to allow seating straight into cyl. chambers.
Used Lyman lube-sizer & .450 die with stop to size last band..now they went in straight!
Using 18gr. 3fg Goex..SuperGrex shot buffer as filler & this bullet produced 1 ragged hole groups..about 5" high...With perfect windage!
Incidentlly...I did try the Lee .44 conical..this has the last band undersized for loading..and will allow loading lever to seat it...but again the accuracy was no better than the R.B...that hollow-base must have something to do with it? These old guns make you think don't they!
 
I've only used round balls in my .44's. I got a .380 Lee conical mold for my .36's. It loads easy in my off brand Remington but it's hard to load in the Pietta's. It's not as accurate as round balls either.
 
Ideal Tool said:
Hello, deerslayer303..Back in the 80's, I purchased a NIB Colt re-make of their 1860 Army .44 percussion revolver. I tried every load I could think of with R.B...always shot way high & far to left..I actually cleaned & greased it up & put it away for several years..I was so discusted with it!
Then I got ahold of Lyman mould #450229 this is a hollow-base design.
Well..the first thing I found was I couldn't load it with the lever..too long for frame cut-out..so used a small arbor type press I altered..still no-go..the base band was too wide to allow seating straight into cyl. chambers.
Used Lyman lube-sizer & .450 die with stop to size last band..now they went in straight!
Using 18gr. 3fg Goex..SuperGrex shot buffer as filler & this bullet produced 1 ragged hole groups..about 5" high...With perfect windage!
Incidentlly...I did try the Lee .44 conical..this has the last band undersized for loading..and will allow loading lever to seat it...but again the accuracy was no better than the R.B...that hollow-base must have something to do with it? These old guns make you think don't they!
Click to expand...

I think maybe the hollow base bullets expand to fit the bore. I have a similar revolver and if you drive a .457 roundball into the barrel with a ramrod and then look through the barrel, you will see daylight between every rifling groove and the ball. The barrel actually should have a larger than .457 ball to fit the groove diameter but that would require reaming the chambers oversize and molds for larger than .457 roundballs are not very common.
Also, there is not a whole lot of metal between the chambers of this revolver.
 
I used both balls and bullets in my Ruger Old Army.
Cannot say if there was a difference in performance.
Balls can be loaded to higher velocity which should give them an advantage at pistol ranges.
 
I have tried a couple of boxes of the Buffalo Bullets in my .44s.

Too expensive.
They shoot higher.
And they had to be started at least halfway using my thumb, or they want to tilt and get distorted when rammed home.

'Dedicated round ball man now. :)
 
Although the round ball quickly loses velocity at normal hand gun ranges I don't think it is a factor. You can cram a whole lot more powder in a chamber when using a round ball as compared to the conical so a trade off situation develops. The old time western gun men could go either way- combustible cartridges loaded with conicals or round balls but most- to my knowledge- always went with the round balls as the better man killer- mostly because they could cram in more powder. The balls back them had a flat sprue and might have hit harder than todays perfectly round balls and the old conicals were not as well designed as today's- still, I'm not sure which is the better.
 
some people have said they use 30 grains of bp with a 210 grain conical in their revolver. i really wouldnt want to do that myself.

conical does use a less amount of powder, but mass times velocity still makes them more powerful at the roundball. theres a website that has rought calculations, and i believe the conical typically gains 30 foot pounds of muzzle energy over a roundball.

increased energy, carries it out to longer range, more stress on gun at loading and discharging. different poi, its a toss really.
 
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