Taylors Conversion

[Mr Peabody]

I'm thinking I'd like to buy one of Taylor's .45 Colt conversion cylinders for my .44 1851 Navy C&B pistol. Do any of you use this? Do you think it will hit any where close to point of aim with the standard sights? TIA

[Outpost75]

I would expect it will shoot way high due to the heavier bullet.

Original Colts also hit high relative to the sights even with round ball.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I think it would, but it might take a bit of load tinkering. That is, if it shoots to point of aim with a black powder or Pyrodex- fueled load, and if you shoot smokeless in the conversion cylinder, then finding the sweet spot might take some time and experimentation.

I've got one of the .44 cal. 1851 Navy revolvers-- mine was made by Pietta. As I'm sure you know, historically speaking they are something that never existed, but I think they're a really great idea. I considered the various brands of conversion cylinders, but decided to just go ahead and buy an open top already made for metallic cartridges. All of the conversion cylinders seem to take a lot of time to load and unload, except the ones where you permanently alter them by grinding the recoil plate and installing a loading gate-- in which case it seems to me that you might as well have purchased one of the open tops. But, I do understand that tinkering around with stuff is half of the enjoyment of the BP revolver hobby. Those cylinders are pretty expensive, so my thought was that your over half way to the price of an open top, and you'll have another gun!

[Mr Peabody]

True DG, I'm trying to avoid another gun if I can. I had an open top .44 Special and it shot very well. I had an 1851 Conversion in .38 Special and it shot well and to point of aim. I'm curious to see what guys using the Taylor's have to say.

[Green Frog]

Where are you located, Mr Peabody? Taylor’s has an open house at their store in Winchester, VA a couple of times a year and they usually set up a big display at “The Nation’s Gun Show.” I’m sure they will be glad to discuss their products with you. Also, pre-WuFlu I found them pretty accommodating on the phone.

Froggie

[Mr Peabody]

Thanks Froggie

[Good Cheer]

Go look at the open top cartridge guns on Cimarron's website and you just might need a drool cover for your key board.

By the way, Lyman's last black powder manual has some interesting data for black in .44 Special.

[bedbugbilly]

Mr, Peabody -

I have a Uberti 1858 Remington C & Ball with a Taylor conversion cylinder - new to me but purchased used. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet. I plan on loading both BP as well as smokeless (Red Dot) with the 454-190 RNFP. All of my C & B rev;vers start out shooting high so I suspect that with the 255 grain it will require some sight adjustment to adjust POA to POI. Not a '51 open top but I believe both would have a tendency to shoot high. I'm not going to push them hard with the RD so will have to see.

I also just got a Pietta 1858 Remington Navy and a Taylor conversion cylinder - will be shooting 38 Colt Long with a 150 grain lead round nose heeled boolit in that - both BP and smokeless and I suspect that it will take some sight adjustment as well.

My Ubeerti 1851 R & M (38 spl.) conversion has shot very well right out of the box. I'm using 148 gr. WC in it and POA and POI are right on if I do my job. A great rev;ver om ,u experience and I will probably get a 45 Colt conversion at some point - possibly a '60 Army.

I picked up one of the Uberti 1858 Remington revolving carbines a couple of years ago - C & B - and have a conversion cylinder for it but haven't played with it much other than as a C & B. A fun little gun that shoots well and I'm hoping it will with the 45 Colt conversion cylinder in it.

If your '51 shoots high as a C & B, I'm thinking that it probably has a "post" from sight that could probably be fairly easy to replace with a higher one made out of a piece of brazing rod turned down i a drill with emery cloth to fit the hole in the barrel - then you could file it down to adjust POA to POI which might even work better with the C & B loads/45 Colt?

[serger]

I just used a piece of heat shrink tubing
and cut it down to the length I needed.
That way I didn't modify the 1858 and
can still shoot BP round ball.