Cap and Ball loads

[Nuclearcricket]

The ball sizes and powder granulation that have been suggested here are spot on. The swaged balls are really nice to use as you don't have to concern your self with the sprue on the balls. Common practice with cast balls is to have the sprue pointed up when loading them in the cylinder. Swaged balls are nice and round so just drop it in and ram it home.
I have found 2 exceptions to the rule of thumb for ball sizes. First is the Ruger Old Army, normally it take the .458 ball diameter and some of the colts will be very happy with a .454 ball. Best to measure the cylinger openings and purchase balls a few thousandths over that diameter.
The second one is the little Remington pocket .31 cal. I did a lot of reserach, or as much as I could find before I picked up one and they all said, .311 balls. Nope those would have been too small. I ended up needing .319 diameter balls. However talk about a fun little thing to shoot! Yes it shoots high, and yes its not designed for folks that have fingers the size of large bananas but other than that it is fun and relatively accurate with what little I have played with it so far.
Good quality cap and ball revolvers are fun to shoot and can be quite accurate once you fine the right load for them.
Sam