cartridge converion cylinders

[Fly]

I always wanted a 1873 peacemaker, but price has kind of limited me buying one. I have all the
cartridge loading stuff for smokeless guns so I thought why not get a cartridge conversion cylinder.

Well I did, but bought two, one for my dragoon & one for my 58 Remington. Really it make more
sense to buy the Remington then the Colts. Remies just load much faster. But dam it's fun. I still
love the cap & ball, but you get a lot more shooting done with the cartridges. What neat I save
money in the long run on ammo so to speak.

Most know I make my own powder so that saves a lot, but primers are a lot cheaper than percussion caps.
I can shoot a lot more now for about the same as I did with cap & ball ammo.

And I can always still shoot the cap & ball by just changing cylinders! ~

Fly:Fire:

[Omnivore]

Remingtons are faster to reload, that is, assuming you're not going to cut the recoil shield and install a loading gate and ejector, in which case there would be no difference. That would of course depend on our definition of "reload", whether we mean swapping an empty cylinder for a preloaded one, or whether we mean removing the emptied cylinder, removing and end cap, removing the empty cases from a cylinder, recharging it with fresh cartridges, replacing an end cap and then re-installing the cylinder in the gun, or whether we mean opening a loading gate, ejecting the empties, recharging the cylinder and then closing the loading gate.

Compare any of those sequences with stuffing in paper cartridges, seating and capping, and you'll be close to a real comparison. If we want to look at total time and total expense, also look at collecting, sorting, cleaning, inspecting, storing, sizing/decapping, measuring your brass and measuring your finished cartridges, and having the complete metal cartridge loading setup and all the other stewps incolved in metal cartridge loading. That's assuming you never have to re-trim and chamfer your brass because you're using low pressure loads, but there's always an attrition rate for the brass.

I don't meant to rain on your parade though. This is all done for fun of course, and so it's not a decision based on anything but having fun learning and shooting these historic systems. I may get a conversion cylinder at some point, or a purpose-built conversion gun. They are a fascinating and influential part of firearm history.

[Fly]

What crawled up your butt & died? Bud I make paper cartridges also & yes they speed the process up.
But no way can you are me or anyone load a colt with paper cartridges as fast as dropping the remmie
cylinder & reload cartridges & slip it back in the gun, ready to shot. You will be still be pushing percussion caps on.

Oh one more thing, NO CAP JAMS for me. Do not tell me those Colts do not have cap jams, (wink)

Fly

[Good Cheer]

Considered going that route but opted for a percussion revolver set up to use the boolit molds of my choice.
Recently picked up a .41 180 grain round nose mold in the swapping and selling threads.
It's gonna be fine, mighty fine!

[Beagle333]

I got a conversion cylinder for my Walker. I haven't fired it yet, but it sure looks good in there. I might send a few downrange from it this weekend. :Fire:


And I agree with you Fly.... caps are just too expensive! I'm saving mine for the long guns. If somebody ever starts making them cheaply again.... I'll just get the old cylinders back out and degrease em.... but for now, it's cartridges for me. :-D

[bubba.50]

I had an R&D cylinder when I had my Ruger Old Army and I loved the shootin' of it. only thing I didn't like is that Ruger for some reason never pinned their loadin' parts together like the Remingtons so every time you reloaded you had to be careful not to let half yer gun fall apart.

[dondiego]

That is my only complaint about the ROA is that every time I take the cylinder out, everything falls to pieces!

[johnson1942]

i aquired a ruger old army in perfect shape last winter. as soon as i got it i sold the precussion cylinder and got a r and d cylinder. i didnt like the ruger grips either so i got some upscale checkered rosewood ones. i love the gun, i sat their and practiced and practiced takeing it apart to reload and it never comes apart for me now. it a learned thing just like learning a banjo to play or something. Fly, im with you, its a blast to shoot. i reload and use blackhorn 209 powder and swage my own bullets. it really snorts and is pinpoint accurate when i get a grip on my self and do my part. i had to carefully hone down the back site with a honeing stone to make it shoot perfectly on at about 20 yards. i would never part with it now that i got it set up. i use 50 cal roundballs run through a .451 swageing die that has a true short round nose and a deep cupped base with a stought lip on it. i use a 60 thousands thick wad between powder and the bullets base. never ever leads. no lube is used. my other gun i really like is a 1871-1872 uberti colt open top 38 special. thats a dream gun also. sorry to tell about that one as it never was precussion. wouldnt mind getting a 1850 navy and put a cartridge cylinder with a loading gate in it. whould have to cast for that one with a hollow base mold. thanks for the post.

[Fly]

After buying my replacement cylinders I did some reading & found some things I never knew. I love
reading about the civil war & can't read enough on it. But after the war cartridge guns were getting
popular. The problem was there was just so many very good cap & ball revolvers available.

Most people that had a perfectly good cap & ball did not want to spend the money for a cartridge pistol.
The US Army was in the same boat. They have spent so much on the war & had thousands of cap & ball revolvers.
So the replacement cylinder came to be. People could convert a perfectly good pistol to cartridge for a fraction
of the cost. The Army do the same. Pretty neat!

Fly

[johnson1942]

i think it never has been done but i would really really love to get ahold of a good paterson colt replica and have a loading gate conversion cylinder made for it. to me that would be the creme de le creme conversion. to me a cartridge open top is a thing of mechanical beauty. my 71 open top feels much better in my hand than a real ssa 73 i had once.

[Fly]

Ya I agree! The colt open top revolvers have the best feel & point of aim of ANY revolver I ever picked up.
Some people do not like the sights. But with the point & aim you don't need to use the sights. I love my
Remmies, but they just do not have the point & aim feel the open top Colts have.

Fly