Bullet too tight in 1858 REMINGTON

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danpttm

Inactive
I have a UBERTI 1858 Remington 44 cal. I have bought some sample bullets to try. I have loaded 1 of the 45 cal. R.E.A.L. 200 grain & 1 of the 44 Ruger R O A 220 grain conical in the cyclinder with 30 grain of pyrodex P. I thought I would try these out, but as tight as they went in I'M about scared to shoot them. Has anyone shot a tight bullet such as this?
Thanks Ahead
Daniel
 
If you got it in, it's going to be o.k. to shoot it out. Personally, I only have experience with round balls, with the exception of some very bad conicals from a cheap, brass mold back in 1970. The bullet's diameter and composition will decide if it is hard to ram below the chamber mouth. I've read that the Rugers have a little bigger diameter chambers and like a .457 ball. My Pietta likes a .451 ball and a .454 ball works too but is a little harder to ram home. I broke a rammer pin trying to seat .457s in it.

If you are in the experimenting stage with your pistol, I would recommend you buy some .454 swaged round balls. They are much easier to load, since conicals sometimes get cocked to the side a little during loading, which isn't good for accuracy.

Another reason for shooting round balls is that they will always impact lower on target than the heavier conical bullets, which, given most revolver's tendency to shoot high, is a good thing!

Steve
 
I'd be more afraid of deforming them myself but if you can get them in I'd say your fine. I once shot hardcast 45 colt bullets in mine, even though they were 452's those were VERY hard to get in.
 
I also have a Rem '58 Uberti replica (actually 2). To be honest I have not tried those bullet/conicals you mentioned, but I've tried .457, .454 & .451 rnd balls. My guns really react well to the .454 rnd's. They are more accurate and load easy, with a little shaving of lead when loading for a snug/tight fit.

I also have a conversion cylinder to shoot .45 colt cartridges. I reload .452 leadies and they are very accurate with mild to medium loads.

I would shoot whatever shoots best in your gun. I don't think you would have a problem with firing those tight fitting conicals. I would measure them to see how big they are.

That particular gun is recommended to use .451 rnd balls according to the manual. I my self would not use anything larger in dia. than .454 ball or conical.

There may be a way to size them, but they would definitly be harder to load unless you could successfully bevel the base (I do not recommended this proceedure).

Good luck!
 
Bullet size for 44 cal Remington 1858

I use round 0.451 balls and they seem to work just fine. I just picked up a Colt, New Army 44 cal from my brother and he sent some 0.451 round balls with the pistol.:)

BP newby
 
balls and conicals

If you are looking to shoot at targets and target only then I recommend just going with round balls. They are also the top pick if you intend to use this for self defense!

If you want a conical then I'd suggest the Lee ".451" conical mould - you have to cast these yorself - they drop from the mould at .458" and load easily - weigh 200 grains and can usually be made to shoot well in the 58.
 
conical bullets for new army remington 1858

I have been shooting this revolver since the 1960s using a .45 round ball. Recently I converted to conical bullet and shoot a bench rest 4" circle @ 50' with 12 rounds. Note do not use in a brass frame gun!!! Bullets I use are as follows:
1. Lee DC mold 450-200-1R - model 90382 from Titan Reloading P.O. Box 775Hartford, WI ---www.titanreloading.com
2. Cast bullets from this mold with pure lead then use a press and die to size to 0.443" dia. I made die from 3/8" thk steel and use a drill press as my press.
3. Load 28 grains of FFFG black powder followed by a .410 shot gun wad 1/4" thick soaked in hot bees wax and allowed to cool on wax paper(toilet bowl seal from Home Depot provides the bees wax).
4. Top off with bullet, indicated above, lubricated with bees wax and tamp home. You should have about 3/16" clearance to end of cyclinder.
Note: I have 2 cylinders for my gun (F.LLI PIETTA from Cabela's) and use the Cabela's loading tool to load them off the gun - much easier. I have tried to be specific and hope this helps you.
 
Learned sumthin new...

I had no idea a Home Depot toilet seal is bee's wax. Very cool! That's alot of wax for a little money.

Do you have an equally easy source for tallow?
 
Toilet rings are not enough beesawax to even consider as being bees wax anymore, if they have any at all. I know the value of bees wax and there's no way toilet rings would sell as cheap as they do if they were bees wax.

Difficult to load can be caused by size or composition. Use only pure lead (no "hard cast", sheesh!) or a maximum of 2% tin for cap-and-ball, and not more than a few thousandths larger than the chamber openings.
 
If one wants real 100% bee's wax, one source may be at the grocery store where in some brands of honey you can see and get a honeycomb inside the jar with the honey. That honeycomb is pure bee's wax. When I was a kid mom used to get those a lot. I'd pull the honeycomb out of the jar and cut it into bite size chunks. Then I'd chew it like gum to get all the honey out of it and then just discard the white bee's wax when I was done. Sometimes I'd roll the bee's wax in my hands to warm and soften it up a bit and form things like little army men toy soldiers with it or animals like a horse. That's reaching WAY back into my memory. Haven't looked recently to see if Winn Dixie or Publix grocery stores that I shop at still carry the honey with the honeycomb in the jar. Have to check that next time I'm there.



.
 
yeah, toilet rings are paraffin these days but paraffin is one of those rare petroleum based products that is acceptable to use with bp. It's something about the way it's processed.
 
I don't use the wax; this rookie just uses a "wonder wad" under the ball in the revolver and something similar on the sidelock pistol (alls i got so far).

But i don't know how "cheap" is "cheap", so this place has it for $14 per pound, shipped. I have not ordered from them myself, though. They also have larger servings.

http://www.ebeehoney.com/beeswax_1lb.html

How much wax do you use per cylinder/load?
 
Almost every county in the US has an agriculture extension office, or some state/local government or university office devoted to serving and supporting local agriculture operations (farms to us old folks). These offices will have information on local beekeepers, almost all of whom will be glad to give away all the beeswax you can carry. It will need to be melted down and filtered through some cheesecloth to remove dirt, twigs, bee body parts, etc.
 
Beeswax

Michael's craft stores sell beeswax in one pound cakes. Just go to the candle making section and there you will find the beeswax.
 
You all might think I'm kidding, but I am not. My beeswax lube that I use
over the ball on my revolvers is made from beeswax that the bees are
bred just for this purpose. The bees are kept by the guy who made the
revolver, and he supplies the beeswax lube to me. I really am not kidding.
 
My beeswax lube that I use
over the ball on my revolvers is made from beeswax that the bees are
bred just for this purpose. The bees are kept by the guy who made the
revolver, and he supplies the beeswax lube to me. I really am not kidding.
Click to expand...

Hmmmmmm.:confused:
 
If you think that's pretty far out, you don't want to know how he tells me
to prepare my flints that I use in my Flintlock that he made. This guy is way
ahead of his time.
 
ace hardware down here sells beeswax, a little flat cup cake for 99cents last time i purchased which was several years ago.........

s.m.
 
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