I know I have drifted away from Remmies, but...

[Tuolumne Lawman]

Yep, I know I sold my Uberti gated conversion because it busted my knuckles, and went with a second Open Top Colt, but I can't stand it!  I am doing a couple Kirst 1858 conversions ( a Pale Rider and a gated) for a Cowboy Chronicle article. Yeah, I know, the Remingtons bust my knuckles, but they are really cool Cartridge conversions (at least as cool as Colts).  I am like a crack addict (or Remington addict)  even though it hurts me, I have to go back to them.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Yeah,well, it's the kind of thing that stays in your blood. I have that problem with 1851 Navies and I prefer the Remingtons.

[Tuolumne Lawman]

Well, I already have one NIB Pietta 1858 with an 8" barrel.  Later this month I plan on picking up another one, but with a 5.5" barrel.  Also, the two Kirst Konverters came today: one pale Rider non-gated, and one that is gated.  The ejector for the gated one is on back order.  That's OK, because the original Type I Remington conversion did not have an ejector.

Now the question: "Which one do I turn into a gated Konversion?"  I also have an Uberti 1860 Richards Type II conversion with a 5.5 inch barrel.

I really like the looks of the Pale Rider one much more than the R&D ones.  The R&D ones are historically correct, though, as Springfield Armory made an R&D style two piece conversion cylinder in .44 Martin that had 6 individual firing pins, nearly identical to the modern R&D cylinder by Kenny Howell. IIRC, the .44 Martin cartridge was by designed by Frankford Arsenal to work in either .44 Colt or .44 Remington revolvers, both of which were in Army inventory in 1872.

There were also two piece cylinders in a lot of the rimfire calibers like .46 Remington, .44 Henry, .38 and .32 short and long. They had a slot in the cap that allowed the percussion hammer to strike the rim.  These conversions were very popular, as you could just go back to the percussion cylinder if you could not find cartridges in stock on the frontier.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

For the gated one...


The 8" almost begs to be set up with the Pale Rider cylinder. After all, that's what the preacher had in the movie.

I find the Kirst cylinders easier to get in quickly than the R&D cylinders. Of course, you really need three to be correct. I shot one of our yearly 2-day matches with one pistol and two conversion cylinders, the spare in a carrier on my belt. It slowed me down considerably but it was loads of fun.

[Tuolumne Lawman]

I like it!  I do tend to agree with you that the 8" really IS made for the the Pale Rider look!

[Marshal Will Wingam]

If you're interested in a bit more work on that 5-1/2" one, reshaping the loading lever web to be more historically correct is easy. This particular one has been shortened to 6" but the web shape is more true to the originals.



I have since done the same to the one in my previous post. It actually got an 8" lever shortened and re-shaped...



...but you can still do the shorty lever and have it come out looking good.

[Tuolumne Lawman]

First effort:  Pale Rider

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Looks good. 

[Professor Marvel]

My Dear T

if those Pietta's still bust your knuckle, and you really want to keep them, It maybe  possible to re-work the trigger guard to give your finger
more room. I saw where another fellow did just that, let me see if I can find the thing for you. Another possibilty is to grind away some of the
inside of the gripframe to make more space,  since the Piettas do have a large grip and more metal in there.

I myself would whip up a wooden dummy frame on the bandsaw and try the mods there first to see if it got me what I really wanted...

yhs
prof amrvel

[Marshal Will Wingam]

You know, I've tried fatter grips and my knuckle suffered. With thinnner grips my fingers wrap around just a little bit more and my knuckle is offset so it doesn't get smacked. There might be a grip profile that would fit your hand in such a way as to keep your knuckle away from the trigger guard.

Then if that didn't do the trick, I'd look at Prof Marvel's solutions. Especially the one where you'd grind or sand away a bit of the grip frame.

Either way, I think you'll find getting that knuckle away from the trigger guard is at least part of the solution.

[Tuolumne Lawman]

I noticed when I had a set of checkered faux-ivory grips for an earlier Pietta (with R&D cylinder), it did not knuckle knock nearly as much. Probably because there is less slippage, or maybe they were thinner.  I have a set I will try to resurrect.  The threaded escutcheon pulled through when I tightened them.  It is worth fixing them and trying them at the next match and see what happens to my knuckle.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

That's the ticket. I'm curious to hear how that goes for you.