New To Me - Uberti 1858

[Big Iron]

I am in the process of buying a used but in great shape Uberti 1858 Remington. What size ball seems to work best with most of these. I know that .451 is the standard but sometimes other sizes work better. My old Euroarms (36 years) 1858 likes .457's.

What is your extperience?

Regards;

BI

 

[Poor Private]

The load I generaly use in my 2 58' Remies. Are as follows
.457 round ball
homemade wonder wad( saturated with Bore Butter)
28 grains of fffg Black Powder or 25 grains of 777 synthetic.
I have no issues with either powders and the loads work fine for me. Both pistols 5 1/2", and 8" barrels are Uberti's.

 

[Zonie]

The Dixie Catalog recommends using .454 balls in the Uberti Remingtons.
It goes on to say the chambers are .450 in diameter. That would make a .451 ball shear off .0005 per side when it is loaded.

One half of a thousandth of an inch is getting close to nothing so I would have to side with Dixie on their recommendation. The .457 diameter balls should also work quite well.
They would shear off .0035 per side which would do a better job of sealing the mouth of the chambers.
.0035 of an inch is about the thickness of a black hair from a human with "coarse" hair.

 

[token tory]

I use .454 in mine with as Zonie suggests a very slim but complete circle shaved on ramming.

 

[Big Iron]

Thanks for the suggestions. Since I have them, I guess I'll try the .457's first. If they do work, it will be better to be able to use the same in both guns.

Regards.

BI

 

[Zonie]

Just as a side note, when one forces a roundball into the chamber and the sliver of lead is sheared off it leaves a small flat.

When loading a .454 diameter ball into a .450 chamber the length of the little flat is .060 or, about 1/16 of an inch.

If a .457 diameter ball is loaded into the same .450 chamber the length of the little flat is .080.

That extra .020 of flat represents a 33 percent increase in the length of the engagement of the ball with the rifling in the barrel and while it's not much it is thought by some to decrease the chance of stripping when it engages the rifling. That 'could' increase the accuracy.

Any gain of course is offset by the increased force on the loading lever needed to seat the larger ball.

 

[William O.]

My Uberti liked .451 ball, Wonderwad and about 23 grains of Goex.

 

[madcratebuilder]

Regardless of brand or others recommendations the best approach is to measure the chambers and use a RB that is .006 larger. That shaves a nice .003 ring and well ensure a sealed chamber. And as was said a larger contact area on the lands.