is there a secret to loading conicals in colts

I bought an Italian brass mold from Blockade Runner to give conicals a try.(http://www.blockaderunner.com/Catalog/catpg6.htm) They call it a Colt style mold. Using pure lead, it casts .456" round balls; the conicals are .454", but they have a heel where the bullet is about .438" in diameter. I loaded some of them in my Pietta '58 Remington last night, the skirt allows the bullet to fall into the case and line up right, clearing the rammer. It was easier than aligning a round ball's sprue, but more fiddly than using a swaged round ball. A really thick lead ring is shaved off because there's a longer surface to resize. If I was using a loader, I could have charged the cylinders and put all the bullets in place at once and then rammed them like a progressive reloader.

A while back, I bought a used Lee mold that cast conicals for the Ruger Old Army in .456". That was a mistake, it has no heel on it at all. They were impossible to load, even with a loader. I hope the .450" Lee mold has a heel on its bullets.

Ive tried to get authorities interested. No luck. Ive talked to police in Toledo. They arent really intrested. Im told its a legal matter. It costs over the price of the loader to get an attorney. Im going to try to see he doesnt scam others.

I found the Triple P Loader to be a real pleasure to use and I really haven't heard of anyone that was unhappy with theirs except for Snaggletooth.
IIRC another THR member bent the aluminum ram and replaced it himself with a steel one rather than to send it back to be fixed.
There's a snug fitting brass bushing that guides the ram and I found that after a while the ram needed to be lightly greased to prevent it from really binding up. But that was after the initial coat of grease wore out and an application of regular gun oil didn't solve the problem.
Someone on another forum was recently searching for anyone willing to sell him their used Triple P loader. The press has apparently received enough favorable reviews on line to build up a demand for them that can't be met.
Considering the initial price and the time and labor that went into designing and then building each unit individually, it's no wonder that production was stopped.

I sure like the idea of a Loader which would allow a machanical advantage. Making one would be fun. But yes, tooling up for pruducing them in number, assuming a good design, and then producing them, is labor intensive, and kind of expensive in it's way.

Cost of raw materials would be slight...but, having finished or semi-finished components made ( if not making them one's self ) would pretty well have to be done in large quantities to be cost effective, if one could even find a jobber interested to supply parts at a price one could live with.

I wish they had been making these when the Revolvers were in fashion originally.

'Whitneyville' and others could have made very nice ones.

Then we would have all sorts of designs and old examples to use or reproduce.


A loader is about my only option if I want to shoot full Wadcutters ( and I do! ) since I do not want to modify the area of the frame which would prevent it when the Revolvers are assembled.

You can go to the Ohio Attorney General's website and get the number for their consumer fraud section. Call them and file a complaint and they will take action. Several folks on the concealed carry forums had to do this with a custom holster maker that didn't deliver and recovered their money.
The Toledo Police would probably like to help but in cases like this their hands are pretty much tied. They are pretty much limited to enforcing the Ohio Criminal Code and the theft of $100 is a misdemeanor. The likelyhood of a victim from several states away making multiple trips to Ohio for a hearing are virtually nil. They can't just go out and threaten the guy like we used to do in the old days. Seriously the AG's office is the best bet.
It's a shame O'l Shotgun Eddy went belly up the Triple P loader is a great one. I was lucky and got one of the first ones and I really like it.

I'm curious what you guys think of the the one I purchased recently from Powder Inc. I haven't heard any pros or cons and would like to hear some feedback on it if you own or have used one.

I own one and am very satisfied with it.

I did make one change: I drilled and tapped holes in the base to store the extra jags and cylinder stud.

There was a complaint on TFL about the quality of the new Traditions loading press that is being made in China instead of being made by Pietta like the earlier model shown in their catalog.

http://thefiringline.com/forums/show...ighlight=china

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I went and looked at that "complaint". I think that guy is a whiny cry baby, personally. I don't care if the thing is gold plated, just want something that's simple and works and is cheap to purchase! He has no gripe with the function, just that it has a crappy looking wood handle and the picture shows better wood with a chrome thing on it that, in my experience with lee molds, would pop off anyway. Hell, I don't care if the handle breaks off! I'll fab another one up. So long as the thing loads the cylinders, I'll be happy. I might fab another rammer and perhaps a spacer for it to load .31s, will have to see. It won't be pretty to look at, I'm sure, but so long as it works. I mean, how hard can it be? It's not exactly a complicated design.

Most catalogs and web sites usually have a disclaimer somewhere that say,"Items pictured are for display purposes only, the item sold may be slightly different." "Slightly" is a loaded term, because purple is slightly black, or vis a vis.

If it's an honest mistake, it's an honest mistake.

I found a dremel attachement that let me cone the seating stems to something very close to the original colts. This makes the dixie bullets from the iron moulds almost as accurate as round ball and I even got good results from the very sharp pointed picket bullets replicated for the Walker. Lee bullets and the buffalo bullets have round nose profiles and are often as accurate as balls

Nice shooting!


