PUK needs info regardin Balls ;-)

[Paladin UK]

Ho Pards\etts

Within a week or so, I will be picking up a .44 Pietta 1851 Navy Rebel and I will want to shoot it at the range directly after parting with my Hard Earned!!
Sooooooo my question is..........

Whut size balls  `n` how much of the Holy Black would you suggest fer said beastie!!



Paladin (Whut cant wait ta try her out ) UK

[Angel_Eyes]

Hey Paladin, when I get a new weapon, I always fill the chamber to within 1/8" of the mouth and weigh the result.
The ball will quite comfortably compress the charge and fit below the chamber mouth.
If you like to use wads, you will have to leave out that thickness before weighing.
The ball should be .451 for that pistola, but you could always measure with caliper gauge.

Just make sure that you enjoy the hell out of shooting it!

Angel Eyes (Smoke eating warthog)

[Dick Dastardly]

Howdy PUK,

Slug the barrel and mike the chamber mouths.  If the barrel slugs at .454 - .452, your DD/ROA bullets might work fine.  The reason for miking the chamber mouths is that many times they are around .446 - .448.  They benefit from being the same size as the bore.  Also, the rebate on the base of your DD/ROA bullets is .450.  They will start easier if the chambers are at least that big.

My new "Tower of Power" loading stand will make short work of loading those chambers. . . . .

DD-DLoS

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Puk;  Good on ya mate!  Another toy to postpone the day of reckoning when we actually have to grow up.  I'm almost 66, and still love to play with cap guns.

I'd grab a handfull of .451 ball, and some .454's if you have e'm.  Then get a couple of those little tubes full of EPP-UGGs, that I recall you having,  Those cylinders will take about 28-30 grains, under the roundball.  I'd actually try going lower with the gunmetal frame.  About 25 grains of 3F, or if you want to fill it up some, try 28grains of TWO F.

The EPP-UGG might not fit the cylinder mouth, but Dick suggested turning them upside down!  I did, and it works, but I don't think it matches the accuracy of the roundball.  (That is from very limited testing!)

[Dalton Masterson]

Be careful with your brass frame tho, Puk. It is weaker than steel. You may need to cut your powder charges down some. Maybe 20-22gr? Been awhile since I messed with brass, so someone else can pipe in if I am wrong on the charge.
For my steel framed ones, fill er up please. 30 gr+whatever else will fit.
DM

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Personally, I have stayed away from brass frames, but I know that in the UK it probably makes sense, price-wize.  AND, I know the range to most of your targets, - short!  I agree with Dalton, use only as much powder as is required to get a satisfactory result.  FWIW, a .38 special case drops 22 grains.  I'd also avoid projectiles that weigh more than a roundball.

[Noz]

What works in most cases with a .44.

454 RB over a felt wad with 22-25 grs FFFg. If you want to put the powder on a scale then 22 grs of GOEX FFFg is good

[Fingers McGee]

What works in most cases with a .44.

454 RB over a felt wad with 22-25 grs FFFg. If you want to put the powder on a scale then 22 grs of GOEX FFFg is good

+1

FM

[Pettifogger]

Piettas almost always run .445 - .446 on the chamber mouths.  .451s work fine, just make sure you are using soft lead balls so they bump up when they hit the forcing cone.  Even though most of the chamber mouths are smaller than optimum, they seem to shoot just fine anyway.

[Leo Tanner]

FWIW...I use soft 454's and 25 grains in a brass frame.  The 454's leave more of a ring, but chamfering the chamber mouths eliminates this if ya do it carefully.  Still carry a tooth pick just in case I do form a ring.   I know I'm good an sealed that way, an any extra back pressure don't seem  ta hurt.  I use soft Hornaday lead.

[Raider2000]

I'd keep the powder charges under 25gr. so that the brass frame will last, as far as shot goes, I'd go for .454 ball because in most cases that size will work in most of the .44 caliber C&B revolvers, also maybe use some lubricated wads under the ball or some Crisco over the ball for lube.

I agree with Dick Dastardly about meauring your bore & then your chambers because in many cases the chambers do run in the .445 - .448 size but the barrel groves run in the .449 - .451 & the best accuracy is achieved when the chambers are .002 - .003 larger than bore size.

[Leo Tanner]

Always wanted ta mic mine out but haven't bothered since my wife can nail a soda can 25 out with a 42 year old hammer sight.  Not braggin on her, but it seemed a case of leavin well enough alone   Prolly still will measure it anyway when I get a chance.

