Belted conical bullets

[kBob]

I have occassionally trotted out questions about a defunct bullet making outfit called The Alberts COrporation of Paterson, NJ. (there's a familure town name BP Folks)

Alberts made and sold swaged lead bullets. Their Bullet #1401 a 158 grain SWC was my absolute favoritemoderate velocity bullet for anything needing a .357 bullet. They offered a host of lead swaged bullets with a dry film lube on them. I believe they were the first to offer a Hydro-Shok style bullet in their case a .357 Wad Cuttter with the familure hollow point with "pin" in the bottom.

A pair of bullet types I never obtained from them were #2601, an 80 grain Belleted Conical ".36" and a 135 grain Belted Conical ".44" #2701 that were inteneded for cap and ball revolvers.

These resembled the "Ball-et" type of bullets. They featured a nose that was like 45 percent of a round ball followed by an over sized belt to seal off your chamber mouths effectively and a short cylindical body that was to drop easily into the chamber, The base featured a shallow hollow that, like a .22 Rimfire bullet base, was to expand enough to grab the rifling at the base while the belt grabbed up front.

ANyone have anyexperience with them? If so how did they work?

Anyone making something like that today?

Anyone (as there are new folks since I last asked) know what happened to Alberts?

-kBob

 

[Gatofeo]

I recall firing the Alberts .36 in my Colt 2nd generation 1851 Navy in the early to mid 1980s.
As I recall, groups ran around 6 to 8 inches at 20 yards, offhand.
Of greater interest, they left a ring of lead in the barrel, where the forcing cone chokes down to enter the rifling. I can't explain it, and I've never had another projectile do that in any of my cap and ball revolvers.

Alberts had a good reputation and I was sorry to see them go. They made a fine, .30-caliber lead plinking bullet that I enjoyed in my .30-06.
I also used their .38 SWC for plinking loads in my Ruger Security Six. It was accurate.
The only problem I had with Alberts, was finding them in the stores around Spokane, Washington. Because Spokane is only about 100 miles from Lewiston, Idaho -- site of Speer and CCI, I could buy boxes of 500 Speer lead .38 SWC bullets for about $15.
Even in my college days, I could afford an occasional $15 to keep my Ruger barking.

But Alberts were good bullets. Their dry lube was particularly good with light loads of smokeless powder in modern guns. It was useless with black powder, though, which requires a moist lubricant to keep fouling soft. But topping off the balls or conical bullets with Hodgdon Spit Ball kept them lubricated.

But I still can't explain why that particular Alberts .36 would leave a ring of lead in the forcing cone. I've put a lot of conicals through that 1851 since, and a far greater number of balls, and never had that problem appear with other designs and makes.
Go figure.

Oh, and I've never found the Buffalo Bullet conical accurate in any of my guns. The Lee .44 conical can be extremely accurate, the Lee .36 so-so. I've never found any conical as accurate as the Lee .44 design.
But I usually shoot lead balls. They're more than adequate for putting a hole in a tin can or target, and are more accurate than most conicals.
The only conical that can nip at a ball's heels, I've found, is the Lee .44 -- but not the Lee .36 version.

Centuries ago, learned men were convinced that demons followed the path of bullets and affected them. I'm beginning to wonder if these educated men weren't onto something ...

 

[Jaymo]

The Lee conical for the ROA has a nice fat, round, nose to it. I like how blunt it is.