I need some advice PLEASE!

[Ace Lungger]

Howdy Pards,
i think that i might be getting ready someday soon to walk on un charted grounds for me! I am in hopes of selling my 44 six shooters, and if I do I want to replace them with something different, My favorite Brace of guns to shoot are my 72's open tops in 38.  But while I was surfingI came acrossed at Cabela's the 1851 navyU.S. marshall's and instunt love I have never owned cap and ball, and don't know if I want to go there, i have never shot smoke!!
Does anyone of you Pards know if anyone converts those to cartridge?  Not allways does something shoot as good as they look! Has anyone had those, or know of anyone that has had them?

I would be deeply great full for some advice For I am lost

ACE

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

The quickest option is an R&D or Kirst conversion cylinder.  Likely you will be left with the problem of loading heeled bullets unless you have the barrel re-lined.

The conversion project  is probably a custom shop job, unless you are an accomplished home workshop machinist.  Parts from VTI don't "drop-in" as the O/Ts have slightly different dimensions.

My advice, economically, is to keep your O/Ts and get the '51 as a spare, loading it traditionally.  There is a learning curve for cap'nball, but once you are there,they are a blast.  And VERY PC!

Don't quite give up on conversions.  There is a lot of advice and discussion on them in cascity.

[Dick Dastardly]

http://www.kirstkonverter.com/coltnavy.html

Click the link above.  The parts you need are here.  I got conversion cylinders and ejector rods for my brace of 60s and I love 'em.

Let me know if I can help you further.

DD-DLoS

[Fingers McGee]

I believe the pistols Ace is talking about are the engraved polished steel .44 cal models made by Pietta.  As such, an R&D or Kirst .45 Colt conversion cylinder for a Pietta 1860 Army would fit.  An in-the-white polished steel gated Kirst conversion would look really good on one of these pistols.

I've got a pair of these pistols in .44, and another in .36 (which arent available at the present).  All of them are good shooters; but I havent tried a conversion on any of them.

Fingers (Show Me MO smoke) McGee

[Ace Lungger]

  Fingers you are right!! Those are the guns I am looking at,  when It comes to those types of pistols I am as dumb as a stump!!!
Please tell me how do you change the cyclinders, I see they offer extra cyclinders for like $49.00, some where I think in a movie, I saw the cowboy pull down a lever and let the cyclinder come out! Now if that is the case on the guns I am talking about, i think I would like to play with the cap and ball! No more than I get to shoot, because of my back, I thought if things were to go my way, I would try and get a pair, plus a pair of spare cyclinders, if that is the way they change. Then you wouldn't be so rushed at the little shoots I go to, you could have your spares loaded and ready to slip in, while you where reloading your shot ones! That is why I am asking these dumb questions.
Thanks ACE

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Clint, in PALE RIDER!

[Ace Lungger]

Sir Charles, what guns were them? I think that the 51 navy's at calabela's you have to take them a part just like my 72's to change cyclinders. The ones that I am looking at are 51 US Marshalls, they sure are pury, if they shoot as good as they look, I could learn to handle the BP.
Thanks ACE

[Ransom Gaer]

Ace,

What Clint did in Pale Rider is a neat trick, but it won't work with the c&b Colts.  He was using Remington New Model Armies commonly called 1858's.  I have a pair of the Remingtons with the R&D conversion cylinders and can do that.  With the Colt design to change cylinders you will have to pop the barrel wedge out and pull the barrel off and then remove the old cylinder and reverse the processs to load the new cylinder.  Probably will have to cap at the loading table too.

I reload my 1860 Armies for each stage recharging each chamber.  I normally do it at the unlolading table and at the same time do the unloading table chores for the posse.  Works great.  It takes me (when I'm not interupted, very rare ) two minutes per revolver to recharge five chambers.  I do have something of a system.  I do the same routine at every stage.

Ransom Gaer

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I have a question.  I looked at the photo posted above, and have the impression that the grip is the longer 1860 Army style.  The whole shebang looks like an 1860 right up to the face of the cylinder.

I do recall seeing in a coffee table book about Colt firearms an illustration of the first prototype of the Colt Army.  It was a 1851 Navy in style, beefed up slightly to handle the .44.  The narrative said the the Colonel, I think, said lets put on that new creeping rammer we`ve been working on`.  The result is one of the most stylish revolvers ever conceived.

[Ace Lungger]

If things go, my way. i will have a pair of those before next Spring I realy like them, and I sure hope they shot that good!
Thanks for al the help Pards! I have all ready got a idea for the rig I will make for it!
ACE

[Fingers McGee]

I have a question.  I looked at the photo posted above, and have the impression that the grip is the longer 1860 Army style.  The whole shebang looks like an 1860 right up to the face of the cylinder.

Sir Charles.  The grip on the Marshal model is the Pietta version of the Navy grip, not the longer Army grip.  The Pietta grip profile is thinner across the middle and flares to a wider bottom than the original Colt Navy.  The frame size for the Army is the same as the Navy.  The differeince is the cut in the bottom to allow for the larger diameter rebated portion of the 44 cal cylinder.  The back 1/3 of the Army and Navy cylinders are the same.  The .44 Cal Marshal model 1851 Navy is a reproduction of a gun that never existed.  Pietta makes a .36 cal version of the Marshal model; but they are only avaiable through special order now days from what I've been able to find out.  I have one of the .36 cal models and would like to get another one to match.

Agree that he 1860 is a stylish looking pistol; but the grips are just too long.  The 1861 Navy's proportions are perfect and beat the Army for stylishness.