Revolver conicals

[Ironhand]

Been thinking about using the conicals in my 36cal Colt revolver. I see Lee has a mould and there may be others. I read a lot about the RB but not much about conicals

Anyone with experience here? Loads? How is accuracy vs RB? Ease of loading? Good idea or bad?

How about a bevel based 357 bullet? It would be left unsized and might be big enough.

Ironhand

[Gordon H.Kemp]

I used to use the Lee conicals years ago in the ROA I wanted the extra weight for hunting , As to accy. the round ball was the more accurate loading. don"t know how the conicals would perform in the Colt?  I have a .44 colt but use only round ball .

[russ t frizzen]

As a rule, conicals lack accuracy compared to balls. I gave up on pointy bullets forty years ago for this reason.
  .357 bullets will be too small in a .36 caliber revolver. The .36 actually uses .375" or .376" balls which are swedged into the chamber for a tight fit.
  It is fun to experiment with these guns, though. There is a mold available (or there was) that threw a .376 conical that weighed about 140 grains. These were the most acccurate rounds, but I couldn't  get enough powder behind them to get the velocity up to an acceptable level. I hope this is of some help to you.
                                                      Dan

[sail32]

Round and Conical balls videos.

Attached are 3 videos on shooting round and conical bullets and the results by duelist1954;

Part 1 =  Round ball;

Part 2 = 220 grain Lee conical;

Part 3 =  240 grain Kaido conical;  

[Ironhand]

Great videos.  Thanks.

Ironhand

[Captchee]

. ok this may be alittle off the mark here . but here is my exsperiance with conicals  in a revolver
so let me specify . this is a Uberti 1851
 the .357 will not work for you
while many folks use them in the converssion cylinders . i have  had no luck with them in mine .
 they are to small . they will not engrave to the cylinder and in my converssion , they will not engrave to the rifling in the barrel .
 what they end up doing is tumbling .

 now with that being said . you could also use a helled bullet , which is what Colt used  for the converssions . the reason this works is that the  heal of the bullet is .357 , But the end of the bullet is  of  cylinder bore size .. now the problem is that  the bore  diamiters very .
 mine actualy measures .385 . thus i ordered a bullet mould from old west bullet moulds  for a 125 grain  heeled bullet . it works  in both the BP cylinder and the converssion cylinder when i load the bullet to brass

 i also have an old 150 grain heeled bullet which also works in both .
accracy wise  they both IMO work as well at close distance . IE 10 to 15 yards . past that the RB is more accurate

[swathdiver]

I have the Kaido mold for the VKV-SMG380 conical for .36 caliber.  It's a great round that shoots just as accurately if not more so (slightly) than round ball in my Pietta Remington Belt Model sixgun. At 144 grains, your throwing just as much lead down range as a .44 with round ball, no need to feel undergunned at all!

[Daehenoc]

As the Pietta's typically have chamber diameters somewhere between the barrel bore diameter and groove diameter, I've experimented with a few projectiles to try to make them shoot accurately. Using a round ball mold with a < chamber diameter adjustable length cylindrical tail in the .36's. Just ordered a sizer today to make the back end of .45 castings the right diameter to slip into Pietta's .44 chambers.

[swathdiver]

Also purchased from Kaido the six cavity mold for his Keith inspired VKV BG 456 240 grain .44 conical.  The first part drops right in and I load this one from a cylinder stand.  His newer 200 grain conical can be loaded on the sixgun and is still quite deadly on game.

[Stormrider51]

I was given a replica Model 1851 Colt .36 caliber by my father in the late 1960's.  I tried conicals and found that it was a losing proposition.  The conical was heavier and took up so much space that powder charges were limited.  Round balls allowed larger powder charges and were lighter.  RB accuracy was better too.

Storm

[swathdiver]

The Black Powder of today is far more potent than in the 1960s-1980s.  1860s Hazard Pistol Powder was very similar to today's SWISS 4Fg, using 1/10 of conical weight for powder, a 13-15 grain charge is plenty and depending on the sixgun, shoot just as accurate as round ball or near enough for hunting and combat.

[Daehenoc]

Loss of accuracy with bullets other than round ball is mostly a matter of the bullet base not being perpendicular to the bore when exiting the muzzle.
With a spherical backside there is no misalignment. It's almost a "one size fits all" arrangement. With flat backsides the bullet has to be designed to load straight and stay straight in a particular revolver and that seldom happens by chance.

[old fogey]

Kaido bullets are excellent. There are a few other conicals developed for percussion revolvers , this one (at    Lee Bullet Mold .375" diameter, 130 grain, Conical revolver mold, double cavity, with handles. Fits most Italian made replica .36 revolvers - Track of the Wolf ,) springs to mind, but as swathdiver noted Kaido's bullet would be best for using a .36 for hunting/varmint "removal".