swapping barrels between Cimarron 1851 Richards Navy and 1872 Open top

[Little Joe]

New on the forum, I would like to know if it is possible to swap the barrel between a 1851 Richards Navy  and a 1872 Open Top (Both .38 cal from cimarron). It would seem that it is the same frame.

Has anyone ever tried ?

Thank you for your help 

[Coffinmaker]

I have more than "tried."  I have done exactly that for myself and for several of my customers.  With a very very important CAVEAT:

Before you even think of swapping the barrels around, you MUST check and resolve the Barrel to Arbor fit problems common to Uberti Open Top type guns.  The Barrel to Arbor fit is bad 99% of the time.  There are several ways to look at the problem.  The barrel lugs are drilled too deep but to the same depth.  Or ... The arbors are fit too short but to the same uniform amount.  Once you fix that fit on the Arbor side, the fit will be correct for 99% of barrels you wish to swap.

Next.  Don't forget there is no rear sight on the Open Top hammer.  If you swap an 1851 barrel without a real sight on an Open Top frame, you'll have to do something about a sight on the rear of the '51 barrel.  The Open Top really looks the bizz with an octagonal '51 barrel fit up.  It's also kind of neat if you cut the barrel to the same length as the Ejector Rod Housing.

Coffinmaker

[Little Joe]

Thank you very much for this quick and very complete answer.

I had already encountered (and resolved)  arbor fit problems on Ubertis C & B revolvers (oddly, the problem does not exist on Pietta replicas ...) For the rear sight it should work: that of my 1851 "man whith no name" is mounted on dovetail (I think it is the right translation in English. In French we say "queue d'arronde"  ).

So I think I will order a  1872 5.5 inches barrel from my gunsmith. Thanks again for this information. I had sent an email to Uberti France but their answer was not clear. I think they do not like too much that we play "senor tuco" with their replicas and prefer to sell new weapons.