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Using Liquid Alox on a round ball


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I bought a Remington 1858 used that a would be gunsmith has tampered with. The cylinder has been honed out to where .457 balls are loose.

 

I use pyrodex pellets to make the loading chore a little faster. Would using Alox to increase the ball size be okay? Especially if I slather Bore Butter above my projectlles. I am thinking two applications of Alox.

 

Or I do have a conical mold that is .456 . . .

 

Prolly should buy another Pietta cylinder. Arrrrrrrg!

 

Shameless

 

P.S. Did you like how I artfully avoided saying I slather bore butter atop my balls?

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Yep, another cylinder is the right answer, but will require fitting, so if you have to pay for that, you end up with a bunch invested in a gun not worth that much. HB conicals would be the ticket, or patching balls ????

 

Another option for round ball use would be to rig yerself up a ball sizer. A piece of thick steel plate, 1/2" or thicker with an accurately bored hole of the size you want em to end up. Place the plate on another, put a ball in the hole, and using a ball starter and plastic mallet, give it a smack, then drift it out of the hole. You'd end up with a keg-shaped projectile of exactly the size you need. At CAS distances you can shoot cylindrical bullets or darned near any shape as long as they properly fit the bore, and it doesn't matter. they DO need to be snug in the cylinder to get a good burn.

 

A one time cost to get that odd sized hole bored with a fly cutter is a $25 "lunch time job" if ya know a machinist. Maybe a little less if ya paid him in beer :)/>

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Might also want to consider to "mic" or "slug" the barrel, then take your calipers to it to know exactly what you need fer sure and fer certain.

 

I'd be a little concerned of "oversized" bullets causing some issue.

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Might also want to consider to "mic" or "slug" the barrel, then take your calipers to it to know exactly what you need fer sure and fer certain.

 

I'd be a little concerned of "oversized" bullets causing some issue.

 

 

The only reason I can think of for opening the chamber mouth is because it was smaller than the bore diameter. So Presidio's idea for slugging the barrel is a good one. If the ball coming out of a chamber is smaller than the bore, accuracy suffers, even at CAS distances.

 

You might find that it is actually a good idea to keep the present cylinder and use a bigger ball or conical, if you can find one that fits. Hornady makes a .490, but I would hate to try to stuff that into a chamber!

 

Using Alox won't hurt anything, as long as it is not your only lube, but I would be surprised if it helped much. If you have so much Alox on a bullet or ball that it feels sticky, you have way too much on there.

 

Dropping your powder charge down to reduce recoil and ball drift is an alternative.

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Might also want to consider to "mic" or "slug" the barrel, then take your calipers to it to know exactly what you need fer sure and fer certain.

 

I'd be a little concerned of "oversized" bullets causing some issue.

 

Yep I used calipers .457. Pietta cylinders are pretty typical. I will double check alignment with a bore light.

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