• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades

Would it be safe to use .451 ball in 45 cal (.440) Kentucky pistol?

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

how many grains you would suggest using?
I use 60 gr. in my rifle but that's a little heavy for a pistol. Probably 20 gr. Mushka uses would work. I haven't tried a .451 ball in a clean bore. I carry a couple of balls in my pocket to use for a quick reload when hunting. I shot one bare ball load on paper the other day while I was checking my sights and at 50 yd. it went plenty close enough to the group for what I need.
 
Stick with whatever the manufacturer or maker recommends. This being said in my own .45 caliber rifles, depending on the gun, I shoot .440, .445 and .451 patched roundballs. The .440 in my Thompson Center guns, (Hawken, Seneca and Cherokee), .445 in a GRRW Little Leman and either .445 or .451 in a Beaver Lodge sporting a Green Mountain barrel.

When I load a single shot muzzleloading pistol I don't want a patch and ball combo that is so tight it's difficult to load. I want a combo I can load without having to rest the grip on a hard surface because I'm concerned if I have to apply a lot of pressure, force, to load the grip might crack or break. If you start pounding an oversized ball down the bore it is entirely possible you could break the stock.
 
Last edited:
It looks like ball would go down nice and tight without a patch. Can I do it?

Safety is not an issue, but that ball is to big. You will have a heck of a time getting it started down the bore.
Get a smaller size, like a .433” or a little larger.
 
Safety is not an issue, but that ball is to big. You will have a heck of a time getting it started down the bore.
Get a smaller size, like a .433” or a little larger.
The OP says he wants to try a bare ball. That will load very easily unless he has a barrel that's way tighter than a normal .45.
When I built my 45 rifle in 1980 I ordered a 445 mold from Lee. I had a devil of a time loading it even with a thin patch. At that time I didn't own a caliper or a mike. Fast forward 35 years and when I did mike the balls I found out that they were 451. The mold had been stamped wrong. Now I shoot a 440 and life is much easier.
 
I converted my pistol into a ML assault weapon
2OMxNO4.jpg
 
Back
Top