Balls v Bullets in Cap & Ball

[THBailey]

Just got a new to me Euroarms 36 New Navy, my first 36. Did a tad of research, and apparently bullets were pretty widely used in cap and ball revolvers during the Civil War (or War of Northern Aggression if ya'all hail from south of the Mason Dixon line). I have a few 44's and have tried the conical bullets with poor results, and given the punch the 44 140 gr ball has, I abandoned the effort. I would guess my poor results were more because of my poor technique rather than inherent issues with the conical projectile. Seems with the 36, though, a 130 bullet has a bunch more punch than the wimpy little 80 gr .375 ball, so here I go again. Was hoping for some sage advice from the forum for a head start on 36 cal bullet do and dont's.

Thanks.199221

[rodwha]

Most likely whether or not they'll do well with a conical/boolit is the rifling twist assuming you were speaking of accuracy.

My ROA and NMA both have 1:16" twists and so equally well with a ball as they do with every boolit I've fed them.

When I bought my NMA I assumed it had the slow twist people often mentioned and so when I designed my custom mold I had a boolit made the length of a ball (.460"). However Pietta changed to twist to a faster one.

Can you figure the twist rates of your guns?

[Fly]

I found in my Pieta .36 Remy Lee conical were about the same. I did use a felt wad over the powder.

Fly

[Good Cheer]

THBailey,
The biggie is getting the bullet aligned at loading such that when fired the base will be reliably perpendicular to the centerline of the bore. My way of doing things is usually to size bullets to have the rear portion slip into the chamber and the front portion swage in like a round ball does. Tough to find off the shelf components for a .36 so this is a ball mold altered to make an adjustable length bullet mold that loads in that fashion.

199231

199232

[Good Cheer]

By the way, about the Piettas. Being manufactured with a taper on the chambers a longer bullet can create substantial resistance with loading. And the loading levers aren't so strong. Not like on a 1860 or 1861. So the right bullet diameter for the length and for the chamber taper can end up being important. Not that it'd be a problem in any given revolver but it can be, especially with a little fouling build up while shooting. And I'm saying the Pietta only because that's what I've got one of on hand. Other makes might be different. I just don't know.

[bedbugbilly]

One also has to remember that during the Civil War, revolvers were loaded with combustible cartridges which were inserted into the chambers and seated - thus sort of removing the "muss and fuss" of alignment issues with the conical boolit.

I have always shot Navies - usually "51s but I do have a Pietta Remington Navy - a nice revolver and a good shooter. I decided to try the conicals a while back - the last time I had shot conicals was way back in the 1960s with an original Remington Navy. I purchased one of the Lee molds and it dropped good boolits but I didn't have much success with the out of my Navies - more trouble than they were worth and I traded the mold off and stuck with round ball which shoot well out of my particular Navies. 50 yards is about the max that I have ever shot my Navies and usually at a much shorter range than that - usually 25 yards. When I was a kid, the round ball out of a Navy was deadly on rabbits if you could catch them sitting and I even took a few squirrels with one.

Don't let other's experiences discourage you from trying conicals though as you might find that they work very well for you and your revolver. The fun is in the "trying" and the only way you'll know is to try some and see. You might see if you could buy some conicals from someone on here and see how they work before you invest in a mold. If I still had my mold, I'd cast some up and send then to you to try but it is gone. Let us know how it goes if you try them - I'd be interested in knowing how they work out of a Euroarms Navy. Nice looking Remington you have there - enjoy and have fun!

[Good Cheer]

By the way, about the Piettas. Being manufactured with a taper on the chambers a longer bullet can create substantial resistance with loading. And the loading levers aren't so strong. Not like on a 1860 or 1861. So the right bullet diameter for the length and for the chamber taper can end up being important. Not that it'd be a problem in any given revolver but it can be, especially with a little fouling build up while shooting. And I'm saying the Pietta only because that's what I've got one of on hand. Other makes might be different. I just don't know.

Added note: I did have a Euroarms .36 at one point. Was having it altered to be a .41 and some low life got it from the smith's shop. The Euroarms was a nice piece, certainly better than the Pietta I ended up with.

[swathdiver]

Compared with an original, your Euroarms sixgun will likely have rifling more suited for round ball than conicals. However, we have a Pietta Remington Belt Model sixgun in .36 caliber that shoots Kaido Conicals very well. Indeed, the Kaido Conical no matter the size shoots quite accurately in all sixguns and is a proven big-game boolit. The Kaido Conicals are essentially a Keith Design boolit with a rebated heel and big grease grooves for black powder sixguns.

Pick up a mold and enjoy!

[rodwha]

Compared with an original, your Euroarms sixgun will likely have rifling more suited for round ball than conicals. However, we have a Pietta Remington Belt Model sixgun in .36 caliber that shoots Kaido Conicals very well. Indeed, the Kaido Conical no matter the size shoots quite accurately in all sixguns and is a proven big-game boolit. The Kaido Conicals are essentially a Keith Design boolit with a rebated heel and big grease grooves for black powder sixguns.

Pick up a mold and enjoy!

So does your pistol have a slower twist?

Has the .36 cal version been used for medium game? I hadn't seen that, just the .44 cal version, but then again I haven't checked the Yahoo groups in a looooong time.