Pietta 1860 .44 chamber and barrel dimension

[higgins]

Today was my first trip out with a Pietta 1860 Army .44. I had difficulty seating .454 balls. When I got home I found that part of the problem was that the ".454" balls were more like .457-.458. While I was at it, I slugged the bore and a couple of chambers and got .446-.447 for the bore, and both chambers slugged .447. Am I in the range that should be expected for an 1860 Army? What dimensions have some of you found in the chambers and bores of your .44 Pietta or Uberti revolvers? I think I'm going to try some .451 balls because I just don't think it should be that difficult to ram them. Thanks.

[docone31]

Wow, your .457s seem a little large for .454.
Did you cast them, or were they commercial.
Mine mikes out at .443. My calipers are blinking so I am about out of battery.
All I know about that one, it sure is a sweet shooter!
How did it fire?

[northmn]

The old standard for Colts was 454 and for Remingtons 451. A lot of folks have used 451 ball with good results. If you look at the old Peacemaker bullets they were 454 which were a result of the machining tools from the C&B days. Buy some 451 swaged ball and try them. The old recommendation that a ring should be cut when loading the ball is not a bad one. Modern maching has switched to 452 bullets for 45's.

Northmn

[higgins]

It shot well at cans up close. I didn't do any targe testing; at this point I just wanted to make sure everything was working OK. I'm mostly interested in finding out how my measured diameters for bore and chamber compare to measured bore and chamber dimensions others have seen .

[mooman76]

Is your's a Lee mould? I bought one in 454 and it cast like 456-7 and I even bought another and got the same. My 457 drops about 458 so it isn't as bad. I was thinking of getting a 451.

[curator]

Wow, my two Pietta 1858 Armys both slug .452 in the grooves of the barrel. Barrels both measure .440 across the lands. Like yours, my cylinder chambers were .447. Accuracy was mediocre until I reamed the chambers to .4525. I buy Hornady .454 balls or if I can't get them I get .457. The .457s are a bit more accurate but more difficult to load. Using a cylinder loader with the cylinder off the gun makes this a bit easier.

[JIMinPHX]

Is your's a Lee mould? I bought one in 454 and it cast like 456-7

Same here. I almost wonder if the backorders for .454 molds got so deep that they just started filing them with what they had on hand. The .454 molds were out of stock at Cabellas for over a year.

It doesn't really matter though. I have yet to see a "454" gun that didn't like .457 balls. You always shave a ring off when you load anyway. So the ring is .0155" instead of .0140" in average cross-section. What's the difference?

In answer to the original poster's questions - It is perfectly normal for the ball to be several thousandths larger in diameter than the throats on a C&B revolver. When you load the balls, you are supposed to get a full ring of lead that shaves off the ball. If the ring is broken, then you may not have a good seal. Also, the chambers should be at least as big as the groove diameter, if not a thousandth or two bigger. It sounds like you have a good one. I would probably prefer .457 balls in that gun.

Also, as a general precaution, I always either grease over the balls or put a wonder wad under them as an extra precaution. Chain fires are rare, but they are a terrible thing. In additon to that, If you carry that thing loaded, don't leave the hammer resting on a loaded chamber. Those old antique style guns don't have cross block safeties. They can go off if you bump the back of the hammer.

[Cbenc1]

Higgins, I have an 1860 Colt, and an 1858 Remington both made by Pietta. The chambers on both measure .446, the groove diameter on the 1860 is .451, and the 1858 is .452. I use .451 balls in both with good results and they are easy to ram with a small ring shaved off upon seating. Although I can't help thinking I would have even better results if I opened up the chambers to .452 like Curator did.

[higgins]

The .454 balls were some I had on hand from a trade years ago - I didn't cast them myself. I'm starting to think they may not be cast of pure lead because they were so difficult to seat and because others seem to use .454 balls in chambers very close to mine, apparently without undue difficulty. I also got a .454 Lee mold when I got the gun and I've about decided to try some lead balls from that mold before I get a .451 mold. Or I may try some .451 Hornady balls out of curiosity. Thanks for the information.

[docone31]

Yeah, try that mold. I love it. Mine come out almost seamless.

[Odinbreaker]

I use 451 ball in my remington 1858 works fine easy to load flet under wad.

[NickSS]

The dimensions you quote are standard Piatta dimentions for 44s. Uberti makes them a little larger more like the original colt dimentions which Uberti closely duplicates. I use 451 balls in the piattas and 454 balls in my Ubertis. I get good accuracy with both. However, To cut down on casting two different sizes I have used .454s in both and they work just as good. I just shave a bit more lead in the Piattas. If I was a machinist or had the tooling I would open all the cylinders in all my Piattas to .452 and shoot . 454 balls in them all the time.