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Greeting from Godzone
I have just bought a 45lc conversion cylinder for my 44 cal Uberti Remington 1858 so I can shoot percussion as well as centrefire. My questions are these: Does anyone out there shoot such a thing, and if so, what would be the ideal bullet to cast for consistent accuracy? I plan on shooting BP and Trailboss - so an indication of loads would be very welcome. Any issues that I need to aware of?
many thanks in anticipation
LP from NZ
With an aftermarket part, first you have to be sure it fits properly and safely. I imagine that was the first thing you did. Satisfied with fit and function, next you need to know three important measurements determined with slightly oversized lead slugs and a micrometer (not a caliper): barrel's bore and groove diameters, forcing cone's diameter, throat diameters for each of the chambers in the cylinder. Then you measure the cylinder gap with the new cylinder fitted with a set of feeler gages. Rotate the cylinder and check to see if the gap is consistent for each chamber.
When you know those numbers, you will know what the parameters are, the diameter bullet you will need, if you have to do any work on the gun first (either for safety or practicality), then we can talk about alloys and moulds. Every barrel has its own opinion of what it likes best, you have to ask yours personally.
What do you already know about it with the percussion cylinder? What size ball/bullet does it shoot best, over what charge, and what kind of accuracy did it give? That may give us some clues. Then we compare the barrel's actual measurements to that ball size.
If you need more specific info on slugging, ask and you shall receive. You can expect decent accuracy if the fc and the cylinder throats aren't too tight and allow a bullet that fits and seals the grooves of the barrel without getting squeezed on the way in. It may spit some wicked out the sides if the cylinder/fc gap is too great, but it will gunk up too quickly if it is too tight, but you've been dealing with that already. Life is that way with bp. Hopefully it is a bit tighter gap with the centerfire cylinder, but it is the different diameters of all the parts involved that will tell the story. There is good info on slugging, etc., and much more here: http://www.castpics.net/
I would suggest sticking to bp, but that's because I have never worked with TrailBoss and know only what I have read about it. That's not the same as having used any. Others who have some experience with it may help you more there.