Help need with ball size Umberti new army C&B revolver .44

[Neo]

Hi all I just bought a Uberti new mod army cap and ball revolver in .44 cal I was wandering what size ball I should use in it any help with this would be much appreciated.

[carbine]

The factory recommends .451 but we have found that a bigger ball gives a better seal and better accuracy. try .454.

[Omnivore]

Yeah, that's Uberti, without the "m".

.454" or .457" will both do nicely, as will the 200 grain Lee 450-200-1R conical and other conicals designed for percussion revolvers.

[pietro]

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I've successfully used a .457" RB in both my .44's - a Ruger Old Army & a M-1860 Colt replica.

I prefer the larger diameter balls (they're no harder to load than smaller ones) because a thin ring of lead is shaved off the ball as it's seated in the chamber, sealing the chamber mouth & thus preventing lighting off a chamber next to the one lined up with the barrel when cocked (aka: "chain-firing" or "cross-firing").




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[swathdiver]

Mic your chambers. Most Ubertis prefer a .457 like the originals.

[Hickok]

I use .454" in my Uberti and Pietta's.

[Pine Baron]

I have an Uberti Remmy. .451 RB, I swear, rattles down the barrel. .457 RB is a tight fit, but works well. Best accuracy is with a .454 RB, over 30gns Pyrodex P (volume), grease on top. #11 percussion caps.

[CPL Lou]

Both of my Uberti's prefer a .454" ball.

CPL Lou

[Old Ironsights]

200gr .45 Lee REAL or .454 ball works best in mine.

[Tar Heel]

Use .454 balls. They are specified in the owners manual. 457 balls are too large. You will snap the loading lever trying to seat them.

[Omnivore]

457 balls are too large. You will snap the loading lever trying to seat them.

That'd be a highly defective loading lever. I don't know where this idea comes from; the Remington New Model loading lever is extremely stout. I've had both hands on it with the gun's grip against my shoulder, reefing on it HARD. I've done this many, many times on three different guns, Piettas and an Uberti, and never bent or broken anything. And besides; as mentioned in an earlier reply, seating the .457" ball is almost indistinguishable from seating the .454" The hard seating I've done was always with conicals over full loads of powder. Going on ten years with my older Pietta, I still have the original lever and lever screw.

Now; I'm assuming we are talking about a Remington, being as Colt refered to his last series of percussion revolvers (1860, '61, & '62) as "New Model" also. Technically speaking then, a "New Model Army" could be a Colt 1860 or a Remington. Even so; I've gotten far more brutal with my 1860 Colt's loading lever than you'd ever get with a standard load using a .457" round ball. The only time it gets rough is when you're trying to stuff in a heavy, compressed charge, packing in 30 grains of real black, a lube cookie and a long conical for example, and I've done that hundreds of times with no effects to the loading lever or lever screw whatsoever. In fact I've been able to stuff in 40 Grains of Goex, a card and a Lee 200 conical and that was REALLY rough (you will almost certainly ding your chamber mouths in the process, but that's a different subject). I've done it 24 times, and I'm still using that lever and screw, years later. Seating a .457" ball over 30 grains is a dainty child's play by comparison.

Please then; either show us your "snapped" loading lever or stop repeating old internet rumors. I've seen that rumor passed along many times, for years and years, but I've never seen a broken loading lever or lever screw.

[Fly]

I use both .457 & .454. Using pure lead balls the pressing in the cylinder shaves lead
from the over sized balls. The seal protects chain fire from front of cylinder. I have used
them on my uberti revolvers for years with never a problem.

Fly

[Tar Heel]

Please then; either show us your "snapped" loading lever or stop repeating old internet rumors. I've seen that rumor passed along many times, for years and years, but I've never seen a broken loading lever or lever screw.

Attachment 169682

You could probably pound a .458 in there too if you really want to. It's not necessary though since the .454 works just fine without all the extra force and associated ball deformation. Whatever though...to each his own. Good shooting gents.

[Fly]

Well I think the revolver in question was a Uberti. Uberti cylinder bores are larger than say a Pietta or some others.
Also using a harder lead than pure soft lead can be a problem.
Fly

[Omnivore]

Tar Heel; first one I ever did see, in ten years. Thanks for that.

I stand by the notion that it would have been a defective lever though. I bet the steel around the screw hole was way too thin, and they should replace the lever for you under warantee.

I've used hundreds of .457s in my Piettas, as have others, with the original, undersized Pietta chambers, with no ill effects. I've had to reef a lot harder on the lever with other loads besides. I'll repeat, because it bears repeating here, that seating a .457" feels almost the same as seating a .454". If you were to cast one out of Lyman #2 or linotype then I might could see a problem.

Look at the steel surrounding your lever screw then. If it looks especially thin at its thinnest point, then be more careful, or better yet get it replaced.