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Anybody shooting the .44 cal Era Gone Dragoon or Johnson & Dow bullets out of their Colt Walker ? Been shooting round balls for years but wanting to try conical s . Also got .36 cal Remington and Colt Navy repros and looking for a good conical mold for them to . Anybody got some recommendations ?
As a rule from looooong ago , balls are better and much more accurate . It has to do with keeping the conicals centered in the cylinder during ramming them in .
Chris
I've only shot round balls out of mine with reduced loads and never could hit the target with it. Only ever took it out once when I didn't have a clue what I was doing. Been meaning to take it out again as I've since gotten both a Colt Navy and a Remington Army and shot both with good effect.
I shot the reduced loads because I was nervous about shooting it. Never had shot a black powder revolver before and I had an irrational fear I was going to blow off all six cylinders at the same time. Didn't quite understand the concept of "buttering" the cylinder and all that.
Oddly enough, I do have the conical mold for it and made up some bullets.
I have heard from other sources that round balls are generally more accurate also.
I can't complain about the accuracy with round balls with my black powder revolvers but been watching youtube and it's given me the "itch" to try conicals if you know what I mean .
I've never shot conical slugs from my Uberti Dragoon....I can tell you that it needs .457" balls as .451/.454" balls are too small.
Seems I recall some company came out with a modern style percussion revolver bullet....I'll check around and see if I can find something
I did try some period type pointy conicals in a .36 Navy repro and they were awful....However I had cast those with one of those old style brass replica bullet molds that I think are more for looks than actual casting(fills a spot in a replica cased set)
I ran across a place called Authenic Paper Cartridges that sells just bullets and ordered some .44 and .36 bullets to try out before investing in moulds . It was I think $18 for 30 bullets of .36 cal and $22 for the .44 cal but not 100% positive on price without double checking . Will be posting another bullet question to .
you want to use a near full powder charge behind the ball . If you leave an air space between the ball and powder you will get an explosion . Using Crisco or other grease was to leave a " wet blanket " between the flash in the forcing cone and the next chambers . Modern way is to use a treated felt wad between the bullet and powder . You use a slightly oversized ball to a) make sure of a good seal to prevent a crossover and B) to make a flat ring to grab the rifling better .
Chris