Manhattan Conversion?

[Montana Slim]

I've been readin' or at least skimming the "rules" since I started CAS about 15 years ago, so I am aware of the clause allowing...however, I've never know exactly what the modifocation was/is, nor seen photo, or even heard who performs this modification until recent.

Our individual definitions of "many years" must not quite be the same 

Slim

[Coffinmaker]

Or you could substitute Gin in a Highball glass .......

[Grizzly Adams]

Or you could substitute Gin in a Highball glass .......

Shaken but not stirred.......

[Slowhand Bob]

And now for the $1000 question, what is the cost to get this conversion done, can it be done as a hobby gunsmith project?  What would be the common opinion on the home mechanic fix of sealing the hammer slot and saying this works just as well, a statement I have heard others make?  I really am asking as I have never used either and have no experience here, was a Remington guy and now want to play with some great new Colt style revolvers that I have recently obtained but I do want them to be reliable.

PS: after a bit of a search I found the web site and I think it does have a price, if this would be called a 'cap guard'?  Can not get a link to show??

[Mako]

Slowhand,
Yes, sometimes it is called a "cap guard."  The elastic tubing some would put around caps was also called a "Cap Guard" by Remington who used to sell them.

Are you talking about this site?

http://www.cowboyshooters.com/

That is where you need to start.

Contact Rowdy Yates at:

LEE'S GUNSMITHING
344 N. Magnolia Orange, CA 92866
Phone: (714) 921-9030       info@leesgunsmithing.com

Every other one I have ever seen was done by individuals for themselves.  Yates if not the originator of the modification on the Colt's pistols, is close to it, and he's probably done more than anyone else.

Regards,
Mako

[Slowhand Bob]

Yes, that is the site.  I think it shows $125 for installation of cap guards.  Not a bad price when we figure the hammer work involved also.  Then again, I just read somewhere that his site had not been updated in a long time and the prices may not be current?

[Noz]

A lot cheaper to fill the hammer slot by any one of several methods and buy a set of TRESOs or Slix-shot nipples.

[Thumper]

Here's acouple of pic's of an original Manhattan cap guard. It was made to help prevent chain fire's. It only went around the left side of the revolver to protect the loaded chambers.

[Grizzly Adams]

Thumper, thanks for posting these pics.  Interesting.

[Smokin Gun]

I dug up that That Kittridge Revolver shield Diagram pic from the Archives of my Photobucket, still searching my Puter for that Manhatten Flex shield...

[Cole Bluesteele]

The photo of the Manhattan Firearms revolver showing the sheild is missing part of the shield.  The sheild actually extended past the hammer opening.  The sheild was shaped like a reverse "C" with the opening where the caps were installed on the nipples. The hammer hit the sheild which flexed enough to crush the cap. For more info, see Nutter's book, Manhattan Firearms. It includes the original patten application for their "conversion."

[Southron Sr.]

For the record, the "Manhattan Conversion" is "authentic" to the Old West so far as Type IV and Type V Manhattan Navy Revolvers  concerned. Technically it is known as a "Kittredge Spring-Plate, that was patented by Ben Kittredge of Cincinnatti, Ohio on March 8, 1864,  U.S. Patent # 41,848.

You can actually go to the U.S. Patent Office website and pull up the patent on-line for all the details, all you need is the date of the patent and the patent number!

Check it out!!!

[Coffinmaker]

It doesn't appear that the original style Kittredge plate would be too difficult to manufacture today.  The light main springs some are want to use might prove problematic though. 
Then plate could be made with a flat bottom to register to the edges of the water table and be successfully fitted at the kitchen table, as it were.  Would be fun to fool with.

Coffinmaker

[Arizona Trooper]

The pictures in Post #6 actually show a Cooper conversion. The Cooper DA clones of the Colt Pocket and Pocket Navy have exactly that setup. They also have a sleeve that goes over the cylinder pin between the front of the cylinder and frame to prevent fouling from getting under the cylinder and gumming up the works. Both modifications work great. I once owned a Cooper pocket DA that would shoot all afternoon without taking it apart for cleaning. You could fire 4 or 5 cylinders and and it would spin like it had just been oiled. Wish I never sold it!