The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Where are people getting there .380 balls from? i remember finding them some years back but now most places only seem to stock .375

I'm still in a rented flat so not much chance to mould my own yet.

I have an Uberti Remington 1858 which were "supposedly" designed around using .380 ball though i do know that I don't get a ring when using .375

Otherwise I've been using 15grn of pyrodex and a lubed wad which has been great whilst getting new people to use it but i plan on probably upping the charge as it is a bit on the light side.

You can nip them up to a larger diameter in a vice.

Three marks on the vice will give you reasonable consistency and they will swage down when seating, you just want the same amount of lead "ring" coming off.

Update on this question after trying different options for a while....

I found that the .36 revolvers do indeed group tighter if they are driven harder with a bit more powder.

If I do without any kind of lube, shots do start to spread out.

Best load for accuracy in my 1851 is 18 grains of Swiss 2 topped with a greased wad, then a .375 ball.

So what do you think is happening that makes your shots go wide without any kind of lube?

poll007 wrote:Where are people getting there .380 balls from? i remember finding them some years back but now most places only seem to stock .375

I'm still in a rented flat so not much chance to mould my own yet.

I have an Uberti Remington 1858 which were "supposedly" designed around using .380 ball though i do know that I don't get a ring when using .375

Otherwise I've been using 15grn of pyrodex and a lubed wad which has been great whilst getting new people to use it but i plan on probably upping the charge as it is a bit on the light side.

I've found some pretty decent balls on Ebay listed as 'fishing weights' or 'catapult ammo'. I haven't bought any for a while as Covid happened. But I'm convinced the seller must be a muzzle loader as he seems to sell some very conveniently sized 'fishing weights'.
I also cast my own.

dromia wrote:So what do you think is happening that makes your shots go wide without any kind of lube?

I think the bore may be accumulating fouling. The lubed bore looks cleaner than the dry one after a cylinder.

So how does this fouling accumulate in the bore when you have a tight fitting ball going down each time followed by the hot gases?

The first shot fouls the bore but each subsequent shot doesn't add to the fouling, unless of course the fouling is lead which is due to too hard and alloy and or an undersized ball.

BP fouling won't accumulate in a bore/forcing cone, yes it will gather on the outside of the gun and can eventually build up sufficiently to start interfering with the rotation of the cylinder but that in and of itself will not cause inaccuracy

Adding grease to the load just adds to the fouling.

Are you shooting off a rest?

After how many shots does the point of impact wander? By how much? Does it just happen after a certain number of shots? Does it continue to wander and by how much is the group size enlarged?

How long have you been shooting pistol?

Thank you for your interest. When I get a minute I’ll shoot some targets with/without lube off a rest and post pictures.

I’ve been shooting pistol about four years.