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Paper Cart. Ball Size?

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I’ve an Uberti 58 Rem that shaves a nice complete ring with .454s and loads snug but not overly tight. Seems the right size for the job. But, when rolling paper cartridges, should I factor in the thickness of the paper surrounding the ball, and drop down to .451s?

-Smokey
 
No. Not if the cartridges are for a cap & ball revolver.

The ball should be sized to shear lead off of it when it is loaded just like it would be if you were just measuring out the powder and loading a ball or bullet.
The chamber mouth will automatically strip off any paper that would interfere with it that might have been between wrapped around the ball/bullet and you need the interference between the chamber and the lead to seal it and to keep the ball/bullet from moving forward when the other chambers are fired.
 
I think the whole idea behind the cartridges Colt and others offered was to make money by providing something that would be of great convenience to the people who bought his pistols.

Most of them were plain people who wanted a pistol to defend themselves and their homes. They weren't avid gun lovers who owned a lot of guns so most of them didn't have any powder around the house or balls or bullets or the means of making them.
These people, just like the millions of people today weren't interested in buying bullet molds and doing all the things we, few, muzzleloaders love. They just wanted something that they could use that was simple and handy and easy to use and they found that Colt was more than happy to supply exactly what they wanted, for a fee.
 
Smokey ... pure soft lead as big as is possible will serve well. The longer the equator after getting shaved the better ... the paper ... if it goes over the equator will be shaved off upon ramming ( as Zonie eludes to ) and therefore matters not at all except to keep the cartridge together till it is rammed into the cylinder whereupon the lead ring AND any paper on top of the ball will need to be removed from the cylinder mouth.

In my cartridges, I dip the ball end in melted lube down under the ball by about 1/8th inch so it lubes as loaded ... making ramming a bit easier along with providing lube for its journey.
 
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