1851 conversion

[mange e coyote]

My son shoots an 1851 navy conversion in 38spl. It has the long barrel 7inch? He wanted a 5inch barrel to match. I quess they dont make a short barrel 36cal all I could find was a short barreled 44calb sherrifs model. Well I had one of those so I bought a 38spl conversion cylinder. When I put the cylinder in the 44cal everything lined up and worked but the gap was too wide between the cylinder and the barrel. 44cal cylinder is a bit longer. I milled just that amount off where the barrel mates to the frame. That also meant I had to do some work moving the wedge slot. That was just adding a spacer to the back and filing out the front.
Then came the nice part I ordered a 38calb barrel liner from Numrich. With just cleaning up the liner and putting a piece of sand paper up and down the barrel with a clean rod on a drill the liner slipped right in. I ending up using the epoxy method instead of soldier because I didnt want to mess up the blue.
Took me about a half a day. Most likely about the same amount of time it would have taken to shorten a 7inch navy barrel and loading lever. But this way I ended up with a true 38calb barrell. I think one could do the entire job without machine shop tools.
Dean

[Professor Marvel]

Greetings Monsiuer Coyote -
That sounds like a dandy method to achieve the .38 spcl barrel with a minimum of extra effort. Did you give any thought to extending the .357  Liner past the .44 forcing cone in order to achieve the desired  barrel/cylinder gap rather than machining the barrel "foot"? Or was there insufficient support for the forcing cone?

Those newfangled photographic renditions would be most appreciated, if possible :-)

yhs
Prof Marvel

[mange e coyote]

Here are the pair of 51s. I think you could have left the liner out to make up the gap. It would be noticable but most likely would work


Here is a walker I did. I used the original cylinder made my own ring and install a firing pin in the hammer.


I am still working on this one its 38lc. Almost ready for a reblue. It also started as a 44calb.


this one I used the original cylinder made the ring and lined the barrel. Its a 22lr cheap way to practice.

[Gassaway]

great work any pic on your coversion plates?

[Major 2]

Since nobody asked..I will (sorry off topic) what about the Rattlesnake grips  they are unique & KOOL 

[mange e coyote]

I still have to pollish and blue the parts. I shoot everything for quite awhile before I finish them up. I have put over 500rds in the one I guess I should pretty it up.
My ring is pretty much a copy of the ones you buy. I turned the back of the original cylinder off down to the ratchet. Then I bored the cylinders all the way through. This one is the 22lr so it was bushed and then chambered for 22lr. Some of the rings I have made a firing pin in the ring like this one. Because of the rimfire round. Others I put the pin in the hammer and the ring just has a hole.

The grips are the original ones sanded down just a bit. Then I apply a layer of snake skin on them followed by several coats of finish. It makes for a nice looking grip that works great, We shot in the rain and you get a good grip even when wet.

[Gassaway]

very nice work there i am envious.  Learning here on my end. Have a lathe and a small minimill  now that my greatest creation is almost 4 yrs old now I am slowly getting back into this . Just very rust right now. thanks a bunch.



P.s Where did you get the 357 liner? what outer diameter? curious say numrich has some but they are larger I beleive

[Gassaway]

O yea on the 60 converted to 38lc did you use the origonal 60 cylinder? also  with the sleves think they would do a mild smokeless load? or blow?

[mange e coyote]

I had two different 357 liners. The first I used a 38cal barrel blank numrich had on sale. I turned it down on the lathe. On the last one I bought their 38cal barrel liner. It was nearly a pefect fit in the 44calb barrel. Just had to pollish the liner and bore.
The 60 in 38lc is a purchased cylinder.
I have found the hardest part is drilling out the cylinder. The original nipple holes are not centered in the chamber so it wants to pull the drill off. You can see it in the 22liners the ones that you see a black line on I tried on a drill press the others I did on the mill.

I would only shoot black or smokeless for black loads out of any of these conversions.

[Gassaway]

whos cylinders did you purchase? i see you can get kirst front halfs for 135?  do ya think if you plug the nipple hole it would correct the problem? I bore out a 51 navy about 10 years ago and did not have the drill wandering bit then again I do see your point about the 60's nipples.

[mange e coyote]

I used krist conversions. I solved my problem when I used the mill instead of the press. There isnt much metal left at the bottom of the index slot when you bore straight through. So you need to be almost perfect.