Conversions?

[lukewepy]

I'm a big fan of both 1851 navy and 1858 remington conversions. the difference is that with a navy you have to sleeve the barrel if you do it yourself. is this necessary with the remington? they both feel very nice in my hand and I'm having trouble deciding which to go after.

Luke

[Pettifogger]

A .36 is .375 regardless of the brand of gun.  So, yes you have to sleeve the Remington if you are converting a .36.  On both the Colt and Remington, the nominal bore size on the .44s is .452.  Those will both shoot .45 Colt or Schofiled with no sleeves.

[lukewepy]

So if I go with the .44 colt navy then there is no sleeving necessary?
That helps a whole lot!

Thanks

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[Marshal Will Wingam]

I have a couple 44's that are conversions. the bore is .455 in them and if I shoot soft lead bullets, they obturate correctly and are really accurate. If I use .452 hard lead bullets, the accuracy goes right out the window.

[Hoof Hearted]

I'm a big fan of both 1851 navy and 1858 remington conversions. the difference is that with a navy you have to sleeve the barrel if you do it yourself. is this necessary with the remington? they both feel very nice in my hand and I'm having trouble deciding which to go after.

Luke

Luke

You don't have to "sleeve" (line) the barrel if you shoot either Heel base or Hollow base ammunition.
Try this link:

http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,24196.msg315204/topicseen.html#msg315204

Good luck
HH

[Skinny Preacher 66418]

Just get hollow base pills.

[Pettifogger]

Since the questioner doesn't seem to know a lot about these conversions we should probably clear a few things up for his consideration.  First, if he is going to convert it and dedicate it solely to firing cartridges he should consider sleeving the barrel.  Sure you can buy healed or hollowbase bullets but the healed bullets are very hard to find (one guy in East Jesus, Texas, selling them doesn't make them easy to come by) and the hollowbase takes a soft alloy and/or a good charge to expand the skirt and seal the bore.  Also, there are two kinds of kits.  One has a bored through cylinder and is intended to be used with healed or hollowbase bullets and the standard .375 barrel.  The other has a standard stepped chamber and is made to use with .357 bullets and a .357 barrel.  If you have the first type of cylinder, the one that is bored through, sleeving is a waste of time as you still can't use regular ammo since the bullet is so severely undersized for the cylinder throat.  Bottom line is it is cheaper and you wind up with all the dimensions correct if you just buy a factory conversion.  If you already have the guns and want to convert, just make sure you buy the right parts.