Opentops & Conversions in 45 Colt

[Buffalo Bruce]

Howdy:

 Anyone have any experiance with opentops or conversions that are being offered in 45 Colt. I have a Uberti made 1860 Army & Opentop in 44 Colt. I can't understand how six 45's would fit in those cylinders. For starters the 45 is too long. Is this a case where they have enlarged the gun to fit the cartridge therefore effecting the wonderfull balance of these guns. I have a friend who has a pair of Navy Opentops in 45 S&W, and while I have never measured them, they just don't look right. Thanks.

Buffalo Bruce

[Deadguy]

The cylinders in the 45 Colt versions have been lengthened and beefed up to handle the cartridge.

[Virginia Gentleman]

I just purchased one of these at the Chantilly, VA Gun Show this past Friday directly from Taylor's and Co. as they had a sales booth there with slightly lowered prices too.  They are friendly folks and let you pick the exact gun you want while there.  My wife ended up buying an 1892 Winchester replica with an octagonal barrel in .45 Colt and somehow talked me into the Open Top in .45 Colt with an 8" barrel.  I have a question regarding the durability of this gun, can they take a steady of standard .45 Colt/  Can they be retimed so that the ejector and cylinder index right over the chambers in the cylinder?  Mine is a tad off time.

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[Rambling Rex]

I had a question about the original Colt Open Top. Does anyone know what caliber they were chambered in besides .44 Rimfire and .44 Colt? Or were those the only two calibers?

[Coffinmaker]

Unfortunately I don't have much good to say about the Open Top guns in .45 Colt.  I have worked on a lot of Open Tops and my own main match guns have been a pair of Open Tops in .38 Spl ( Gunfighter).  They are some of the most natural pointing guns I've ever fired.
All most all of the Uberti Open top guns have some issues.  The most common ones out of the box are timing and the fit of the arbor to the barrel.  Most need to be re-timed and have the arbor/barrel fit fixed.  The hole in the barrel for the arbor is drilled too
deep for the gun to set up correctly.  Once the barrel/arbor fit is fixed, you can address head space and end shake.
Once the guns are set up properly, they are a robust and reliable as any thing else we shoot in CAS, with the caveat, in any caliber except .45 Colt.  Once bored for .45 Colt there is precious little meat left in the cylinders.  May guns I have worked on (.45s) have spit the little piece of metal left at the bottom of the bolt slot out.  Some folks have reported cracking at the back/bottom of the barrel.
I cannot recommend the Open Top guns in anything larger than .44 for those reasons.  I do personally have a set of .45 barrels and cylinders for my Open Tops but I shoot .45 Cowboy Special type brass at a very reduced load.

Coffinmaker

PS:  The original Open Top was chambered in a proprietary Colt .44 cartridge, rimfire that would interchange with the .44 Henry Flat, to make it compatible with the Winchester '66.  The original guns were never chambered in anything else except for a few non production guns.

[Sgt. John McAfferty]

Hello,

I have been shooting my '72 open tops for 3 years with no problems.  I do however, shoot black powder which some have told me may make a difference.  I'm not a gunsmith or a metallurgist so I can't speak to the issues some have had, I just want to point out that I, for one, have been problem free and happy with open tops in .45 colt.

Shakey

[Rambling Rex]

Thanks for the info Coffinmaker. Much appreciated. Had a suspicion that it was just those two, since I could find nothing on any other caliber.

[Rebel Dave]

 As to the open tops in .45 colt, after reading about all the unhappy ocurrances with .45 colt in open tops,  I disabled both of my 5 1/2 in bbl open top Uberti pistols. I took the fing pins out, and tossed them, so no one here can fire them. I will own no more open tops. I consider it an expensive bad experience.
Just my .02

Dave C.

[Paladin UK]

Fer RD........

Gotta respect yer actions there pard!! After all its YOU pulling the trigger.

If you really ain't gonna shoot em any more I will gladly take the innerds from ya. Uberti spares are hellishly `spensive ta import here in the UK.

I`m going into Hospital in the Morning and wont be around fer a week or so,

Sooooo iffn you'd like ta do this.... PM me `n` I`ll contact ya once I`m up `n` runnin again If however ya wanna keep em I completely unnerstand

Paladin (Whats goin under the knife in `bout 13hrs  ) UK