Lookie what Santa brought! 1858 Rem /45LC conversions

rbertalotto · December 23, 2011, 05:00:17 AM

I bought myself a Christmas present...........a pair of Pietta 1858 Remingtons with 45LC cylinder conversions......

If anyone has suggestions on what to use for 45LC loads, I'm all ears.
Bullets or balls?
Grease over the ball even in a cartridge?
What BP works best?

Dick Dastardly · December 23, 2011, 08:17:38 AM

Good on you Roy, good on Santa!

Glad that he didn't have to fly scheduled airlines. Getting those beauties pas TSA could prove interesting.

DD-DLoS

Capt. Jack McQuesten · December 24, 2011, 01:07:46 PM

Nice looking pair of 58's.......What are the grips made of?

rbertalotto · December 24, 2011, 02:13:52 PM

The grips are bone..............

I took them out and shot them today with 30g of Pyrodex Cartridge under a 200 grain Lee #90697 in a 45LC case............Not too good!

Is it possible the twist is too slow for a 200g bullet?

Blackpowder Burn · December 24, 2011, 02:57:15 PM

What is the bullet lubed with? Did you get heavy fouling? You need to use a BP appropriate lube (SPG or similar commercial lube, or home-made lube).

What is the bullet diameter sized to? Perhaps too small to engrave the rifling fully?

What alloy is the bullet cast from?

Slickshot · December 24, 2011, 03:28:51 PM

Nice looking pair of "58's", great looking grips also. Enjoy them! Someday I'm might get one.

Slickshot

rbertalotto · December 24, 2011, 04:51:59 PM

QuoteWhat is the bullet lubed with? Did you get heavy fouling? You need to use a BP appropriate lube (SPG or similar commercial lube, or home-made lube).

What is the bullet diameter sized to? Perhaps too small to engrave the rifling fully?

What alloy is the bullet cast from?

Bullet was lubed with SPG. But very shallow grooves so I agree there might not have been enough.

Bullet was a tight fit in the throat and the barrel. They are sized to .452

Lyman #2 alloy.

Steel Horse Bailey · December 25, 2011, 02:03:15 AM

Quote from: rbertalotto on December 24, 2011, 04:51:59 PM
Bullet was lubed with SPG. But very shallow grooves so I agree there might not have been enough.

Bullet was a tight fit in the throat and the barrel. They are sized to .452

Lyman #2 alloy.

Howdy! Sounds like you're well on the way to BP success.

For revolver shooting and using the same setup you already used, you can slather some lube over the loaded round in the chamber. Been doing it like that for C&B guns for a looooooooong time.

For rifle, you'll need a grease cookie or BigLube boolits. They carry about 5 times the lube of a normal two-groove bullet. You can buy them from Springfield Slim at http://www.whyteleatherworks.com/ (Mark) Slim'll do ya right!

Beauregard Hooligan · December 25, 2011, 03:59:37 AM

I went and did the same thing, bought a pair of 5 1/2" Pietta '58 Remingtons and conversion cylinders from Taylor's. Here they are on an old Mexican blanket with the stainless steel '58s that I've had for about 7 years.

I'm going to try them out with The Outlaws who shoot on the first saturday at the Sac Valley Shooting Center between Galt and Ione, Ca.

Blackpowder Burn · December 25, 2011, 06:40:10 AM

You might want to do what Steel Horse said and try some of the Big Lube bullets from Sierra Slim. They're cast of 20:1 alloy and are the Big Lube design. I bet you'll find accuracy much improved. Being of softer alloy, they'll obturate to engrave the rifling and seal the bore better. You also won't need a grease cookie or wad.

I cast my own Big Lube and lube with SPG. They all shoot great.

rbertalotto · December 25, 2011, 06:48:04 AM

A friend of mine just brought me over 150 pounds of pure lead used in the medical industry for shielding! SCORE!!!

Can't wait for my Big Lube "45SLIM" mold to show up............Stay tuned!

Merry Christmas

Steel Horse Bailey · December 25, 2011, 07:15:27 AM

Quote from: rbertalotto on December 25, 2011, 06:48:04 AM
A friend of mine just brought me over 150 pounds of pure lead used in the medical industry for shielding! SCORE!!!

Can't wait for my Big Lube "45SLIM" mold to show up............Stay tuned!

Merry Christmas

Cool!

Driftwood Johnson · December 25, 2011, 02:48:38 PM

Howdy

It appears that you have the R&D (Taylors) conversion cylinders?

Anyway, a Big Lube bullet is the way to go. Fill up the case with enough Black Powder so that when you seat the bullet the powder will be compressed by between 1/16" - 1/8". That's all there is to it.

With Pyrodex and Real Black Powder you will be much better off if you use a good Black Powder compatible bullet lube. I use SPG. There are also lots of home made brews. I used to use a 50/50 mixture of Crisco and Beeswax.

If you are using real Black Powder, I find that the cleaner burner the powder, the better the results. 1858 Remingtons are not real great with multiple cylinders full of Black Powder because of the cylinder design. So if you can find it, I recommend Schuetzen powder. It burns a bit cleaner than Goex. Graf sells the same stuff under their own label.

One more thing, if those are R&D cylinders, you have to pull them out to reload every time anyway. Wipe off the front face of the cylinder and the cylinder pin with a damp cloth every time you reload, it will help.

rbertalotto · December 25, 2011, 05:48:05 PM

Thanks for all the hints. It's appreciated.

I'm going to try some other black powders to see if I can find something cleaner.

The Goex Cartridge powder was quite a mess........

Dakota Widowmaker · December 25, 2011, 05:54:11 PM

Quote from: Driftwood Johnson on December 25, 2011, 02:48:38 PM
Howdy

It appears that you have the R&D (Taylors) conversion cylinders?

Anyway, a Big Lube bullet is the way to go. Fill up the case with enough Black Powder so that when you seat the bullet the powder will be compressed by between 1/16" - 1/8". That's all there is to it.

DWJ has it right. The PRS for 45lc is the way to go. Wipe the front of your cylinders with some type of lube and have at it.

GOEX Express is a bit cleaner than normal stuff. Heck, you can even use skirmish powder for 45LC loads. (I have, it works fine, but, not as easy to clean up as it burns a bit dirtier)

Use Winchester LP or CCI Magnum LP primers if you can get ahold of them. Fed Magnum Large Pistol are perfect for subs like Pyrodex "P" and APP.

I would NOT recommend 777 for 45LC in your cylinder conversions... its way more power than I think you would be shooting for SASS/NCOWS matches.

rbertalotto · December 31, 2011, 03:51:06 PM

I bought a bunch of Cowboy 45 Spl brass from Jack and a mold for the 170grain 45-SLIM bullet from Dick D.

I shot a couple of loads with Trail Boss and the accuracy was fantastic. Much better than the 200g bullets I tried a few days ago.

I bought some Blackhorn 209 powder. I used the load data available from Blackhorn for 45LC cartridges. Worked beautifully. Lots of smoke and sparks and a hell of a fireball. But near zero clean up! Same amount of residue as smokeless powder. This stuff isn't allowed in BP shooting in CAS, but it is very period correct as a "Transition" powder. Between BP and what we know today as smokeless.

Anyways, I loaded up 12g of Blackhorn in the CB45 brass with the 45-SLIM bullet and heeaded to the range and just as I got there it started pouring. It will have to wait until tomorrow.

Anyone else using this CB45 brass? Comments are appreciated!

Thanks

BTW, here is a picture of the CB45 next to a 45LC and the 45-SLIM bullet in front of a 200g and a 255g Lee.