Correct load for steal 1858 Remington 44 cal clone

[Pdheald]

I have a 1858 Remington clone from cabbalas in 44 cal. I have been shooting it a bit and want to know how much powder is too much. So far I have gone up to 55 grans and when I put the ball in and rammed it, the ball was sitting over 1/4 inch below the rim of the cylinder.

Am I compressing the powder too much or can I keep this up and as long as I get the ball in and under the force cone I will not create a grenade in my hand?

Any help would be good

Thank you

[Garufa]

Uh, will the chamber even hold 55 grains of powder? 25 grains is more than adequate.

[Pdheald]

Yes 55 grains fit with about 1/8 to 1/4 inch of space free above it. And it is very acurate but I do not want to blow my hand off if I am compressing the powder too much. And at 25 grains there is no accuracy at all. So that is why I have cone up. So far with both cylinders the more powder the tighter the groups are in this gun.

[Dave Shooter]

I don't think you can fit enough Fffg under a ball and compress it with the loading lever to harm the gun. We used to use around 20 grains FFfg (by volume) and an equal volume of filler to get nice accurate loads with minimal jump to the rifling.

[Dolomite_supafly]

I didn't even think 55 grains would fit in the cylinder. Although the likelihood of a kaboom is minimal with black powder you are pushing the limits. I used to shoot rifle with 50 grains.

Dolomite

[Mike.357]

I shoot my '58 with about 20 grains, then top it off with some grits. That way when I seat the ball it is close to the forcing cone. A little dab of crisco over the ball and it is good to go.

I have never put more than 35 grains in mine, I don't see the point to it anyway. It shoots good with the load I mentioned.

The size of ball you are using will effect things too. While a .451 ball does not seat as well as a .454 ball, I find it is more accurate. But each one of them guns is different. Mine has a 5.5 inch barrel, if your is longer it will change things.

I don't believe you could grenade the cylinder by overloading with BP. Not sure about Pyro or other BP substitutes.

Fun guns to shoot for sure.

You can also get a cylinder for it that will allow you to shoot .45 Colt cowboy ammo. Of course that cylinder costs about as much as the gun did.

[Pdheald]

It is a blast to shoot. I will try some filler next.

as to how much power I can fit, I have put 55 grans as I said and could have fit another 5 to 10 grans with no trouble.

And I will also try some smaller lead balls if the filler does not work.

Thank you all

[Murgatroy]

I never put more than 30gr in my Remington replica.

55gr is way to much.

[1gewehr]

I use 28gr FFFg with a 200gr conical bullet. In my Navy Arms Remington, it is a very accurate load. I use a .45acp case as a powder measure. A level-full case is exactly 28gr of FFFg. IIRC, this yields about 750fps, so it's about as powerful as a light .45acp load. I seem to remember that using FFFFg powder will add about 50-75fps.

The modern steel revolvers are very difficult to overload. Compressed black powder can be dangerous as the pressures vary considerably from one loading to another. Conical bullets seem to be much more accurate in both my Remington and Colt clones. the heavier bullets also seem to cause a cleaner burn.

[Pdheald]

a Cleaner burn would be nice, I spend over an hour scrubbing the gun out after this last trip. it was a total mess inside. even the retaining pin was sticking and I had a very hard time changing the cylinders.

where do you get some good Conical Bullets and how much are they compared to Round Ball? I bought this so I could shot more and not spend as much on Amo. but at 300+ grans of power per cylinder that is not going to cut it. I can shoot my 9MM for less then that.

also with a Conical bullet do you have to user a wad/felt? and how do you make sure the gas seal is right? I know with the ball you just look for that nice ring of lead it leave when you ram it in.

[Mike.357]

Using crisco over the ballet will help keep the fouling soft as well as lube the cylinder pin

[1gewehr]

Cast your own bullets for black powder. Very easy and inexpensive.

Here's what I use. Mine is over 20 years old and still going strong.

Dixie Gun Works muzzleloading, blackpowder and rare antique gun supplies.

[Pdheald]

where do you get the lead and all that. I have cast a few fishing weights but never a any bullets. what is the procedure and all that?

and I will start slathering the pin in Crisco before I start firing.

[Mike.357]

Cover your balls in crisco too

[Timestepper]

I've had an 1858 Remington Buffalo model (from Cabela's) since Christ was a corporal. It's got the 12 inch barrel and I've been accused more than once of taking a rifle to a pistol shoot, but dang, she's a tack driver! My favorite and most consistent load is 35 grains of FFFg Goex black powder followed by a pre-lubed felt "wonder wad" and topped with a .451 pure lead round ball. I've shot literally thousands of rounds at ranges from 5 feet to 300 yards and never had a lick of trouble out her. I've split playing cards, lit matches, shot golf balls and harvested more than one deer as well as couple of geese with ol "Yard and a half" (that how long she looks when you first see her) and all in all, she's been my favorite handgun of all time, modern, curio or otherwise.

Back in my "gun fighting" days, (at a local tourist trap up home in Western Kansas) for a blank I'd load 25 grains of FFFg and top it with 2 wonder wads. DISCLAIMER: I don't advise shooting blanks, especially in the direction of another person, unless you are indeed a professional or semi-professional gun fighter performing for an audience - we knew what we were doing and while safety was first and foremost, accidents, though rare, did occasionally happen (usually no worse than a bruise and a smoldering shirt).

...TS...

Edited November 24, 2011 by Timestepper

[Pdheald]

I finally got it out today with 30 grained of powder, the rest of the cylinder of grits an lots of crisco. It worked great and clean up was a snap. Thank you that helped a lot