Kirst Converters on Navies

[Pukin Dog]

I just got a great deal on a '61 Navy that came with a Kirst Converter.  Since it shoots a .38 Long Colt (or a .38 special with a short bullet) what kind of accuracy can I expect?  Both of these cartridges take a .358 or so bullet and the barrel is .375 right?

Will they be accurate enough for CAS?  Is there a special type of bullet to use for better accuracy?

[Dusty Tagalon]

I use them with hollow based bullets HBWC typically. I found them very accurate in CAS competition. A little more expensive, River Junction Trade has some hollow based round nose that work very well. Another bullet I have used is a 375 heeled.

Another source for buying Heeled & hallow based bullets. Just a note on the heeled, don't attempt to crimp, just seat. I actually use long colt cases.
http://www.gadcustomcartridges.com/#heelbase

Dusty

[Dick Dastardly]

Ho PD,

Tomorrow, when you come to make fineshot, bring that puppy with you and we will slug the barrel.  Only takes a few minutes and then you will get a true idea of the actual size.  Pietta tends to drift around some on actual chamber and bore sizes. . .

DD-DLoS

[hellgate]

The commercial hollow based wadcutters are swaged of fairly soft lead and are known to expand to fill the bore.

[Pukin Dog]

thanks for the input.  DD I'll bring her up with me tomorrow (along with some fine German beer ) and we can slug her.  If you can spare a few snakebites, I'd like to try them also.

I'll check out River Junction for the hbwc round.  They are a great company and I enjoy sending some money to my friend Jim there.

Now I have to talk the wife into letting me get a Kirst Converter for my '51 Navy so I have a pair!

[Flint]

If you use the hollow base round nose bullets, the cartridge case will have to be 38 Long Colt.  If you use 38 Special brass, you need a 148 gr hollow base wadcutter, Remington, Speer or Hornady, in that order of preference.  The Hornady leads more..

[Flinch Morningwood]

I use the R&D gated conversion on my 51 Pietta Navies and had the same challenge. 

I went with a hollow base mold I got from Old West Molds (about $85 - Halfway Creek Charlie can give you the contact info) and it works great!  I use 38 Special dies to reload - I had to grind down one of the dies to fit so I might go with a 38 Long Colt dies if I was to do it again...The brass is availible from MidwayUSA and pretty cheap.

The accuracy is good and recoil is light - I use 15 gr of 3F Powder under the bullet and have never had a problem.

Ten X sells the BP HB 38 long colt cartridges and I used a box of those (mostly to get the brass) and they were the same recoil and point of impact as my reloads...so that may be a place to try out the HB loads...

You're going to have fun...

[Montana Slim]

My Pa's visiting this week & brought a pile of C&B conversions....most with R&D (45 Remingtons and 36 Navies)...Navies were shot with BP, 777, and smokeless powders and the HBWC.

A little detective work quickly shows the slugs expand fully to fit the bore. Recovered fragments from hitting steel show clean engraving from the rifling. Holes punched in paper look comparable to those from .38 WCF. I'l also add that the Pietta 61 Navy w/Kirst is quite accurate. A good eye and steady hold can keep it's shots on a paper plate at 50 yds.

I'm out of BP lube, but if I get some blended tomorrow night, I'll Make BP loads for the Navies and use them for Sunday's match (Dad is planning to shoot the converted Remingtons....otherwise, guess I'll shoot my 1860 R-M's with BP 

Best regards,

Slim