Loading Conicals in Revolvers

[J.J. Ferrett]

I seem to have gotten the basics of 'cap n ball' down quite well; load powder, stuff in wad, seat wad, put on ball, seat ball, smother with crisco, cap and fire. Not that hard actually....

Now I have just got myself a load of conicals and am staring at them with questions running through my tiny little brain.

I have worked out how to seat them quite well, but, they have lube grooves.
What should I lube them with?
Is Crisco ok for the lube grooves?
Do I put Crisco over the top like balls?
Do I use a wad between powder and balls?

[Dick Dastardly]

Howdy J.J. Ferrett,

Maybe I kin help.  Whut caliber are ya shootn"

I have a reduced diameter/rebated heal bullet with a Big Lube™ grove that may fill yer bill.

DD-DLoS

[Dakota Widowmaker]

DD-

Will your heeled boolits fit in a Pietta or Uberti 1860, 1858, or the Uberti Walkers?

Also, can they be used with 44colt to make a heeled cartridge?
[curiosity on this last part]

I am as interested in the fact that they are 6 cavity molds as anything else.

-DW

[J.J. Ferrett]

44 in my Remmies and 1860's.
I was looking at the DD/ROA Big Lube™ 210 grain 6 cavity moulds and may in fact be putting an order in for one when I get used to all this. Never casted my own before so need to put together the whole workshop (starting with a bench that doesnt wobble). I know what I am hinting to the wife for this years B/day.

[Cuts Crooked]

Howdy JJ,

I think DD is still asleep at this hour of the morning! But I will try to help.

I think DDs bullet is designed specifically for the Ruger Old Army, but the concept could easily be adapted to other guns. Since you already have some conicals, and if they fit in your gun, yes crisco will work fine. It's not the best for lubing with but it will work. You realy need something a little stiffer to keep it in the grooves. However, crisco over the the cha,ber mougth will work just as well with a conical as it will with a round ball, so go right and give it a whirl!

(Dakota I would bet that the one fer Rugers would work quite well in the Walkers & Dargoons because thier chambers are about the same as the Rugers The main thing to take into account is the chamber dimensions of the other guns, the Remington clones and the 1860s have smaller chambers which would make it difficult to get a Big lube for Rugers into the chamber! Also, the rebated portion on them would be too small to work as a heeled bullet in a cartridge....I think )

[Dick Dastardly]

Cuts is right on, as usual.

The DD/ROA bullet is based on the LEE conical for the ROA, only it has the true Big Lube™ grove.  The new issue DD/ROA bullets have a .450 heal, the old style ones had a .452 heal.  The change was made by popular demand because the original bullets, although they seated just fine in a clean chamber, had a tight fit reloading into dirty chambers.  The new issue molds take this into account with a slightly smaller diameter rebated flat base.  Everything else remains the same.  I've shot both and there's no difference in accuracy from my ROAs.

If you mike the inside of your chambers and find that a .450 bullet will slide in, then the DD/ROA Big Lube™ bullets may be just the ticket.  When using them lube/sized to your specs, there's no need for any other lube.  Simply charge the cylinder and seat the bullet.  The Big Lube™ seal is complete and crossfire from the front of the chambers is eliminated.

Some C&B pistols need to load their cylinders on a loading stand because there's not enough room under the rammer on the pistol.  I stock the loading stands also.  SASS shooters like the stands because they can load their cylinders without worrying about sweeping anybody.  Then they cap at the loading table and they're good to go.

Hope this helps.

DD-DLoS

[Fox Creek Kid]

Cuts Crooked said:

You really need something a little stiffer to keep it in....

Sounds like solid advice. 

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Hard to beat that !

[Arcey]

Problem with Crisco this time of year.  Heat.

Gobbed up the face of a Navy's cylinder one afternoon at the loadin' table 'n let it sit while I waited my turn to shoot.  When the time came I went ta get it 'n found it layin' in a puddle of salad oil.

Sittin' in eighty degree weather with the sun beatin' down on it, the crap melted.

I've taken ta mixin' the stuff with wax.  Lucky Irish Tom used some of it.  Don't think he was impressed in a positive way but it works.  Just kindah messy.  Like Cuts said, ya gottah stiffen it up some.

