36 Cal boolits for C&B

[Uncle Jimbo]

Went out shooting today with the grandkids and after we were done and cleaned the guns,
went to put them back in the safe. One of the grandkids seen the old Navy 1851 36 caliber cap and ball and ask why we never shot that one.
Thought about it for a few minutes and decided to buy a mold for it and start shooting it again.
Looked at the 36 cal ball molds and then seen this one. It is a Lee D C 375-130-1R. Has anyone used this in a 36 cal c&b or had any experience with it? Or has some other suggestions.


Thanks,

[Light attack]

It looks just like one my dad used. He had a Lyman single cavity mold. We shot it in a Manhattan arms C&B five shot. I have no idea what load we used. My dad had a small cartridge case taped to a stick and used that to measure the powder. We also dug the boolits out of the dirt and refired them. This was the first gun I fired. I was five at the time. Great memories.

Light Attack

[beagle]

I beleive the old Lyman 37583 was designed for that application if you run across one. May be wrong as I'm not a BP shooter./beagle

[MtGun44]

I have not cast my own round balls, partly because I don't use enough to make it
worth while, really.

I use .375 diam Hornady balls in my .36 Navy and .454 diam in my .44 Army. They
work well. You want large enough to shear a small ring of lead when you seat the
ball. Also, I strongly recommend NOT using the Crisco over the ball loading method,
but use a Wonder Wad over the powder and under the ball. You can shoot this all
day without the gun getting nasty and binding up like it does when you use goop
like Crisco on top of the ball. I learned this from Elmer Keith's books and he learned
it directly from Civil War veterans when he was a kid.

Chain firing is more likely to be caused by loose caps that are pinched to make them
hold on the nipples and fire getting under the loose cap. Proper fitting caps that press
on firmly are a must. Now we can get No. 10s and they fit many guns better than the
old No. 11s.

Bill

[StrawHat]

I have no experience with that mold but do have some with an older Lee conical mold. It is cut to cast a HP boolit suitable for the 36 C&B. I did not use it a lot but it shot okay. I prefer the round ball for the revolvers and have settled on .380 to feed them. I have a mix of Uberti and other makers. Some can use the smaller .375 but they all can use the .380 so I try to make things simple.

The advice to use a wad between powder and lead is good. It takes up a bit of powder space but it does keep the revolver clean. The fit between lead and chamber wall is what keeps the flash over away from the powder. A tight fitting caps keep chain fires away. If the caps are too tight on the cones, I chuck them in a drill and turn them down with a fine toothed file. Others buy cones from various suttlers. All sorts of ways to get them to work!

[Uncle Jimbo]

The Wonder wad interested me, I am now researching them. Still seeking more info on the conical mold or the round ball mold.

[DIRT Farmer]

A good many target shooters use a small amount of corn meal between powder and ball to get the ball to the cylinder face and have constant powder pressure. A side effect is a fairly clean barrel.

[.22-10-45]

Hello, everyone. I have that Lyman 37583..saw it listed in Lyman catalog back in early 70's & bought one..what Lyman didn't mention was it is nearly impossible to get that bullet seated in a c&b cylinder with loading lever..the bullet is too long to fit in "cut-out" in 51' navy brl.
And even if using a press type cyl. loader, the darn thing is going to be a bugger to start straight, with it's full dia. base band.
What this bullet was designed for was a short range/small game bullet for the .38-55Win.
The LEE with it's undersize base band would probably be better.

[telebasher]

I use 380 balls cast from a Lee mould and use home made wads punched from old felt hats and saturated with a Wonder Lube type lube. My new army copy will shoot in 2 inches @ 25 yards. I also keep a container of "Baby Wipes" in my pistol box to wipe the revolver off occasionly and my hands , keeps things from getting to messy during extended shooting sessions.

[MtGun44]

The issue with the conicals is space. The cylinders will not allow full power with the conicals
and if you want kid loads, they are heavier, so more recoil. I would wonder about the
rifling twist, too. Usually round ball guns have super slow rifling twist, so you may not
get as good accy with the longer conicals. I haven't tried conicals for the above reasons,
and since the round balls work so very well in my guns.

Bill