TimberCreek

Can I load a .45 cal Copper jacketed pistol bullet in a .44 cal Black powder revolver? Has anyone ever done it and will it work?

cayugad

If your talking a six shot revolver, it will depend on what diameter bullet the revolver takes and also the height of th projectile in order to fit into the cylinder and under the loading lever. I personally would not try it as the bullet needs to squat somewhat when loaded and there may not be enough give in a copper jacketed bullet. They do make pure lead conicals for the revolvers depending on the size you need.

TimberCreek

Guess I should have been more specific. My .44Blackpowder 6 shot revolver accepts a .451 ball orlead bullet. Has anyone tried to load a copper jacketed 45 cal pistol bullet which is also .451 diameterinto a black powder revolver. Mainly I want togo to a 185gr hollow point and load up a little hotter for more killing power.

eldeguello

When you seat a .451 soft lead ball or conical bullet in your revolver's chambber, please note that a ring of lead is shaved off of the ball as you ram it into the chamber, IF you are using the correct ball size. The chambers are made undersize so that a good seal is produced during ramming. Then additional sealing is provided by the grease you put on top of the ball, or by the greased wad you put under the ball, on top of the powder charge. This is to prevent "chain firing" of more than one chamber at a time, a very dangerous occurance!

I'd be willing to bet that you WILL NOT BE ABLE to seat a copper jacketed.451" projectile in your cap & ball chamber, because the chamber is actually less than .451" in diameter, and your revolver's loading lever does not have sufficient mechanical advantageto push a hard bulletinto the chamber. You would either damage the loading lever, get a bullet stuck partially seated, or both!

Since a soft lead projectile is superior in ballistic performance when fired at BP velocities, there is nothing to be gained by shooting copper-jacketed bullets anyway, even if you could do it!

cayugad

I shoot a 1858 (reproduction of course) New Army Revolver made in Italy by F. L. Lipettia. I bought it at Cabela's. It also shoots the .451 diameter ball. You can get some 200 grain pure lead conicals that are hard to load but not impossible from places. On top of 30 grains of Pyrodex P or Goex 3f they do some impressive shooting and down range thunking.

Actually I found the ball to be easiest to load, safest to shoot, and most accurate of all projectiles. I have hunted with my revolver. We bunny hunt in the winter down in the marsh. Walk/snowshoe in and spend the day, a lot of fun...

TimberCreek

Thanks Guys, just wondering if it was possible! Will stick with lead. Wish they would make a .44 powerbelt bullet suitable for revolvers!

eldeguello

I'll bet you could use a 200 to 220-grain .451"-.452"semiwadcutter (Keith design) .45 ACP target bullet like the Lyman 452423,and cast from pure lead, and have excellent killing power. I have a Lee mould that casts 225-grain conical bullets designed for use in the Ruger Old Army, and I use these bullets successfully in the .45 ACP when cast from wheel weights. There's no eason why you could not "reverse" this idea, and use .45 ACP .451" diametersemiwadcutter target bullets in a cap & ballrevolver if you cast them from pure soft lead!

Note that those Power Belt bullets are NOT COPPER JACKETED bullets. They are swaged from pure soft lead and then givena very thin PLATING of copper. This allows them to be made undersize and to swage up into the rifling when fired and still prevent your bore from leading up.If they had an actual copper jacket they would not work. They'd be too tough to swage up into the rifling.