[J.J. Ferrett]

I have access to some 2lb blocks of raw beeswax, would this be useful for lube? If so, is there anything that it should be mixed with?

I understand the problem about heat this time of year, heck, I have even had a problem with the gas blowing out of the cylinder/barrel gap blowing the crisco out of adjacent chambers so something a little stiffer would be easier to use.

I have just been experimenting with putting the crisco between the wad and ball instead of on top of the ball. This seems to work well with balls, but, putting in a flat based conical, i dont see it working as well. Plus, yes I agree that something stiffer for the lube grooves would be best.

[El Peludo]

J. J., if I was you, I'd gob onto about all of that beeswax I could get my hands on; it sometimes gets a bit tough to find in some parts.  If you don't need as much of it as you can get, you can always try to peddle it to other pards who need it.

Check some of the older threads here, and in the "Child Board - The Dark Arts" for more on lubes and wax and other such oily, greasy, messy stuff; ther has been enough discussion of it to fill an encyclopedia, and it is very engrossing.

[Dakota Widowmaker]

I made a batch of this stuff a while ago, but, lost the recipe...

Smoking-Gun was kind enough to resend/report it over on Voy.

Parafin comes in a brick divided to to 4 like a stick a butter, I used a stick.
Then 1/4 of a Toilet Seal Ring
Then 8-10 Tablespoon of Olive Oil

And that made alot about 600 pills...abpout 1/8" thick for the most part, LoL!...a good level stiff heated pizza pan is the best thing to pour your mix into.

Those "lube pills" are about as PERFECT of a lube as I have found for under a ball or over it, for that matter.

I do use a "stiffer" mix when I have used Lee conicals.  They work, but, I was thinking of making some paper cartridges as well.

[Wolfgang]

J.J.   I've heard that BeesWax with olive oil mix works good.  I did try a BeesWax mix with crisco when I was first experimenting with cap & ball and it didn't work worth a damn!  Gun was gooing up bad and jamming.  I now beleive that the suposed "beesWax" was actually a mix with petroleum product wax and that was the problem.  After many different experiments I settled on using good old  "Farmer John Brand" lube  ( ie. Hog Lard).   I have, and occasionally shoot, some "Buffalo Arms" Conical bullets and they shoot GREAT!  A bit expensive though.  So I mostly shoot round balls. Good shootin', . . .    Let us hear how you do with them conicals. 

[hellgate]

JJ,
You should have no problem with the LEE double cavity 200gr conical in your Walker, Dragoon or Remington. Some of the Colt's do not have enough room to slip the bullet under the rammer. Uberti & ASMs have room but not the Piettas. forget the conicals on the 44 Navies. No room. There could be a problem with Dicks greasewagon bullet (a great design though) if your chambers are not large enough. A lot of 44 C&B chambers are .448 in dia. The LEE conical will drop in to the second driving band for good alignment prior to ramming. If Dick's doesn't drop down into the chamber a bit you will be frustrated in getting them lined up for ramming. Also, a 200 gr bullet (vs the 146gr ball) will cause more blowback of the hammer causing cap jams unless you have the small flash hole nipples like Treso or Thunder Ridge SS nips. I do not bother to run my LEE conicals through a sizer as they fall out of the mold at the right diameter. The bullet has stepped diameters with the lowest band smaller than the next with the upper diameter being .454. I'm gonna guess that the lowest driving band is .445. If the DD bullet will seat easily it is your best bet. If not, they'll be hard to line up & ram. You might see if you can get your hands on a few to see how they fit before getting the mold and possibly a sizer/luber.

I  just put lube over the top of the conicals like everything else. If there's room I will use a lube wad under the bullet too. I buy SAE F-1 or F-5 1/8" or 3/16" wool felt and a 7/16" hole punch in a drill press and punch out the wads and use a 50/50 beeswax/lard lube mix. Also I will use 1:3 beeswax/lard for winter use as the 50/50 mix is too hard in winter but fine in the heat. For over ball lube I use automotive greases since THEY WORK and remain unmelted in the hot sun or soft in freezing weather.