Conical Bullet For Ruger Old Army Revolver.

[Abasmajor]

Thanks for the responses that have confirmed my suspicions that there would probably be no benefit from using a conical bullet rather than a round ball in the ROA.
Brian

[tacfoley]

Thanks for the responses that have confirmed my suspicions that there would probably be no benefit from using a conical bullet rather than a round ball in the ROA.
Brian

Sure there is, IF you have the chambers opened out, as a lot of people over there have done, AND stuff that cylinder with 40gr of 3Fg, and need it to shoot hogs in the chest at ten feet or less.

Over here, though, killing paper, I've stuck to the ball except when a guest, who may have heard of a conical, wants to try. Usually just one shot is enough.

[enfield2band]

I've tried conicals in a Uberti Police and they move forwards out of the chamber with the recoil. I had to check them everytime after a couple of shots. They were tight to squeeze in and I did not expect them to move under the recoil. I find ball much easier to load, not as much strain on the loading lever, and they are more accurate.

[Turnup]

No-one at my muzzle loading club who have tried conicals have had any success. The general view is that the twist rate suitable for a ball (typically 1 in 40") is just too low for a conical.

[Abasmajor]

Thanks guys, well worth a discussion to clarify the reasons why ball is preferable to a conical bullet in the muzzle loading revolver.
Brian

[TALL]

i am sure i have some, some where,
as with the others i went back to round ball
PM me your address and i will send you some to try,
stay safe
T

[Abasmajor]

i am sure i have some, some where,
as with the others i went back to round ball
PM me your address and i will send you some to try,
stay safe
T

Hello,
Much appreciated, but as expected the general consensus suggests it's not a wise move, so I will stick with round ball.
Brian

[tacfoley]

No-one at my muzzle loading club who have tried conicals have had any success. The general view is that the twist rate suitable for a ball (typically 1 in 40") is just too low for a conical.

Yup. At ten - fifteen feet, shooting a hogs with a chamber crammed up and 300gr conical - fine....but anything further than that. Nope.

[simgre]

No-one at my muzzle loading club who have tried conicals have had any success. The general view is that the twist rate suitable for a ball (typically 1 in 40") is just too low for a conical.

The Ruger Old Army has a 1:16 twist rate. Uberti have also gone to this now. Pietta and older BP revolvers have a 1:30 rate.

[simgre]

The Lee conical does not work very well in the Old Army, but it can be acceptable. Issue in the U.K. is that most people will try to shoot it with 15-20 gns of a BP substitute, inert filler and a wodge of grease!
35gns of Real BP will make a heck of a difference.

RCBS make a .458 300gn flat point mold. Casting with pure lead will see it drop from the mold just under .457. It's a gas checked design, so the heel for the check helps getting it true in the chamber. If you want, resize them to .456, but as soft lead you might as well do this on the gun during loading, it does not excerpt undue pressure on the rammer. But too many actually struggle keeping the loading lever and rammer true themselves when operating it!

Again, don't do with, "I'm only punching paper so only need a gnats cock worth of powder" and a load of other cr@p sending up the bore. Use a proper load over 32gns of real BP.

Yes it's stout, yes it is a little more expensive, but yes it works.

[tacfoley]

The Lee conical does not work very well in the Old Army, but it can be acceptable. Issue in the U.K. is that most people will try to shoot it with 15-20 gns of a BP substitute, inert filler and a wodge of grease!
35gns of Real BP will make a heck of a difference.

RCBS make a .458 300gn flat point mold. Casting with pure lead will see it drop from the mold just under .457. It's a gas checked design, so the heel for the check helps getting it true in the chamber. If you want, resize them to .456, but as soft lead you might as well do this on the gun during loading, it does not excerpt undue pressure on the rammer. But too many actually struggle keeping the loading lever and rammer true themselves when operating it!

Again, don't do with, "I'm only punching paper so only need a gnats cock worth of powder" and a load of other cr@p sending up the bore. Use a proper load over 32gns of real BP.

Yes it's stout, yes it is a little more expensive, but yes it works.

Apart from the great craic of shooting a whomping bullet with much gusto, I've yet to see any evidence that you can be as accurate with a conical - that's probably why target shooters still use the average 25gr of 3Fg and a ball.

[Turnup]

The Ruger Old Army has a 1:16 twist rate. Uberti have also gone to this now. Pietta and older BP revolvers have a 1:30 rate.

All ROAs have the same twist rate? Mine is approximately 1 in 38" as near as I can measure it.

[loiner1965]

All ROAs have the same twist rate? Mine is approximately 1 in 38" as near as I can measure it.

will check my 1992 pietta now

edit.....tricky to do on a revolver but mine looks like 1 in 32 twist which seems right

[simgre]

All ROAs have the same twist rate? Mine is approximately 1 in 38" as near as I can measure it.

Yes, I believe they all have 1:16”. This is due to when deigned, Bill Ruger wanted to use as much of the Blackhawk model for ease of parts inventory and chose to use .45 Colt barrels from the Blackhawk for the OA.

This is also why the ROA uses .457 ball over the standard .454. The groove diameter of the 45 colt barrel is .452 and its said that optimum ball to bore fit is two thou over groove diameter. So by the time the ball has passed through the forcing cone it needs to be .454. But, you also need to have shaved the circumference of the ball to seal the chamber. A .454 ball doesn’t allow both events.