.45 caliber round ball

[Eric Smith]

I have a .45 caliber Colrain barrel.  Bullet molds come in differnt sizes for the .45 cal. How do you decide whats best? I have no idea.

[FRJ]

The only method  I know of is to shoot different balls,patching material and lube.  I shoot a 45 flint lock and it shoots 445 balls with 18grand pillow ticking patches really well. Your results may be different. FRJ

[bgf]

Usually 0.005" (e.g. .445) under nominal bore size is a safe bet.  0.010" under is also useful at times (=.440), esp. for easy loading and often acceptable accuracy.  Even bore size or over is "best" for some applications (serious target shooting).

Shoot some bought or borrowed balls in different sizes before you buy a mold.  If you must buy a mold without trying different sizes first, the 0.010" under one will certainly fit and almost certainly work OK, but it may not be optimal.

[Daryl]

ditto BGF's post.

[cahil_2]

I have a 45 with colerain barrel and I use .445's with .018 patch.

[George Sutton]

Try both the .440 and .445 with different loads and patching and see what works best for your rifle.

Centershot

[54Bucks]

Most barrels (Collerain, Rice, & Green Mt.) will shoot a .010 under ball with .015-.018 patch the way they come. Relieve the muzzle crown a little and they will easily use a .005 under ball with .018 patch.

[nosrettap1958]

Why are you asking us for as there are no two rifles on this planet that are the same, each preferrs its own load. Start shooting it and eventually the rifle will tell you what bullet mold to buy.

[Eric Smith]

I am going to start with a .440. See how it goes.

[nosrettap1958]

The troubles I had getting my rifle to settle down could fill a book. For years it would always send out a flier before eventually calming down and putting up a good group. You can see what kind of problems that could give someone out deer hunting. I literally stumbled on the cure, it was the amount of grease I was using on the patch, a tip an old shooter told me a long time ago when I first bought that rifle, "With those wide, shallow grooves watch the amount of grease you're using on the patch."  And sure enough that was the key o the fliers.

Good luck with yours!! 

[Dancy]

Crawdad,

Were you using too much grease or not enough?

Thanks

[mjm46@bellsouth.net]

If it's a square bottom groove you can get away with a thinner patch. the round bottom grooves seem to want thicker patches to get a good seal. Years ago I had a .45 cal Dixie Gun works rifle that I used with a .440 ball and a somewhat thin patch, I could thumb start the ball and it shot very well when it fired, didn't have the worlds best frizzen. Only sparked about 30% of the time. I learned not to flinch shooting that rifle. It lived most of it's life on the wall till some low life decided he needed it more than I did.

[nosrettap1958]

J, I was using too much grease, what I could have done was change the type of grease I was using but I stumbled over the "cure" before making that decision. 

I am using store bought Blue & Grey rifle grease.

[northmn]

Different barrels also have different rifling depths.  Coleraine is very deep which implies the need for thicker patching.  The old Numrich I used to use were only about 008 and used a thinner patch and the Douglas at 010 a little thicker.  Given the depth of rifling in  Coleraine likely a 020 patch would be minimal.  If a 445 ball will roll down the muzzle without patching it is good enough.  One way of testing is to see whcih is the largest ball to go fall through the barrel.  Some target shooters however like to use a slightly oversize ball that impresses the rifling.

DP

[curly]

I too have a Colrain .45. I called Scott at Colrain and asked him about suggested loads. I shoot a .440 ball 15 tho washed pillow tic patch, 65 gains FF. Actually he said they like around 90 grains. I thought that was a bit to much for my needs, so, 65 is my load, with reasonably good results. The rifle will shoot better than I can hold her.

[Daryl]

What I have found, is that a .440" ball with a .015" patch, can only push that patch down 1/2 way to the bottom of .010" deep grooves.  With a mimimum of .005" empty space between the patch and the bottom of the grooves on each and every rifling groove, the gas blowby usually comprimises the patch's integrity, burns it, and causes fouling to build up in the grooves, making loading difficult.
Now, using a .445" ball and that same patch, will just barely make it to the bottom of those .010" rifing cuts, which will be better, but still not do any sealing.

Attempting to seal the powder gasses behind the ball is why DPeck suggested the .020" or thicker patching. We know this system works in every barrel we've tried it - well over 100 of them, maybe 200 now - with .010" or even deeper rifling like the .016" rounded rifling of the Rice and Getz barrels.

If you like or don't mind wipingyour barrel when out shooting, then by all means, use the loose combinations.

Scott merely gave a suggestion on what would give excellent accuracy in those barrels. If less accuracy is good enough - that's great.  If you do get into a situation where the barrel's best accuracy would come in handy, it would be good to find where it shoots with that load. I would suggest that the .015" will not work with that much powder in a .45- but .020" will.

[Kaintuckkee]

You might want to try a .451" also they load easier than you think even with a .018 patch,I have shot this combo in everything from a T/C factory barrel to several custom barrels,I do use a mallet to start them though