caliber

[greensleep]

howdy,
I recently bought a Walker revolver reproduction (44 cal)by Uberti. Being new to black powder, I have a number of different caliber lead balls and am wondering if it's ok to load my pistol with balls marked as 45 caliber, but are . 457 in diameter and I've been told that that diameter ball is appropriate for the large cylinder chambers on the Walker.
Anyone know for sure/

 

[mykeal]

The Walker will use a .457 projectile very nicely. They are oversize for the chamber, as intended. Loading them involves swaging the ball into the chamber and shaving off a thin circle of lead. This ensures a tight seal between the ball and the chamber, necessary to prevent escaping gas and thus obtaining the maximum power from the burning powder.

 

[Hellgate]

I shoot .454 dia balls in my two Walkers but .457s are fine. The .451s might be a little small but i've used some in a few of my guns with tighter chambers. However, all of my dozen or more C&B 44s shoot the .454s just fine. If you use factory swaged (Hornady, Speer) dead soft lead .457s they'll be fine. If you scrounge your lead and get a harder alloy the .457s may be a little harder to ram in some guns. When I used up some extra.457s in my 44 Remingtons I really couldn't tell there was much difference in ramming effort over the.454s.