Interesting conical bullets for a ROA?

[user 33697]

Hi all,

Looking around on ebay, I stumbled across three interesting conical bullets that are sold for 45 caliber air rifles. All three are .457 dia., pure lead and available in 151 gr., 158 gr. and 197 gr. Hmm? I'm thinking that these bullets might make interesting loads for my Ruger Old Army. On ebay, search for "Apex Airgun (457) Texas Slug" and you'll find the three bullet weights. This gets more interesting. Searching the web using the description ".457 air rifle ammo" results in a whole bunch of manufactures that sell many bullet shapes and weights. Check out the .457 hollow point at website Nielsen Specialty .457 | 50 pcs. .

 

[Timber Wolf]

They would certainly carry a lot of lube!

 

[gunpa]

Looks good. Yes they would carry plenty of lube!

 

[Bad Karma]

The main difficulty with bullets of this type is always in seating them straight into the cylinder. Both bands one assumes are the same diameter and probably larger than the chamber mouth by as much as .010” in the case of the Pietta revolvers. Most Ruger Old army revolvers have .4525 or so chambers. Still a problem although I suppose you could size only the rear band to .452 or less.

 

[Stantheman86]

I'd use my .454 sizer and size both bands down, then size the bottom band to .450 and use these in my Walkers

I wouldn't even bother with lube I'd just throw tallow on top of the chambers

 

[Bad Karma]

I use these as cast. They’re sized to drop the major front band at .458” (it’s marked .456 in the drawing) and the rebated bottom band at .450” (marked .445”) They work really well. No sizin required, just lube and shoot.

 

[springfield art]

Hi all,

Looking around on ebay, I stumbled across three interesting conical bullets that are sold for 45 caliber air rifles. All three are .457 dia., pure lead and available in 151 gr., 158 gr. and 197 gr. Hmm? I'm thinking that these bullets might make interesting loads for my Ruger Old Army. On ebay, search for "Apex Airgun (457) Texas Slug" and you'll find the three bullet weights. This gets more interesting. Searching the web using the description ".457 air rifle ammo" results in a whole bunch of manufactures that sell many bullet shapes and weights. Check out the .457 hollow point at website Nielsen Specialty .457 | 50 pcs. .


View attachment 128682

Who would have thunk? Air guns to black powder revolvers!

 

[nkbj]

Just thinking out loud, this is something I'm thinking about trying.
Body diameter to slip into chambers.
Shear ring in the front to be the same as what a round ball would provide.
Shallow hollow base to fill with lube (freezer paper disk over powder).

 

[Bad Karma]

Just thinking out loud, this is something I'm thinking about trying.
Body diameter to slip into chambers.
Shear ring in the front to be the same as what a round ball would provide.
Shallow hollow base to fill with lube (freezer paper disk over powder).

View attachment 191755

Wide flat nose…

 

[nkbj]

And the optimizing of lead / powder space utilization, not that it would accomplish much beyond maximizing the amount of lead and powder I could get in a chamber.

But it would be interesting to chrono the various bullet weights (with however much powder could be gotten behind them) to see where the ft-lbs and penetration peaked. Wadcutter noses tend to give lousy penetration but a heavy one will of course want to keep moving. Any how, might have to try it out.

 

[LongWalker]

I picked up one of those LEE collar-button moulds for the 45-70, knowing that at some point I'll have to try them in the ROA. I've previously tried the lighter bullets Lyman offered for the 45-70 and 45-90. They never shot as well as round ball, but shooting them made for some fun experiments. The collar-button is the first bullet I've seen that I think may carry too much lube.

 

[Pete453]

Bad Karma, how much 3f can you get behind that 245 in an 1860? That one looks like a thumper.

 

[Bad Karma]

Bad Karma, how much 3f can you get behind that 245 in an 1860? That one looks like a thumper.

About 25 grains. And yes it is. They are accurate but have to be loaded off the gun so I usually load those in the ROA. 200 grains is a good bullet for the 1860.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Originally, there was a bullet on the market specifically for the ROA. It was narrower at the base to seat properly. That was about it's only good point. I did a lot of shooting with mine comparing destructive effects against various target materials. The round ball outperformed the bullet every time. Reason is, the bullet limits the amount of powder that can be used and, as a result, has a much slower velocity. The round ball travels faster and hits harder. Just my tuppence.

 

[nkbj]

And therein's the rub; trading off powder space for lead space.
My Ruger has 0.454" chambers so finding compatible molds is a bit problematic any way.
This modified old style #454613 may work OK when I get a O-2-it.

But it won't be for purposes of maximizing destructive potential.

 

[Stantheman86]

Midway has a Clearance on .454 balls for $9 per box and .375's for $6 . I bought 1000 of each , so for me it's sorry bullets, I'll be busy with balls for a while

 

[Pete453]

About 25 grains. And yes it is. They are accurate but have to be loaded off the gun so I usually load those in the ROA. 200 grains is a good bullet for the 1860.

Thanks, that was my concern, powder space. One of these days I'm going to make a sizer die to size the base of modern bullets. I have the NOE copy of Lyman 452423 with a big, honkin hollow point. I'd like to try it sometime in my 60 army, but I'm not sure how much powder I'll get behind it. It's a future tinkering project.