View Single Post
Old October 25, 2008, 03:04 AM   #7
Doc Hoy
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 24, 2008
Location: Naples, Fl
Posts: 5,440
mykeal,

You asked, "How much powder did you put in the chamber"

22 - 30 grains. I tried this on every chamber in the weapon and the powder was never interfering with the ball.

"did you use any filler," I never got past the first shots to find out if I wanted any filler so the answer to this question is - No

"and did you use a lubed wad?" I used Bore Butter but no wad.

"Was the ball stuck in the chamber, and if so, how did you remove it?

You better believe it was stuck. In each case I pulled the nipple of the loaded cylinder and dumped out the powder through the nipple hole. Then drove the ball out with a short length of brass round stock and a ball peen hammer. Each time, I cleaned and examined the chamber to make sure nothing was left.

I just measured the balls and they are averaging .4525. I measured about 15 of them. These came from a Lee mold that was sold as a .451.

The diameter of the chamber right at the mouth is .456 and tapers to exactly .440 by the time the micrometer is half an inch into the chamber.

In .44s I shot, low those many years ago (right around the time this one was manufactured), I never encountered this problem. The chambers did not SEEM to be tapered in any way because once the ball went into the chamber to the point at which the lead had been shaved, the effort required to get it to seat on top of the powder was relatively constant.

Also when I shot before I read extensively (The Lyman BP books which I still have). I shot with people I respected and they and I never once used a wad on top of the powder. I know that contemporary shooters use wads but unless I was missing a lot, the practice seems to have become popular in more recent times. I reasoned that since lead and powder have not changed and since the weapon is the approximate vintage of those I had at that time, the loading process should not have changed.

I never had a Euroarms .44. (either kits from Dixie or RTF from Ruger) and that difference is what I attribute my difficulties to.

I am going to try a lubed wad.

I appreciate your attention to this question.

Tnx,

Doc Hoy
Doc Hoy is offline  
 
Page generated in 0.02890 seconds with 8 queries