ball size has me puzzled ...richland arms 1860 cap& ball

[mozeppa]

what i have is a .44 caliber 1860 revolver that measures .438 at the muzzle exit...
and had doug guy make all the chambers the same size,
because i had 5 different size chambers.

now all the chambers are all the same at .449+

what size ball, mold do i get for it ?.....and will this shoot with oversized balls in it?

or do i need the barrel re-bored ?

[mooman76]

The balls are oversized on purpose. They are press fitted into the chamber by the rammer. Many will say the right size is when you ram a ball in and shave off a very small ring of lead. It's kind of a try and see thing but usually .454 is the most common size but there are other sizes. I'm sure someone with more experience will chime in with info.

[country gent]

With 449 chamber mouths 454 balls may work well alot use .457 to get a good sheared ring and insure the chamber mouth is sealed to help stop chain fires ( sparks igniting the next chamber). Once the ball is seated to depth with the rammer thena finger full of crisco or soft bullet lube on top of the ball and chamber is the other method of reducing chain fires. Use pure lead for you balls to make them easier to load. Even a 457 ball seated in to the 449 chamber will leave only a small lead ring.

[swathdiver]

Is .438 your land or groove measurement? I suppose it is your land but the groove is more important to have a correlation with your .449 chambers. You don't want your chambers over .002" as too much pressure build up may ruin your day.

It's easier to shave off .005" than .008" with the guns rammer; you'll have to decide.

[Gtek]

.438" is Bore or Groove? My little collection runs between .438"-.442" bore and one has a .438" bore but .460" groove. Take barrel off, drive ball from chamber end out muzzle, stacking two and placing muzzle on hard surface and protected rod from rear. Tap until you get a really good thud and then drive out. You will get two cylindrical slugs that are easy to work with. Take a piece of shim stock or feeler gauge around .002" or so and wrap ball. Hold with one hand with edge on table and (MICROMETER) with other. Subtract shim thickness x2 and you will be within .001" or so. I have a coupe Italians and it appears .455"- .465" groove was ok with them on groove.

[Omnivore]

It doesn't matter. None of that junk matters. You're not redesigning, re-engineering the gun, or building a new one from scratch. Just get some .454" ball and start shooting.

No matter what size ball you start with, if it's at least a bit over chamber diameter then it's going to end up at .449" once it's loaded. ,454" ball is most common but some use .457" (as have I) and that will work just fine too. There's hardly any difference, so don't listen to those who try to tell you the .457" is any harder to load. I've used hundreds of them. Mostly I use .454" now, since that's the mold I have for casting.

Some of the factory literature has told us to use .451" ball, but you'll get better results with something a little larger that will seal better and also have more length of purchase in the rifling.

Any ball that's at least .451" will end up at the chamber diameter no matter how much time you totally waste trying to measure your bore and groove diameters. You can't do anything about them anyway.

in case you didn't know; all 44s from the 1860s era would be called 45s by today's standards. Maybe that's the source of your confusion. I don't know. But back in the day "44" referred to the bore diameter, whereas today we often name the caliber by its groove diameter.

NONE OF THAT MATTERS though. .454" or .457" ball will work great. Period. Don't over-think it.

Standard Italian reproduction 44 chambers typically run from around .445" to .450", so you're right in the ball park. Get some .454" or .457" ball, and don't look back.

[Hellgate]

I've owned 39 different Italian C&B repros. Most were .44s. ALL OF THEM loaded and fired the .454 ball just fine. Some would not hold a .451 and I would get "ball creep" from recoil. Get a LEE double cavity .454 mold and have at it. I probably cast 10,000 from mine and it still wasn't worn out. I now have a 4 cavity .454 RB mold but have toyed with getting a 6 cavity from Track of the Wolf (about 100 bucks).

[quail4jake]

.005-.008 over chamber...454. BTW try 3 parts beeswax to 1 part bore butter over the ball, more bore butter if cooler weather. I'm reasonably sure that you'll be satisfied with the results.

[Wayne Smith]

I don't use anything over the ball. I have some felt window seal that I soak in Emmerts and punch out wads and use those under the ball. I've never had a problem with that 'contaminating' the powder, but I've not left them loaded for weeks on end, either. This loading is easy, shoots clean, and doesn't effect accuracy as far as I can notice.