Cylinder Conversion Question...

[speeedracerr]

Im seriously thinking of getting into black powder but would also like the option to use a cylinder conversion for cowboy loads down the road.

At the moment, im looking to get the 1851 Navy revolver but wanted to know how difficult it was to get those R&D drop in cylinders to work.

I read somewhere that some gunsmithing maybe involved to get the cylinder to fit. Just wanted to know if anyone has done this type of conversions and how it worked for you.

Thanks for the help

[billybob_jcv]

I know nothing about them - I *suspect* it depends on the gun and the conversion cylinder. Here's a link to a guy who is reported to be one of the experts:

http://www.howelloldwestconversions.com/index.html

[14delta]

conversion cylinders

I had a pair of R&D cylinders which are the same as the unported Howell's for my 1858 Remingtons, They worked well and were accurate but I found I could load the percussion cylinders with powder & ball almost as fast as I could load the conversion cylinder with cartridges.
The colt style revolvers are a little more difficult to work with than the remingtons as you have to deal with pulling the wedge everytime you want to reload the conversion cylinder if you put the wedge in too loose the barrel wobbles if put in too tight the cylinder binds it's not bad if you just do it once in a while but if you're in a match and taking two revolvers apart for six or eight stages it's a pain.
Personally I think the ported cylinders for colt's makes more sense, You just put the gun on half cock and open up the gate to load or unload it. The down side to the ported cylinder is you have to have a trough cut in the revolver frame to allow the cartridges to enter the cylinder and a hole drilled and tapped to attach the gate ring to the frame. If you convert a 36 caliber revolver to .38 ammo is going to be a problem as the bore is larger than .357 so if you want accuracy you're going to have to load hollow base bullets or have a barrel liner installed.
By the time you do all this you're going to have enough money invested to buy a really nice single action.
Uberti is now making a 1858 Remington with the conversion already done I've thought about putting a ported conversion in a pair of my .44 Remingtons but for the price of doing it I could just buy the complete guns.
I hope this shed a little light on what you're looking at.
14delta

[redcliff]

I don't have any conversion cylinders. However I do have some Cimmaron "conversion" revolvers, including 1851 Navy variants like the Richards-Mason model.

The advantages I see to them are that the firearm is proofed with smokeless loads and that they have a loading gate and ejector rod versus having to remove the cylinder on the aftermarket conversion cylinders to reload.

[Grumpyoldretiredcop]

I have an R&D drop in cylinder for a Pietta Remington 1858. It can indeed take some gunsmithing to make it work - I'm still getting the indexing issues solved, and it took some filing on the barrel face to get it to fit into the pistol.

It probably would take just about the same time to load the cap and ball cylinder as it takes to drop the cylinder out, take off the back plate (or pick it up when it falls on the ground), load 5 cartridges, then maneuver it back into place. I'm seriously considering a Kirst gated conversion and maybe having it installed. As already noted, the 1851 would be even more of a PITA with a drop in/drop out conversion.

[billybob_jcv]

I think if I wanted to shoot black powder in CAS, I would probably use one of the factory converted pistols with a loading gate and reload black powder in metallic cartridges. That way you get the smoke and style of a black powder, but with the ease of loading/unloading of metallic cartridges. Otherwise, I would want a preloaded BP cylinder for each gun for each stage!

http://www.uberti.com/firearms/army_navy_conversion_and_open_top.php

[14delta]

conversion cyl.

I really have to agree that the best way to get a percussion revolver with a period conversion to cartridges is to buy one from the manufacturer.
I had thought about getting enough cylinders to shoot a match but found that with a little practice and the Black Dawg cyl. loader I can load both my 58 Remington cylinders in right around three minutes, It's really fast, I drop 22grs of powder into 5 chambers, put a wonder wad over the powder, Put a ball in each chamber mouth and push it home with the cylinder tool, repeat for the second cyl. and done.
Here's a link to black Dawg's site you can find the cylinder loader there. Go down the page and there's a u-tube video of how the loader works

http://www.blackdawgecartridge.com/catalog/bd_cyl_loader.html

Keep your powder dry
14delta

[speeedracerr]

Thanks for the input guys! At this point, i'll probably just tryout the normal ball and cap method and see how that works out I'll most likely look for an already converted revolver somewhere down the road.

[GOEX FFF]

Bear in mind too, if you ever go with a cartridge cylinder for cap n' ball, make sure your revolver is a steel frame. Brass framed pistols are not as strong and are not advised to use with these cartridge conversions. I agree though, if you're just starting, enjoy ball and powder and get used to them how they were intended to be fired before jumping in to fitting cylinders, messing with timing...etc. With 1lb of BP, 100 balls, wads and caps, you can shoot all day long, hassle free for fairly cheap.

[scrat]

I have several of them. The R&D is a drop in cylinder. No gunsmithing required. the Howell needed some minor work. The way you check it is by buying one. drop in the cylinder then check the timing on each cylinder. then you need to check to make sure each cylinder lines up with the barrel correctly. its not as hard as it seems. if the timing and the barrel and cylinder line up then you have to shell it. take some empty 45C brass and load the R&D cylinder then try it again. if it will cock and line up on battery then your good to go. As for the Howell. i purchased one did most of the machining myself. But i had a problem. it lined up with the barrel perfectly. It turned good on every cylinder. lined up and locked in battery with the hammer pulled all the way back. Then i put some empty shells in it. On rotation the gun would lock up. Only way to release it was to take it all apart. i Took the gun and both cylinders to a local smith and left it with them. Few days later picked it up and they had it set so i could interchange between cap and ball or cartridge. Best of both worlds.