Ball to cylinder fit

[sutherpride59]

So I have a colt walker that I accidentally won in a silent auction. It was in great condition and I’ve had a great time shooting it. It’s pretty accurate for a BP fun as it’s only the second one I’ve ever owned. I noticed however that consistently when I ran a ball on top of the powder and felt wad that the ball comes right back out of the cylinder. I know I need to do some measurements obviously but is this common? I’m wondering if I should chamfer the leading edge of the cylinder more so the balls get swaged into the cylinder instead of having the excess lead shaved off. Also I’m thinking I might need to run my .452 reamer through the cylinder mouth to true the cylinders. I’ll look and do some measurements later but do y’all know if this is a common issue with the colt brand walkers?

[Tatume]

Try it without the felt wad.

[Outpost75]

The balls you are using are too small. You want the bullets to fit snugly enough that you observe a slight ring of lead swaged off the ball as it is chambered. Best is to check the chambers with pin gages to first make sure that they are uniform. If not, then true them with your .452" reamer and use a .457" ball, as for the Ruger Old Army. It is OK to SLIGHTLY chamfer the chamber entrances using a Brownell's 1/2" ball tool just enough to break the wire edge so that the balls enter smoothly. In my C&B revolvers I use 1 to 40 tin-lead from Roto Metals, which gives a nicely filled out ball of full diameter which is only slightly harder than pure lead.

Use enough powder to fill the chambers so that you can feel powder compression at the end of the rammer stroke. It is fine to use a lubricated wad over the powder, or a plain Buffalo Arms card wad with a pea-sized dab of Crisco, or a 50-50 blend of beeswax and olive or canola oil applied with a cake decorator. Or you can melt SPG lube, pour it out onto waxed paper, let harden, then cut out grease cookies with a punch. If you use a lubricated wad and grease under the ball, then you do not need to apply grease over top of the ball, and the gun will be cleaner to handle and shoot.

[megasupermagnum]

Do not chamfer the mouths. That is akin to increasing barrel/cylinder gap dramatically. Whatever ball you are using, use a larger one. If you are using .454", try .457".

[sutherpride59]

I’ll do some measuring later but I’ll try a larger ball first. I’m using lubed felt pads over the powder and 452 balls. It cuts a small lead ring but it almost seems like somehow the entrance is smaller than the inside of the cylinder. I’ll measure in a few hours and get to the bottom of it.

[sharps4590]

I use .457 in all my 44's.

[megasupermagnum]

I’ll do some measuring later but I’ll try a larger ball first. I’m using lubed felt pads over the powder and 452 balls. It cuts a small lead ring but it almost seems like somehow the entrance is smaller than the inside of the cylinder. I’ll measure in a few hours and get to the bottom of it.

There's your problem. Some use .454", but .457" is what I would use. .452" is certainly too small.

[Good Cheer]

Machine shop deburring on a hole can create a slight lip of pushed metal, moved to the inside of the hole. It depends upon the angle of the deburring device used, the pressure exerted during the operations, how dull the cutting edge had become. And yep, I've seen it on a percussion revolver before. If there's a tiny lip of steel pushed inwards on the edge of the hole it is determining the diameter of your loaded balls.

Concerning deburring on my percussion revolvers, I do. By hand with a standard Wilson deburring tool as is used by reloaders to clean up the mouths on their cases after trimming. Don't push hard 'cause you want zero lip.

[reivertom]

Some of those repo .45 percussion guns use .451(?) roundballs and some use .457. When you ram the ball over the powder, it should shave off a tiny ring of lead so you have the best gas seal possible. If it doesn't shave lead, the ball size is too small in diameter. Mine is a Colt Signature series, and it uses .457. A .451 diameter isn't big enough to shave lead and get a good gas seal. Try the bigger RB and you will be happy.