I think I made a mistake.

[roccoracer]

I was so excited to see .440 lead balls for sale at a local antique store I bought them without thinking. I purchased a .44 navy cap and ball revolver last year. The dealer gave me a handful of balls to try it out so I didn't see the size. I should have looked up the ball size before I bought the box.
The box is a box of 100 Hornady #6040 .440. Can I use them in my .44 Navy?

 

[426wedge]

No expert, but I think you need a .441 ball in a revolver. 440 is for.45 rifles with a patch. I will be corrected if wrong....

 

[whacko]

I was so excited to see .440 lead balls for sale at a local antique store I bought them without thinking. I purchased a .44 navy cap and ball revolver last year. The dealer gave me a handful of balls to try it out so I didn't see the size. I should have looked up the ball size before I bought the box.
The box is a box of 100 Hornady #6040 .440. Can I use them in my .44 Navy?

You actually need a .451 ball for a 44 navy revolver.

 

[whacko]

No expert, but I think you need a .441 ball in a revolver. 440 is for.45 rifles with a patch. I will be corrected if wrong....

It's actually a. 451 ball for 44 navy. You shear off a ring of lead when loading it.

 

[roccoracer]

You actually need a .451 ball for a 44 navy revolver.

Thats what I was afraid of. Maybe I will just buy a mold and melt these to work. Thank you.

 

[Frizzle Fry]

Maybe someone will swap??

 

[CRSIII]

It's actually a. 451 ball for 44 navy. You shear off a ring of lead when loading it.

This.

 

[gerrycaruso]

.440 is for a .45 rifle. It uses an undersized ball because of the cloth patch. .44 cap & ball revolvers use .451, .454 and sometimes .457. Can't you return them and get the right size?

 

[mousegunguy]

Awesome karma ?
‘IN’ please & thank you

 

[mousegunguy]

I went lookin for food for this yesterday and had no luck. I’ll trade ya for a box of Speer .457 RB if you’re in central Mass.

 

[roccoracer]

I went lookin for food for this yesterday and had no luck. View attachment 502398I’ll trade ya for a box of Speer .457 RB if you’re in central Mass.

I'm in Western mass.

 

[Sparkey]

Balls & shot for muzzle loading guns - Track of the Wolf

Balls & shot for muzzle loading guns Hornady round balls are die swaged from pure soft lead. Each ball is perfect, no shrinkage, no sprue, no wrinkles. Hornady round balls are made in the most popular calibers. Hand cast round balls are cast from pure soft lead. Each ball has a tiny flat, where...

www.trackofthewolf.com

 

[omega42]

It's lead - lots of possibilities!

 

[namedpipes]

OP sees a mistake. I see an opportunity to purchase another gun

 

[Mountain]

OP sees a mistake. I see an opportunity to purchase another gun

The elegant solution. He already covered the difficult part- finding ammo. Buying a gun for his ammo collection is just being pragmatic.

 

[Manomet]

Nice Flobert

 

[Dennis in MA]

Just use a hammer and whack em in real good. That'll expand them to fit correctly.

An older gent told me a story of an older friend of his who grew up dirt-poor out in Western mASS. Dad would give him X bullets and tell the son to come back with X game. Not X-1 or X-2. X. Or there would be hell to pay.

He and the dad would go bird hunting with a BP shotgun. If the old man saw a deer (keep in mind this is 100 or so years ago - WTF is a season??), he'd roll a lead ball down the bbl.

Roll the ball down the bbl! I guess. And then hope it doesn't move fwd slightly and create an interesting obstruction. Never heard that the old man had blown up any firearms so I guess it was fine. But damn. ROLL the ball. LOL

 

[AHM]

I went lookin for food for this yesterday and had no luck. ... I’ll trade ya for a box of Speer .457 RB if you’re in central Mass.

I'm in Western mass.

 

[weekendracer]

Just use a hammer and whack em in real good. That'll expand them to fit correctly.

An older gent told me a story of an older friend of his who grew up dirt-poor out in Western mASS. Dad would give him X bullets and tell the son to come back with X game. Not X-1 or X-2. X. Or there would be hell to pay.

He and the dad would go bird hunting with a BP shotgun. If the old man saw a deer (keep in mind this is 100 or so years ago - WTF is a season??), he'd roll a lead ball down the bbl.

Roll the ball down the bbl! I guess. And then hope it doesn't move fwd slightly and create an interesting obstruction. Never heard that the old man had blown up any firearms so I guess it was fine. But damn. ROLL the ball. LOL

Today, you just have to cut the plastic near the brass. Turns birdshot or buckshot into a slug.