Now you got me wonderin if 25 grains is too much for a brass frame.  Haven't had problems yet, but don't want none down the road.  Any horror stories out there?  Might give PUK somethin ta think about as well as myself.

[Raider2000]

I had a many a moons ago a Brass Framed ASM 1860 Army .44 caliber that I used 30gr. FFFG Goex charges & .457 ball in it all the time after about a year or so I noticed the timing would be off a little & the recoil shield getting the marks of the cylinder ratchet impressioned into it & after at best 2.5 years of constant 30gr. FFFG the Arbor removed the threads from the frame enough that it was not worth it to try to make it work any more & used it as parts for other steel framed pistols I had acquired.
I believe that I may have had around 600 - 1000 shots through it.

That was over 20 years ago & I have since then learned that it was a tad bit much in the powder for a Brass Framed C&B Revolver & for general plinking I didn't need that much either.

The lighter charges will make it easier on the frame & make it shoot great too.

[Leo Tanner]

That's good ta know.  I started with 25 grains of 777, an that has even more bang than the Goex (which I use now).  Got a drag line on the cylinder, but it was there bafore I bought it.  Wanna keep this one tuned an runnin fer a long, long time.  I'll give the lighter charge a try.  Should be easy as the measure I use is an old necked military case with a handle welded on.  I'll give it go filling it up to the bottom of the neck (it's small) rather than leveling to the top an see what happens.

[Raider2000]

My plinker loads for my C&B Revolvers "cept my Dragoon" are 22gr. ".38 Special case" FFFG Goex, Crisco soaked wool wad, & a cast .457 142gr. ball & this is in steel framed pistols.
At 25 yards I usually can keep em in the 9 ring & make cans dance the jig.

My thumper load in my Short Barreled Remington NMA is:
.456 220gr. Lee cast conical Lubed w/ 50/50 Crisco & Bees Wax
30gr. FFFG Goex.
Great for keeping Yotes & other critters in their place @ up to 30 yards & near about 44 special punch.

[Leo Tanner]

Some good recipes. 
This is the Dipper I made, I found the case at the range.  Being a millitary job, I don't rightly know what cal it's fit for, just know that it holds 'zactly 25 grains when leveled at the mouth.  Had a feeling about it when I saw it in the dirt an sure enough...

[Dalton Masterson]

I also had a brass framed one lose the arbor, but it was a pretty new gun with 100 rounds or so thru it. Turns out the cylinder stop spring broke, and the cylinder turned enough to NOT be lined up with the bore, but still fire. The shot ripped the arbor right out of the frame. And yes, it was a 20-25 gr load. Not a load issue with mine tho.
DM

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Leo;  Is that a 7.62 X 38 steel case for the AK47 or SKS?  If so, the ones I find hold about 34grains of FFF

[Leo Tanner]

Leo;  Is that a 7.62 X 38 steel case for the AK47 or SKS?  If so, the ones I find hold about 34grains of FFF

Nope, I carefully measured inta that one with a Lee 5cc dipper using 3Fg 777.  When poured into the chamber it comes up to about 3/16th of an inch from the mouth, unsettled.  The only markings on the bottom are the date (2 didgets) and the run (2 didgets).   71 above the primer and 95 below it.  The place I shoot sees a lot of strange autos out there so I gave up on trying to find out what it is.  It fills the chamber just to where it should according to everything I've seen in the past.  Recoil is not bad even with 777.  The rammer does like to slip it's catch, but that seems to be a weak spring issue.

[Paladin UK]

Wow!!
That's some input pards!!...........  `n`I thank yall kindly.

As I will be shooting it directly after buying it I have decided that `specially bein a brass frame I`m gonna go with.... 454 RB (`cos I already got them)!! over a felt wad with 24 grs FFFg.

All my other opentops are steel framed .36`s `n` so I wanna make sure I dont overload it!!

Bottom line here is that normally I would not have bought a brass framed opentop (My 10yr old  spiller as ya know has a colt type frame `n` NO problems at all with stretching)
BUT, this little beaut I got fer the princely sum of £10.00!! the reason being that our club is getting rid of its C&B pisolas and my closed bid WON!! I will post piccies as soon as I get her

Paladin (Whut Lurvs the Holy Black) UK