Sizing bullet heel for cap and ball revolver

[Crowkiller]

I've been shooting Lee conical in my reproduction Remington New Model Army. The rebated base starts square and they shoot great.
I just recently bought the Lee 452-200rf mold and thought it would be great for the cap and ball revolver. I have read it is possible to size part of the base so it acts like the Lee conical designed for the cap and ball revolvers. It looks like I can get a .446 die, a gas check seating attachment, and back the pure lead boolets partially into the die to size the base to start square into the cylinder.

Anyone have any experience with this?

[Good Cheer]

Yeah, it works it you have a sizing die that will make the hind end of the boolit just slip into the chamber.
The chamber is already probably below groove diameter so if you take it down very much you will be below bore diameter.

[bedbugbilly]

I dislike the Lee conicals - both 44 and 36 primarily for the experiences I've had with them - I realize that others have had good luck with them and I applaud their success.

Do a search for Eras Gone - he sells excellent two cavity molds - custom made by Lee that will cast copies of original style bullets for the C & B revolvers - conicals that have the proper shaped base that will sit in the chamber throat that will allow straight seating and good seal. I have the mold for the Johnson & Dow - .44 and the double cavity mold for the Colt Cartridge Company - .36 - both cast excellent conicals out of pure lead and are accurate. I have nothing to do with the Eras Gone - just love what he offers. He has a copy of an original Confederate style conical as well - also one to reproduce the original Smith Carbine bullet (conical). I have the Smith mold as well. Yea - the molds are pricey but they are custom run and the fellow who sells them through his Eras Gone company has don all the hard work to make the available. I still shoot round balls but I love how the original style conicals cast up. No messing around with trying to size a base of a Lee conical as the originals (as created in the Eras Gone molds) were made/designed the way they should be for a cap and ball revolver.

[StrawHat]

Many years ago a common modification on revolvers was to cut the chamber to a wider diameter that fit the body of the boolit and provided a ledge against which the base of the boolit would seat. The chamber was cut so that a good deal was maintained. We also would cut them so the boolit rested against the powder charge which was usually a lighter target charge. When the replicas started to become popular they were very undersized and needed more material removed.

Kevin

[Good Cheer]

My solution was to pick a caliber of off the shelf molds and have the revolver modified to suit.
If there was a line of reproduction revolvers that you could bore out to use .38 revolver molds I'd probably have one. Instead I use .41 molds.
Might go for something to use .45 molds but the thinning of the chamber walls worries me.
Maybe a Pietta 1858 bored out to use .44 molds would be pretty cool but the .41 suits me.

[yeahbub]

The chambers in my Pietta are .447, so .446 would be okay for clean chambers. I'd be more comfortable with a heel driving band at .444 for sure entry in fouled chambers. Best would be a 2-diameter sizing die, bored through at .442 and counterbored at .450 with a tapered transition .100 in length that I could use to taper the heel band from .442-.450 and adjust to get them to just enter the chambers when loading using loose components. When assembling paper cartridges, I'd be able to adjust the depth to size the entire heel band to .442 so the heel is small enough to enter the chamber squarely when wrapped with cartridge paper. Ramming them in will shear the paper at the second band and the excess is discarded.

[Bent Ramrod]

I did that with a Lyman .446” sizing die for the Ideal 450224, which for some reason didn’t have the proper rebate at the base. With the right top punch, it worked very well, the modified boolits seating straight in the chambers of my 1860 Army clone.

[Crowkiller]

Thanks everyone. The Lee conicals load and shoot well, I just wanted a wide flat point for game if I get the opportunity. I already have the mold, so wanted to see if this will work instead of ordering a Kaido mold.
I'll order a .446 die, which matches the base of the Lee conicals, and have it altered if I need to.

[Ozark mike]

What kind of accuracy are you getting with those Conicals I'd kind of like to find a way to get away from store bought RBs since I don't have a supply of pure lead.

[Ozark mike]

Also mine is a 58 remmie 44 can't remember the bore and chamber dimensions been to long ago since I measured

[Crowkiller]

My pietta 44 Remington shoots a little better with the conicals than the round balls. I have to cast them from my stash of pure lead to get them to load. I lube them with bore butter and load them with 30 grains of ffg and a card wad.