Cap and Ball Revolvers

[roundball1]

With regards to cap and ball revolvers in the 1850s and through the 60s, has anyone seen any documentation of actual lead, spherical balls being used or just conicals? The only thing that I have seen that supports the idea of round balls is the fact that some molds were made that have both a round ball and a conical chamber. From what I can see, especially in martial use, it looks like conicals all the way. The conicals being issued in ready made combustible cartridges in the ACW.

 

[9th US Regulars]

My ancestor's bullet mold only had a .36 caliber round ball chamber. Although, in reading his journal I could see him never really using it and just drawing issued ammo.

 

[Dan Kohli]

From the limited amount of research I have done. The cartridges sold on the civilian market and issued by the military for the revolvers had the conical bullet. I think the main reason for this is that the revolvers were rifled and conical bullets. I thank the conicals are better suited ballisticly for rifling the the round ball. I think the round ball is more prevalent today because it's easier to get a hold of then conical bullets.

My opinion should be taken with a grain of salt, since I am not an expert on this subject and did some light research on the subject. Other members of this forum are more experienced and have more research on this subject.

 

[Papabyrd]

With the round ball you could load more powder and the lighter bullet would not drop as fast as a conical. But it would not have as much knock down power.