GUNS Magazine Handloading for Black Powder:

At The Range

For my use with the .36 percussion sixguns, I have access to a pair of conical bullets from Eras Gone. These are the .36 Colt Cartridge Works and the .36 Richmond Laboratory design. The former was designed by Colt in the late 1850s with a weight of approximately 126 grains and a tapered heel to make insertion into the cylinder chamber easy. This heel also provided the surface area for attaching a paper cartridge. Colt produced millions of these and sold them to the United States Army. The latter .36 bullet was designed at the Confederate Arsenal in Richmond, Va. These also have the tapered heel and weigh right at 147 grains. These are cast-it-yourself projects; however, Kaido Bullets offers a flat-nosed Kaido bullet complete with grease grooves and weighing right at 145 grains.

Eras Gone specializes in providing historically accurate replicas of bullets from the percussion era and these are produced by Lee in double-cavity persuasion and only available through Eras Gone. Mark Hubbs says this of these bullet molds he offers. First the .36 Colt Cartridge Works bullet: “Colt introduced this bullet designed in the late 1850s and used it for the mass-produced combustible cartridges it sold commercially and on contract to the United States Army. The bullet measured 0.380″ at its widest point and weighed 126 grains. The nominal powder charge of 17 grains of powder was standard in combustible cartridges and that is what we recommend also when loading with loose powder. Like all other percussion revolver bullets, they should be cast only with pure soft lead.”

Of the .36 Richmond Laboratory bullet, Mark adds: “This was the third .36 caliber pistol design that emerged from the Confederate Arsenal in Richmond, Va. They are relatively common being found on Eastern battlefields and campsites. The widest part of the bullet measures 0.390″ and it weighs in at about 147 grains. The long heel is 0.355″ and will fit easily into almost any .36 caliber revolver, original or reproduction.”
To see how easily these bullets would fit into the loading port of replica .36 percussion sixguns, I tried both of them along with the commercially produced Kaido flat-nosed 126-grain bullet. I checked 10 Colt-style sixguns including three of the smaller 1862 Pocket Pistols, and from three different manufacturers — Uberti, Pietta, and Armi San Marco. Of the 30 possible combinations, the only failure to fit in the chamber and rotate around under the loading lever was the Kaido in a Colt Black Powder Second Generation 1862.

Switching to Remington replicas, I had a pair of Uberti New Model Navies and all worked with one exception, namely the Colt Cartridge bullet in a 5 ½” Remington Navy. The 13th example I tried proved to be totally unlucky as none of the bullets will load in the Spiller & Burr without extensive modification to the frame. However, they can be loaded in the cylinder when it is off the gun and using a loading lever expressly for the purpose.