Schofield “Multi-ball” cartridge

[wlw-19958]

Hi There,

Never had leading from the limited number I shot.

That is good to know. My only experience with shot cartridges
is using "pest" rounds in my Remington 12 rifle for killing rats in
the barn. Those left considerable lead fouling in the rifling.


Cheers!
Webb

 

[wlw-19958]

Hi There,

I totally disagree. Each post was issued reloading kits and tools that included a 45 cal Gang ball mold for both the 45 pistol and 45/70 Springfield rifle that is also assumed to be for gallery loading. That is ridiculous if you think about it.

I'm going to dispute this unsubstantiated supposition. The bullet
mold pictured is clearly marked to be for 45 S&W RND.

Capt. Wright's multi ball round that was made to fit both the Colt
SAA and S&W Schofield used a segmented ball projectiles
that were .428" in diameter in the spherical section. The mold
pictured is for the 45 S&W and hence would cast a ball that is
either .449" or .450" in diameter in order to be of any use in the
Schofield revolver.

The Wright round had top and bottom segments that were
flattened on one end and the middle segment was flattened
on both ends. You actually provided a pic of that round showing
the unique style of crimp employed. That type of crimp would
be difficult to achieve with the typical hand reloading tools
available in that time period. The mold pictured clearly casts a
plain spherical ball and doesn't match the projectiles in the
diagram you posted.


Cheers!
Webb

 

[BMur]

45 Colt

Hatcher discusses loading 45 long colt with shot in his" Enclopedia of revolvers and pistols".

I’d sure like to dissect/ dismantle some of the antique ball rounds to see how the cartridge companies loaded them at that time.


Murph

 

[wlw-19958]

Hi There,

Continuing along the theme of multi ball rounds used in the military,
I came upon the the following bit of information on The Firearm Blog:

"Starting in 1901, Frankford Arsenal began loading multiball
loadings for use in federal prisons. The first 1,000 rounds were
loaded for guards at federal prisons. An additional 29,060
rounds were made in 1902."


The article goes on to report:

"Beginning of 1902 production of multiball cartridges (in both
.45 and .30 cal) was increased because of an order from
Washington requiring each post to keep on hand 10 rounds
per soldier for use in case of riot. ... During WW1 it was
necessary to guard military installations. Two million rounds
were manufactured by Remington for this purpose."


The aforementioned information is attributed to the
International Ammunition Association.


Cheers!
Webb

 

[rll]

Multi ball loads

For those interested in modern multi ball loads there was an article in Handloader’s Digest tenth edition. Robert Sherwood’s three ball loads worked well, mine spread horizontally very quickly. The ball over shot worked better and also fed the magazine. Rll

 

[Jim Watson]

A distant descendant is the XM261 .45 auto cartridge of the 1970s.
It fired No. 4 tungsten shot from a much modified 1911.

 

[BMur]

Great stuff

Outstanding input. I think this only further supports the viable use of the multi-ball cartridge by the U.S. Cavalry. Both in the 45/70 Springfield rifle and the 45cal Colt and Schofield Army issue pistols.

Murph