Where do you get those Bullets mec?

the buffalo bullets probably from Track of the Wolf, but i think if you google buffalo bullets it'll give a direct link to a vendor. The conicals were cast from dixie moulds with the Walker being a good quality replica and the iron mould being somewhat tedious as their is no sprue cutter and you have to clip and file the stem off. I compared the Uberti Walker to an original and it appears that the bullet window is about the same size. The replica bullet will barely fit under the ram. These bullets weigh 175 grains while most sources report that the original walker went about 200. Looking at the available space for seating, I don't see how.
In order to get good groups with the picket bullet (walker) I had to chamfer the base of the bullet as these are so primative that there is no reduced diameter step to aid in seating. Ranger McCullough said that the Mounted Rifle soldiers who were issued walkers were unfamiiar with round balls and they thought the sharp end was designed to go into the chamber to aid seating. He went on to say that this invariably caused the cylinders to burst.

Foil and then paper cartridges came along and were produced in great numbers in the Civil War years and afterward. The 60 army and 61 navy had significanly enlarged openings under the ram to accomidate heavier bullets that seemed common in the cartridges. We dont currently find replica bullets weighing 150 grains for the navy caliber and 240 or so for the later 44s but they did use them then:


The frosted bullets are 44 bullets supposedly for the third dragoon picked up from a civil war location. they weigh 240 and 246 grains as I remember. One has a mould line and the other appears to have been swaged in the same manner that the Enfield rifled musket bullets were formed.

Mykeal said: I own one and am very satisfied with it. I did make one change: I drilled and tapped holes in the base to store the extra jags and cylinder stud.

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Thanks Mykeal...do ya remember what the thread is? I was thinking about doing something like that too.

Dick Dastardly has a very good cylinder loader. It costs more than the one shown by MCgunner, but it's much better made.

http://www.biglube.com/

The one that is made like the Pietta loader shown by MCgunner (they no longer make) is not very good, but neither was the Pietta loader to start with...

Thanks mec...


I bet that the heavier Bullets were favored by those Carrying the 1851 Models in .36 Calibre, 'Wild Bill' et al...those would make it a far more effective Arm indeed, than would the lighter Ball...especially in cooler Seasons, where, an adversary was likely wearing quite a few more layers of Clothing, than in warmer Seasons.

Ditto the 'point' seen on the Picket types, I imagine.


I got some full Wad Cutters a while back which I had sought for some of my Cap & Ball, and, also for .45 Colt or even .45 ACP Revolvers.

I will post an image later...you might like them also...and, they could be sized down a little if one needed, or, I suppose, cubbied up of squeezed in a Vice carefully or set intop a Die on an Anvil and a Drift struck down over them.

I am very happy with Ball, but, also felt interested in other shape and heavier Bullets.

do ya remember what the thread is?

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I recall 10-32, but I'll check it tomorrow. The loader is at the range and I'm at home, but I'll be there tomorrow (we're installing a new well - indoor toilets, yippee!) so I'll check it then.

Hi rcflint,


Thanks for posting that link there to the yet other brand of Loader.


That looks mighty nice to me...I heard the Bells ring when I saw that one. I will go rattle the Coffee Can of the last few months worth of day's end change now, and see where I stand for sending off for one I think...

Dastardlys "Tower of Power" loader is almost a duplicate of Powder Incs loader except they are using thin, flat, stock with lightening holes instead of round stock steel for the upright column and thick flat stock for the ramrod's upper guide platform! Powder Incs price is about $63.00 + $5 shipping.

I took some quick pictures of the mold and the balls it produces.








I don't know why that one picture turned out okay and the others were sepia toned, I took them all with the same lighting..

I have a .31 mold that casts a ball and conical like that. Got it from Dixie gun works.

Shown here with the gun....

I don't know why that one picture turned out okay and the others were sepia toned, I took them all with the same lighting..

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Might have been the camera was exposing for the color of the brass mold as opposed to when you shot the bullets seperatly when it exposed for the grey color of them.
A good experiment is to hold a neutral grey card in between the two subjects and let the camera expose and focus on that and take the pic and see how that turns out.
Grey cards are always best no matter what the color of the subject is or if it's in color or black & white. You can pick one up at a local photography shop.
(on the other hand the camera just may have "glitched".)
Try useing your flash but put about 4 folds of a white paper napkin...paper towel...etc.. over the flash to cut down a bit on glare/reflections... and that should improve the color and perceived sharpness, greatly! If four layers isn't enough, just keep adding more...one at a time... until ya get the results ya want.

With reference to the "Triple P" loader, I ordered and paid for one a year ago, this June. The check was cashed a week after receipt without my receipt of goods. The seller/maker has not responded to e-mail or written requests. Buyer beware. Dennis

Dek
Did you ever speak to the Postal authorities about this?
(When you said check, I assume you mailed him a check...correct?)

Bluehawk said:

Dek
Did you ever speak to the Postal authorities about this?
(When you said check, I assume you mailed him a check...correct?)

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Bluehawk, Yes, I did call Postal Inspectors regarding this and sent them all the particulars. As with other federal investigative agencies they'll only initiate cases where they can get prosecutorial interest. Evidently, this issue does not. Dennis

Sounds like typical bureaucratic nonsense. If it were me, I would go to my local Post Office and file a formal complaint against the seller. Once a formal complaint is in the system they have to officially do something!!
The squeaky wheel gets the oil!!!!!