Newbe Cowboy action casting question

[Dadswickedammo]

Got myself a 1858 rem have cast round ball all is good got a conversion cylinder and want to cast my boolits do these need to be swagged I mean I would like to and one day will once i get the sizer. The lead I will be using is 100% lead sheet lead have about 50lb.
So with the info you have will it be safe to shoot .452 cast through this with no swagging?
Thanx

[MikeS]

First off, welcome to the forum! And if you're new to casting boolits, welcome to the sickness :)

As long as you're keeping the loads on the light side, pure lead will work OK. Make sure you lube the boolits, even if you're going to shoot them as cast (no sizing). Also, so as to not confuse you &/or others, when running a boolit thru a sizing die, the term is 'sizing' not swagging, even tho that's what's being done in reality. The term swagging is used when you take either a cast lead core, or a lead wire core, and use swagging dies either in a standard reloading press, or one specifically designed for swagging boolits, normally with an added jacket.

What boolit design(s) were you planning on shooting with the conversion cylinder? Were you planning on still using the lead round balls? What powder were you planning on using, smokeless, or black? Depending on what powder you're going to use will determine what kind of lube you should use. When shooting with black powder the lube does an additional job of keeping the fouling soft, and black also doesn't usually like any lube with petroleum in it, such as alox. I really hate having to answer a question with even more questions, but to really give you a proper answer, more info is needed. Almost forgot to ask, what caliber are you going to shoot out of the conversion cylinder? Usually they're made for 45 Colt, but some folks shoot 45 Shoefield from them, and there are also conversions designed for 45ACP and/or 45 Autorim, so knowing what caliber you'll be shooting is also important.

[MikeS]

Also, I forgot to mention, that when it comes to sizing boolits, you don't need to get a lube/sizer right away, and can simply buy a Lee lube and size kit which will get you a sizing die that fits in a standard reloading press, along with a bottle of their LLA (Lee Liquid Alox) for tumble lubing your boolits. If you decide to use the LLA, remember to use less, rather than more, it will work much better that way. Done properly, once the LLA has been tumbled onto the boolits it should be barely visible, just giving the boolits a slightly brown tinge to them.

[Willbird]

Also the bullet should be sized to fit the throat in your revolver....or be bigger than the throat....and in turn he throats should be the same size as the bore or even better .001 bigger. Since your cyl is an add on accy for sure slug your bore and check the cyl throats ( the throat is the section ahead of the ctg the bullet goes through to reach the barrel) if your throats are undersized to the bore you will generally have a tough time from the outset. If they are undersized there are folks who will resize them for you.

[fcvan]

I have a CVA 1858 Remington but do not have a conversion cylinder. I initially cast soft lead round balls until I picked up conical molds for the percussion revolver. The Lee 450-200 RN is tapered to ease seating into the chamber. Mine measure about .450 at the base and about .454 at the front band. When seated, the chamber shaves the excess from the driving band and gives a good seal. I loaded with about 25 grains of Pyrodex and corn meal as a filler. the corn meal prevented chain fires and also helped keep the bore clean. I also noticed the revolver shot about the same with 25 and corn meal as it did with 30 grains without filler. I only added enough corn meal to help seat the round ball or conical flush with the cylinder. I store my corn meal in an old Pyrodex bottle with a nipple fixed to the lid with a C-clip which made short work of metering the corn meal.

If you plan on doing your shooting with the conversion cylinder using cases and BP, there are great posts here with links to video showing how to load the cases un-sized. The lubed boolits were placed over a lube wad and held in place by case tension with boolit set back prevented by the case full of powder. I also saw a great video where a guy was making paper cartridges for the percussion cylinder which contained the ball, powder, and cornmeal. everything was pre measured and assembled using cigarette papers. The paper cartridge was inserted into the chamber and indexed for seating. The pressure of seating apparently breaks the paper in the cylinder and the paper around the ball is sheared away leaving the exposed ball at the cylinder face. I plan to make up some to try as it looks neat. I'm also hoping to build up some slide top wooden boxes to hold 6 or 12 paper cartridges and some caps in a box that will fit in a vest pocket. I think that will be a nifty range accessory and neat Christmas gifts for my cap-shooting buddies.

[Willbird]

My first revolver was a Ruger old army at 14 yr old :-). I never had a rb mold but found the lee conical mentioned in. Previous post...worked great. Conventional wisdom is that bullets need to be of pure lead and that petroleum lubes are bad.....but not knowing all of that I cast them from air cooed WW...and lubed them with javelina in dads lubesizer.....and filled those cyl full enough of fff or ffff that the bullets just seated flush....then added a little crisco around the bullet ogive and I was loaded for bear :-)

[Dadswickedammo]

You Guys Rock! Really Thank you!!
Now I gots tons more questions here is my intent I like to keep things easy and fun I have two cap and ball cylinders that I will continue to use along with the conversion. The conversion is 45lc will keep under 850 fps I want to load two loads 1 in nickel cases with black powder brass cases with smokless powder. Is this going to to be O.K.? going from one to the other? I think it should be but I dident know fire was hot until i put my hand in. And bullet type well maybe I don't know what ever is on sale?? really with out any real reason was thinking round nose about 225/230gr.
Other question smokeless powder. would like a powder that would fill the case at least 50% at 850 fps as to avoid a double charge.

[geargnasher]

Just about the only smokeless powder that will fill past 50% of the case with loads safe for your conversion is IMR Trail Boss. Tin Star might work, but I don't know the volume/mass ratio of it, it may be extra-bulky too since it's intended for light, cowboy action -type loads. The Trail Boss CAN be loaded to dangerous levels like any smokeless powder in cartridges where enough of it will fit to be dangerous, so be careful and observe published data.

Gear

[Wayne Smith]

And, in case you don't know, the use of pure is to save your loading lever when using the cap and ball cylinder. You can use regular alloy when you are loading cartridges, just like any revolver.