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Conical bullets in a cap and ball revolver
- Thread starter mkpatrick
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yes; possibly, but not necessarily
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More accurate than rocks?...Yes, but not roundball...c
My Walker and Euroarms NMA will take .44 Johnston & Dow conicals, though in many revolvers you would need to remove some metal from the frame near the loading port for the gun to accept the longer bullets.
They're good for making historically correct paper cartridges, and hit harder with noticeably more recoil, but in my experience, less accurate than RB.
They're good for making historically correct paper cartridges, and hit harder with noticeably more recoil, but in my experience, less accurate than RB.
Lee makes a conical bullet mould for BP revolvers.
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My Uberti Dragoon shoots extremely accurately with the Johnston and Dow bullets I bought from papercartridges.com
I plan to cast Pickett bullets for my Walkers
I plan to cast Pickett bullets for my Walkers
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It all depends upon the revolver, the bullet and the loading technique.
Flat bottom bullets are more susceptible to being made inaccurate because chamber to barrel relative diameters become more important and bullet design must provide suitable fit to the individual revolver.
Round ball is easier to make accurate because it's rounded behind is not subject to being made inaccurate due to improper alignment incurred during loading and the "bullet" design does not depend upon expansion of the bullet base.
Flat bottom bullets are more susceptible to being made inaccurate because chamber to barrel relative diameters become more important and bullet design must provide suitable fit to the individual revolver.
Round ball is easier to make accurate because it's rounded behind is not subject to being made inaccurate due to improper alignment incurred during loading and the "bullet" design does not depend upon expansion of the bullet base.
Conicals were the primary projectile for the Walkers and Navys in military service.
My Colt Walker has about the same accuracy with the Johnston & Dow as the round ball, but they do hit harder. I like the J&D for making period accurate cartridges as the round balls don't stay in as well. My rammer was designed for conicals so I have less issue with loading these than some makes of replica.
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And that rack and pinion style loading lever on the 1860 and 1861 Colts was created to provide mechanical advantage to load that pointy bullet ammo.
I found this person and many test for conicals in black powder revolvers on YouTube. I purchased some of his bullets in two weights for my Ruger Old Army.
I found my ruger liked the 240 grn so I purchased a mold from Kaido. I shoot 30 grains of 777 powder or 28 grains of 3F Goex with bullets and a small amount of lube over the bullet. These conicals are made there the driving bands are smaller from the base increasing in size to the end of the bullet which makes for easy loading and centers in cylinder for better groups. You can see a lot of youtube videos from Part 1 to part 6 on roundball, pointed conicals and Kaido's conicals in several different black powder revolvers, velocities, and groups.
I have taken two deer and a pig with these at 20 yards to 35 yards and all did their job they were made for.
Send Kaido an email, which is listed in the videos and he will send you a price list and sizes for different calibers. He still had close to a hundred molds last year for 44 and 36 cal when I purchased my two cavity mold.
Kaido Ojamaa bullets
I found my ruger liked the 240 grn so I purchased a mold from Kaido. I shoot 30 grains of 777 powder or 28 grains of 3F Goex with bullets and a small amount of lube over the bullet. These conicals are made there the driving bands are smaller from the base increasing in size to the end of the bullet which makes for easy loading and centers in cylinder for better groups. You can see a lot of youtube videos from Part 1 to part 6 on roundball, pointed conicals and Kaido's conicals in several different black powder revolvers, velocities, and groups.
I have taken two deer and a pig with these at 20 yards to 35 yards and all did their job they were made for.
Send Kaido an email, which is listed in the videos and he will send you a price list and sizes for different calibers. He still had close to a hundred molds last year for 44 and 36 cal when I purchased my two cavity mold.
Kaido Ojamaa bullets
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I've monkeyed with a few conical bullets and found loading them loose was a pain. Balls are self centering over the chambers 
. Accuracy out of my .36 Navy with a round ball leaves little if any wanting in that department. YMMV.
. Accuracy out of my .36 Navy with a round ball leaves little if any wanting in that department. YMMV.
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The military liked conicals for increased stopping power, and probably like was said, they work well with cartridges. Conicals also fell in line with the push in the 1850s to standardize all weapons to a conical type projectile.
However, Skeeter Skelton wrote that Confederate Cavalry vets said round ball put men down better then conicals so I mean, who knows.
I know that I am not yet set up for casting and I have piles of .375 and .454 ball , so, I use what I have.
I have a Pickett mould that I'd like to use for my Walkers , to shoot the correct bullets.
However, Skeeter Skelton wrote that Confederate Cavalry vets said round ball put men down better then conicals so I mean, who knows.
I know that I am not yet set up for casting and I have piles of .375 and .454 ball , so, I use what I have.
I have a Pickett mould that I'd like to use for my Walkers , to shoot the correct bullets.
A few thoughts on conical's in a cap & ball revolver:
Loading them causes a lot more wear on the loading lever and parts because sheering off a long length of lead is much more difficult than sheering off the small area on a ball. This can cause the parts to fail.
The conical should have a short length at the base that is a smaller diameter than the chamber. This helps to align the bullet with the chamber. Without this pilot, aligning the bullet before ramming it into the chamber is very difficult and ramming it without it being aligned will damage the bullet making it inaccurate.
Usually the accuracy isn't any better than a round balls accuracy.
The muzzle velocity will be slower with the bullet because of the additional weight
A look at the conical's actually used in the Remington and Colt reveals that they were quite short. Not much longer than the size of the bore. This allowed them to be loaded into the gun without enlarging the clearance cut that is machined into the gun.
Loading them causes a lot more wear on the loading lever and parts because sheering off a long length of lead is much more difficult than sheering off the small area on a ball. This can cause the parts to fail.
The conical should have a short length at the base that is a smaller diameter than the chamber. This helps to align the bullet with the chamber. Without this pilot, aligning the bullet before ramming it into the chamber is very difficult and ramming it without it being aligned will damage the bullet making it inaccurate.
Usually the accuracy isn't any better than a round balls accuracy.
The muzzle velocity will be slower with the bullet because of the additional weight
A look at the conical's actually used in the Remington and Colt reveals that they were quite short. Not much longer than the size of the bore. This allowed them to be loaded into the gun without enlarging the clearance cut that is machined into the gun.
