Questions on roundball molds for 1851 Navy .36 calibre

[Texantothecore]

I will be getting an 1851 Navy .36 caliber pistol in a month or so and was wondering if a 000 buckshot mold would be as good as a two bullet mold from Lee. The buckshot mold drops 18 per pour, very efficient (I will be pouring for ten kids who love to shoot). What has been your experience with this type of round.

I figure I can let them shoot all day and it will cost 10 or 20 bucks and it make them familiar with the magic of black powder.

Can't wait to get this pistol.

[dondiego]

The 1851 shoots a 0.375 ball. What is the diameter of the 000 buck?

[Squeeze]

000 buck is .360, 0000 is .380

[Texantothecore]

.360 is the stated diameter of the buckshot a question that I forgot to ask. Do you use pure lead or Lyman #2?

[dondiego]

Pure lead with these so it can shave off a ring easily. #2 would put some real strain on the loading lever.

[Fly]

Just buy a Lee black powder mold for .36 cal.They also have a conical mold.

Fly

[Good Cheer]

I will be getting an 1851 Navy .36 caliber pistol in a month or so and was wondering if a 000 buckshot mold would be as good as a two bullet mold from Lee. The buckshot mold drops 18 per pour, very efficient (I will be pouring for ten kids who love to shoot). What has been your experience with this type of round.

I figure I can let them shoot all day and it will cost 10 or 20 bucks and it make them familiar with the magic of black powder.

Can't wait to get this pistol.

10Ring there on Jones Road probably has the Lee round ball mold. They keep a pretty good spread of molds on the shelf.
https://www.10ring.com/contact-us

[Outpost75]

Pure lead is OK, but 1:40 (2.5% Sn) improves fillout and increases hardness only negligibly. Best accuracy is with a ball large enough that you cut a visible ring of lead in seating, but doing so should not require significant effort. In new Italian repros a .375" is correct, in originals in which the chambers show some wear, you will need .380", but under NO circumstances any harder than 1:40 or you may bebd or break the loading lever. In my original I learned on as a kid we used 20 grs. of 3Fg, a wad cut from an old wool GI blanket, lubricated with equal parts of beeswax and hog lard, cut with a 3/8" Osbourne punch. If ball fits tight and you use lubricated wad, you don't need further grease over the ball.

Read the chapter on Management of the Cap&Ball Sixgun in Keith's book, Sixguns.

[Battis]

.375 roundballs might work but I use .380 pure lead roundballs in my repros and original (Lee mold). They were made for pure lead balls. The chambers of my original, and some repros, are chamfered (beveled), so the shaved ring sits lower.

[Texantothecore]

Thanks everyone. I learned a great deal from this thread.

[Hellgate]

You can buy a 0000 buckshot mold from buckshotmold.com

[Omnivore]

Yeah it depends on the repro too. You don't say what you have. My Uberti '61 Navy chambers run around .375" so a .375" ball is too small. There is no one-size-fits-all unless it's a larger size. In 44 caliber for example my Pietta Remington takes the Lee 450-200 bullet just fine, but the same bullet plunks right down into my Uberti Remington chambers with almost no resistence (not usable). Same model, two different makes. Try to get an accurate measurement of your chambers first. The Lee molds are so cheap it makes no sense to compromise on your ball diameter.

[Texantothecore]

It will be a Pietta, 36 cal, brass frame.

[Texantothecore]

I was just looking around the net and it appears that a clay extruder filled with Crisco might be just the tool to use to keep it nice and neat.

[Dframe]

I'd invest in a cylinder loader. You can usually find them cheap (around $30) and they take a LOT of stress and strain OFF the loading lever assembly. They also simplify loading making it easy to see all six chambers and "what's in em"

[Texantothecore]

I looked at a cylinder loader. Pretty slick loading.

The instructions said that a wad over the ball would prevent chain fires. I hadn't thought of that.

[Bardo]

I looked at a cylinder loader. Pretty slick loading.

The instructions said that a wad over the ball would prevent chain fires. I hadn't thought of that.

Over the ball or powder? I always do powder wad then ball.

Bardo

[Texantothecore]

I read the instructions several times and it said over the ball.
I have a lot of emmerts lube cookies and I may use them over the ball and smush them down with a stick to fill the chamber. That should work well.

[Texantothecore]

I am out of the smokeless powder market permanently. I switched back to bp this last year as it is simply more fun. By a longshot.
So a brass frame suits me perfectly as well as being good looking.

[Battis]

I use lube sticks, made from my favorite mixture of beeswax, paraffin, olive oil, Eye of Newt. I plug the end of the barrel with an ear plug, pour the melted mixture in, let it cool, push it out with a stick. Now I have lube sticks that are custom fit to that barrel, from which I cut off plugs as needed to put over the balls in the chambers.
I also use the vegetable spray PAM over the balls and down the barrel.
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m217/pohill/S4020206_zpsa0281c39.jpg

[histed]

Battis - doesn't all that spray get a little slick and messy when you're shooting? The lube stick sounds interesting. Any problems getting it out of the rifling?

[Texantothecore]

I use lube sticks, made from my favorite mixture of beeswax, paraffin, olive oil, Eye of Newt. I plug the end of the barrel with an ear plug, pour the melted mixture in, let it cool, push it out with a stick. Now I have lube sticks that are custom fit to that barrel, from which I cut off plugs as needed to put over the balls in the chambers.
I also use the vegetable spray PAM over the balls and down the barrel.
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m217/pohill/S4020206_zpsa0281c39.jpg


What a good idea. I am going have to go and fire up the old microwave and make some sticks.

Bp people are always coming up with clever ideas. This is great.

[Battis]

The PAM works as well as Crisco or Bore Butter (both are melted in the chambers after the first shot). I use it in my Trapdoor 50-70 and Vetterlis - every few shots I spray it down the barrel, tip the gun down and wait for all the goop to slide out. After I run a patch, I give it another spray or two for lube. I also use it in my two muzzleloading .50 caliber rifles. It's not too messy, unless you miss and spray it all over the gun. Sometimes it smells like burnt popcorn. I gotta say, my Ruger Old Army does not like it for some reason, but my Remington New Model .44 does - it keeps that ungrooved, slim cylinder pin nice and slick.
With the right recipe, the lube sticks are easy to use.

[histed]

Always willing to try something new. This place continues to be a font of information

[Texantothecore]

Are any of you using paper cartridges with round ball?

If so, how do you make them?

[histed]

Not sure about revolver cartridges, but with muskets, like the Brown Bess, we made a wooden former with on end slightly dished out. Put the ball in the dished out area, roll the tube with the paper extending just past the ball, the fold it over the ball to hold it together. Remove the former and add powder, then secure the tail much as is done in the video in this thread.. With a revolver I think skip the dish and add a wad between the ball and powder. Could even use the lube wads detailed above on top of the ball and fasten the whole thing with crazy glue.