1862 Pocket Police

Marshal Deadwood · January 03, 2017, 02:44:17 AM

Is there a cartridge conversion cylinder for the 1862 Pocket Police ? If so,,what round does it use ?

Thank you

MD

pony express · January 03, 2017, 06:10:24 AM

The only one I know of in production is for .22.I have seen pictures of .38 Short Colt conversions, but the chamber walls are too thin, so Kirst and R&D won't make them.

Note: This is for the 5 shot Uberti 1862 Pocket, Pietta makes a gun they call an 1862 Pocket Police, but that one is really just made on the 6 shot 1851 Navy frame, conversions for the Navy will fit that one.

Coffinmaker · January 04, 2017, 02:34:09 PM

As posted by Piny Express, there aren't any conversions available for the 1862 Pocket Police. There are a couple of reasons. The 1862 Pocket was built from the 1849. The 1849 is a really small frame and was originally a .31 Caliber. Not exactly a powerhouse. To make the 1862 Police, the Colt folks rebated an 1849 water table and expanded the front of the cylinder to accept 5 .36 Caliber chambers. The guns are quite safe as .36s in five shot.

There have been conversions made for the 1849. The conversion was/is a little itty bitty 32. I built several of those .32 conversions on the 1849 frame. I actually thought factory smokeless 32 ammunition was just a bit stout for the application. With BP it was anemic but lots of fun. Since for CAS it is/was a "Pocket Pistol" normally shot at "across the table" range, it was just fine.

The cylinder for and 1849 is too small for the rim diameter of a .38 Spl. Just won't go. I'm also not to sure I would agree with shooting .38 Spl ammunition in a gun built on an 1849 frame. Just a tad too stout. I really don't think there is a good conversion to the 1849 frame considering the ammunition available. Of course, I also hold the personal opine the 71/72 Open Top shouldn't be chambered in 45 Colt either. Just me. Your call

Coffinmaker

PS: Just went prowling around. It doesn't appear the Conversion set for the 1849 is available any longer.

Fingers McGee · January 04, 2017, 06:47:32 PM

Howell still lists a five shot 32S&W short conversion cylinder on their website as does Taylors.

Coffinmaker · January 05, 2017, 10:58:05 AM

Yup. I just didn't look far enough. Plus, I was looking for the two piece conversion, recoil shield and cylinder, from Kirst. Didn't see that one either. I suppose if one just "had" to shoot suppositories out of a 31 Pocket, that 32 cylinder might be OK. However, It will shoot about a foot high at 3 - 5 yards.

Coffinmaker

Leverluver · January 21, 2017, 12:43:22 PM

Looks like someone is coming out with one. At 11 minutes in the link. Curious that it is in 380. Must not have had the room for a rim, enough beef in the wall, and still have a ratchet left.

pony express · January 21, 2017, 09:20:36 PM

A .380! I guess it's easier to fit in the small cylinder, since it doesn't have the rim. But-.380 ACP is higher pressure than a +P.38. I wonder if it's actually the same size frame as the 1849/1863, or maybe scaled up a bit.

Tornado · January 23, 2017, 07:40:32 AM

That new little '62 conversion may have to find a home in my safe! I hope it will have safety notches between the chambers so it will be SASS legal. I bet they put a transfer bar in it too.

Abilene · January 24, 2017, 02:46:31 PM

That little conversion got a lot of attention at Shot Show. When Mike Harvey asked Uberti to make one, they first wanted to make it in .38S&W, which would have been more of a vintage caliber, but the lack of readily available ammo would have limited sales considerably, so Mike asked them to make it in .380 (which should headspace on the case mouth). The sample gun has the chambers and barrel plugged, so that it could be imported as a non-firing replica since the appropriate import permit for a cartridge firearm still needs to be obtained. I think the loading port will need to be narrowed just slightly to keep a loaded round from falling out at full cock or hammer down.

Abilene · January 29, 2017, 06:37:57 PM

Here's a couple pics I snapped of the pocket conversion.

Tornado · January 30, 2017, 07:51:27 AM

Thanks for the pictures. I wonder if they will eventually offer other barrels too, longer police and navy ones?

Tuolumne Lawman · March 27, 2017, 11:22:13 PM

The standard 1849 .31 caliber with a .32 S&W cylinder is a kick. I fired one for an article when they first came out 10 years ago. I have a .31 Remington 1863 with an R&D cylinder, and it is a hoot to shoot. Since I have 1872 Open Tops, I have a feeling that I will soon also own an 1849 with a .32 S&W R&D cylinder...

Graveyard Jack · April 03, 2017, 09:17:26 AM

I'm gonna be all over the Cimarron .380! I too hope they come out with longer barrels and ejectors.

OklaTom · May 28, 2019, 11:27:51 AM

I have one of the new 1862 Conversions. Comes with a 6" police barrel only. There may be a 3 1/2" barrel available for it later, but that has been put on a back burner for now. And it does have a safety hammer. The hammer has a striker plate in the face of it that when the trigger is pulled, it pushes forward, like the firing pin on a Uberti Cattleman New Model. The firing pin is spring loaded in the ring. When the trigger is released, the striker plate retracts, allowing the firing pin to retract into the ring. This is a good thing for carrying it fully loaded. Another thing is the arbor is turned down a bit on the end and a rather stout coil spring fits over that rebate and into the barrel lug. I am not positive on the purpose of that spring, but speculate it is to help absorb some of the snappiness of the 380 in the small frame open top.

I note that there is insufficient ratchet to make it a 38 Short Colt. So I set out to figure how I can make it shoot a more vintage caliber like 38 Short Colt. Basically, you turn the rim on a 38 SC down to 0.405" and it will clear the ratchet, but still have enough rim for reloading. Unless you want to ream the chambers to remove the 380 shoulder, you also need to trim the brass to 0.680". I chose not to modify the revolver at all. So I trim the brass. It kind of ends up a "380 Auto Rim" with a 38 Short Colt head stamp. Works like a champ.

Why did I go to all the trouble for the modified brass? 380 ACP in not an allowable cartridge in NCOWS, but 38 Short Colt is. By the trim and rim, I can now shoot properly marked rounds in it for NCOWS, and by not modifying the revolver at all, I can shoot it as designed for other applications.

45 Dragoon · May 28, 2019, 05:27:00 PM

Sounds like the "stout" spring fitted on the arbor is somewhat of an attempt at fixing the short arbor syndrome. All it really does is allow the two assemblies to still act as two assemblies, butting heads with each other. Smokless rounds are definitely a more punishing ammo than bp. I guess they are afraid of "following Pietta" too much to do it right. Too bad . . .
That revolver fixed correctly may be a fun shooter!

Mike

Coffinmaker · May 29, 2019, 10:03:56 AM

Monsieur Dragoon ...

Hi Mike

Well, it's a Uberti. It just had to suffer "Short Arbor Syndrome." I don't know why, in this era of CNC machining, it's possible to get bore depth in the Barrel and the Arbor length within less than a Thou. Throughout Uberti's Open Top guns, the Barrel/Arbor fit has been problematic. No excuse for that. No attempt made to fix the issue that I can see. The continuing problem Irks me even though I are retired.

I mean come on. Pietta has no discernible problem with Barrel to Arbor fit. I just wish Pietta would do a better job of fitting the Wedges before putting them onna boat. "End Rant"

For some, with the fit problem fix'd, fun gun. For Me .... an expensive Paper Weight.