Anyone use conicals in an 1860?

[armoredman]

Just out of curiosity. I thought I might try some of they will work for small game or fun. 44, or course.

[Mk42gunner]

I don't think I have ever loaded a conical in any of my cap and ball revolvers; not that I wouldn't, its just that the round ball has been acceptably accurate and uses less lead.

Most of mine are .36's, but I do have both a Walker and an 1860.

Robert

[armoredman]

That was kinda what I expected, all I ever used was round ball too, just curious.

[johnsonian09]

Want some johnston and dow boolits to sample? I used them in my 1858. They are heeled and easy to load. Esp if u use paper cartridges

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[winelover]

Required for deer hunting in Arkansas, with a black power pistol.

Winelover

[barnabus]

only bullet that will fit a 1860 without modification is the english kerr bullet

[Nobade]

I shoot the Kerr bullets in mine sometimes. They certainly hit harder than balls but the impact is a bit higher as would be expected and they're not as accurate.

[gwpercle]

Oh Yeah ... had to try out that other , pointed , cavity boolit that was in the little mould that came with a brace of Manhatten cap and ball revolvers ...afier shooting buckets of round balls in my Navy Colt reproduction . Besides being harder to cast and harder to load ... I saw no accuracy advantage with them ... groups were consistent with round ball . Never hunted anything and the gallon milk jug filled with water didn't die any faster ... I never saw the advantage , at least in a 36 cal. Navy Colt shooting at tin cans , targets and water filled milk jugs .
Gary

[bedbugbilly]

I have the Johnson & Dow (Eras Gone) for my 44s - Colt & Remington clones - it shoots O.K. but as mentioned, ob a Colt, the loading window will usually need to be opened up to a more original profile.

I have the Colt Cartridge style (Eras Gone) for my 36s - Colt & Remington clones - pretty much the same results as in the 44s.

Is it worth the effort to try? Depends on the individual. I like shooting "historical" rounds - sometimes just so I can see how they shoot and to know I have shot them.

I learned to shoot cap and ball many years ago from an old gunsmith in his late 80s - he taught me with his grandfather's original '51 Colt. For close to 60 years now, while I have a wide variety of 36s and 44s - my favorite is still still the '51 Colt.

When I was a kid, I rabbit and squirrel hunted with a '51 Navy using round ball - I missed a few but I also nagged a few. It's fun to try new things and some folks do very well shooting conicals. Both conicals and round ball are "historical". If you are one who likes to make paper cartridges - both will work but a heeled conical gives a good glueing surface. I'll still continue to shoot conicals once in a while, but the majority of the time I will still stick to the round balls - they do the job on paper (which I rarely shoot) and the do the trick on cans and other plinking targets.

Like often is the case - if you think you might want a conical mold - try to get some sample boolits and try them first and see how they shoot for you. Good luck to you and have fun!

[Bent Ramrod]

Way back when, my first mould was the hollowbase Ideal 450224, that I convinced myself had to shoot harder and more accurately in my Navy Arms 1860 Army than round balls.

Back then, I never “wasted” a cylinderful on a paper target; it was all about “hitting stuff” at plinking sessions at the dump.

The cavity on a good mould has a slight rebate on the skirt for starting into the cylinder, so they went in pretty straight. Long afterwards, with the 1860 long gone, I tried them against round balls on paper targets over my trusty Shooting Chrony in a Starr replica revolver and found the round balls were faster and more accurate with the same powder charges.

The grease in the grooves of the boolit relieved me of the need to put lube over the round balls, and they printed nice round holes on the target, but that was about all.

[BunkTheory]

Although when you get down to it, the "safe" loading data as offered in the manufacturers manuals are technically round balls loaded with the low end charge allowed for a conical.