Best seating depth for R ball in revolver

[tacotime]

Just wondering the there is an optimum ball seating depth on the Ruger Old Army or similar cap and ball revolvers?

The only 6 shot trial I did had the 38 grain Pyrodex load with farina filler over a cardboard wad and .457 ball shooting a wider group than the wad and powder with no filler.

The 38 or 40 grains and about .25cc (half a Lee 0.5cc dipper) still leaves the ball below the rim maybe 1/8 inch or so.

Do you get better groups with the ball up at the rim?

[VintageRifle]

You don't want any air space between powder and ball. Seating depth will depend on amount of powder used.

[square butte]

In other words - Always seat the ball firmly on top of the powder charge. Only way to adjust the seating depth would be to use more or less powder.

[tacotime]

Well, except depth control by more or less filler. That's the question - does it help the groups to use filler to move the ball close to the rim? Or, just ram the ball on the wad and powder with no filler, though further below the rim.

[DIRT Farmer]

Almost all of the target shooters except the ones who have had cylinders made to hold the charge they want only use some filler to hold the ball to the front of the cylinder. always mesure the filler just as you would the powder. Corn meal also helps to keep the barrel cleaner.

In a 36 I have went as low as 12 grains to get the point of impact I wanted in a fixed sighted gun and no balls stuck in the target.

[Alan]

Lose the filler and the Pyrodex. Greased felt wads are best in my experience, but you can get by without them if you put grease over the ball. I don't think the grease is for lube as much as it is for keeping fouling soft, so one shot wipes out the fouling of the last. There are several good recipe's for lube on this board, but Crisco will work in a pinch. Your maximum accurate load will be the amount of powder that you can seat a wad on top of so the wad does NOT touch the ball as it sits on the chamber mouth. You want the ball to self-center without interference. Seat the ball with firm pressure. Once you feel it contact the powder, seat it a scooch further. Use 2F Goex or Swiss. You might find best accuracy by backing down from this charge by 2-5 grains, but probably no lower. This will guarantee that you will be able to seat the ball below the chamber mouth, and it will still be close enough to the mouth to minimize jump.

IIRC, my ROA will allow 45gr of 2F by my measure, and allow me to seat a wad and not interfere with the ball. This load will literally cut one ragged hole at 25 yards if I'm having a good day.

[tacotime]

Good info, thanks. Dropped the filler for the 40+ grain loads. The cardboard wad so far has produced slightly smaller groups. Still testing. Going up a few grains. Using a little bore butter around the edges of the balls currently.

[Fly]

I like the felt wad.I coat the felt wads with mink oil, & melt in the wad in the microwave.
Works for me.
Fly

[59sharps]

why do you want to punish yourself w/ that much powder. (unless you are hunting w it.) I get my best acc out to 50yrds w/ 15 & 18 grains of goex 3fffg. filler to bring it up level. no greasy wads under the ball that could effect the charge. beeswax /oliveoil lube on top of ball that what works for me.

[KCSO]

Below the mouth of the chamber helps a lot. Past that as long as it's tight to the powder. In an attempt to find the best accuracy with a revolver we cut the cylinder back so that a wad cutter would be flush with the face of the cylinder when loaded and then cut a barrel to fit. The gun was not a whit more accurate than a standard revolver, but it did look funny.