Are ya'll just skeered?

[Hoof Hearted]

In a friendly attempt to generate some interest in this forum I am posting some pictures of a couple of recently completed conversions.

Before the usual poking starts I'll go ahead and say it, YES they are Pietta's

I built this pistol for a pard here on the forum............








His take on my "Sinister" model.........
1861 Pietta Navy
Shortened and resculpted barrel
Checkered hammer
Nitre bluing
Action work
Kirst conversion
And a bunch of little things to make it "nice"

[Hoof Hearted]

Just a few pics here of what YOU can do with the Kirst Konvertor and ejector assembly, some basic hand tools, and a little skill









This is a Pietta 1851 Navy.........
Kirst Konvertor Ring
Kirst Ejector
Hammer checkered
Barrel lug and ejector reprofiled
Factory cylinder cut and rechambered
'61 grip frame
1873 trigger
Italian markings removed from barrel and cylinder
Ejector pad checkered
Bright polished and blued
And all the little things to make it "feel" right

[Long Juan]

I'm here Hoof Hearted!  Always lurking and waiting for folks who know a whole lot more than I do to post so I can learn.  Next week will be the match-shooting debut of one of my Walker conversions.  I will be shooting GAF, using the Walker and a Sharps Carbine.  I have been practicing reloading.  In GAF we reload on the clock for the second 5 rounds with a pistol.  I am sure my times will be slower than when shooting a Schofield, but I expect to win the the most style points and to have fun.  Not sure if I will take a BP cylinder with me for some additional shooting after the match.  Did you get the last issue of the Agarita Gazette in which I wrote an article about Walkers?  Emailed one to you about mid-November.  Here's a link in case you did not get my email and for anyone else who might be interested.  http://www.tarryhollowgang.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/AG-Final-2011-111.pdf

Great looking guns in your post, by the way. 

[River City John]

WOW!

They look Mahvelus!!

RCJ

[Hoof Hearted]

Thanks ya'll!

That snubby or "Avenging Angel" was built for our pard Major2..............

Long Juan.......I thought I emailed you back after receiving the scan of the article? Man, must be old age (or too much Shiner Bock). Can you send me a hard copy?

Thanks, HH

[Major 2]

 

[Diamond Dan]

Maybe when I retire;10 hour work days give me the funds but definitly not much time. Very nice work hope some day to start on some of the ones I colleted.      :oDiamond Dan

[Marshal Deadwood]

They both are really nice..but I LOVE that stubbie. Great work.

M. Deadwood

[Long Juan]

HH, will have a hard copy in the mail to you tomorrow. 

LJ

[Jamestown John]

Very nice!!!
JJ

[Major 2]

I had for sometime lusted for an Avenging Angel

My first real intro was the film by Keith Merrell " Legacy: A Mormon Journey ".
While we were in pre-production, I read just about anything I could find on the Mormons , Nauvoo, anything that would help me as The Production Designer.
I fixated on the Danites, their early formation and their roll, they were also call "Destroying Angels" or "Avenging Angels."
Danites existed from June 1838 until the end of the Mormon War, and their involvement is well documented.
It is with some conjector they survived as an organization beyond 1838 and the Morman War.
Well after the migratiion of the Mormans to the great Salt lake, History speaks of Danites as Vigilantes , a secret group in the mid & later 19th century Utah.

In 1995, while preping for "The Avenging Angel", Tom Berringer & James Coburn, I got to handle the carry piece seen below.
Reading about Dallas Strodenmire & Doc Manning guns based on Richards & Mason 44's just cemented the idea I wanted a conversion model.

I began a search and found my candidate in the pages of "Variation of Colts " by Breslin, Pirie & Price....
I aquired a 61 Navy with a steel TG & Backstrap ( this was a Hartford Model ) as new & unfired...
I'm quite pleased with the transformation....  It will be fed 38 Colt charged with 19-21 Grains BP under a heel based two lube groove RN Bullet.

[Coffinmaker]

WAY KOOL!!!  I am a huge fan of Conversions.  The 1860 Conversions built with the original 1860 barrel profile are the sexiest guns ever built (personal Opinion).  Because of the way they point, the 1851 is a close second.

Coffinmaker

[Major 2]

You and me both Coffinmaker ... Nothing IMHO is better looking in a revolver design


"Sinister"  I believe I coined that name when Gary first showed it.  

and

"Avenging Angel "

Photo's by Gary Barnes

[Professor Marvel]

You and me both Coffinmaker ... Nothing IMHO is better looking in a revolver design

"Sinister"  I believe I coined that name when Gary first showed it.  

Soooo ... when can we expect the Model that will be named "Dexter" ?

yhs
prof marvel

[Professor Marvel]

Greetings My Dear Hoof -

We are not skeered ... we are amazed.

As you might recall, you were asking me about how I go about butchering perfectly good frames creating  a "bird-head" grip. It is quite simple (if time consuming) to take a brass frame and cut, then bend & anneal & bend & anneal & bend & anneal and finally silver solder the backstrap.

I will dig out my pathetic attempt, and remove the ugly grip panels to get some photos for you.

It is not hard, just takes time and did I mention one has to remember to anneal the brass after each bend, or it *will* break.

hopefully, now that the pantry is nearly done, I can finish & clean up the shop.

Then I have a project in mind - making my own steel  birdhead backstrap blanks from mild steel stock.
The methodology I have in mind requires a couple of jigs, and a tish of blacksmithing.

Whilst, conceptually, it seems dirt simple, I am quite certain that I will run into my own personal Kryptonite that will cause
my head to explode, taking out the entire block   some sort of unforseen issue ....

yhs
prof marvel

[Major 2]

Birdshead Navy hideout and a touch of provenience.... alais I have only the photo , no written doc.
The card is only slightly legable and the display location is not known to me ...

[Hoof Hearted]

Dear Marvel

Nice to speak with you the other day!

I know, full well about annealing, and silver solder (the trick there is all in the fitting). But you were attempting to braze, if I remember correctly, and said you could not get the rod to stick (not sure if that sounds quite "kosher").

Skeered was geared towards those who no longer post here because they have been jeered into submission for owning or working on Pietta's by the "Uberti is better crowd"

I get your "Dexter" thought.......what about a pieced together, garage smithed snubby named "Chucky"...............that might be a hoot. Kinda like a "rat rod" pistol!

Greetings My Dear Hoof -

We are not skeered ... we are amazed.

As you might recall, you were asking me about how I go about butchering perfectly good frames creating  a "bird-head" grip. It is quite simple (if time consuming) to take a brass frame and cut, then bend & anneal & bend & anneal & bend & anneal and finally silver solder the backstrap.

I will dig out my pathetic attempt, and remove the ugly grip panels to get some photos for you.

It is not hard, just takes time and did I mention one has to remember to anneal the brass after each bend, or it *will* break.

hopefully, now that the pantry is nearly done, I can finish & clean up the shop.

Then I have a project in mind - making my own steel  birdhead backstrap blanks from mild steel stock.
The methodology I have in mind requires a couple of jigs, and a tish of blacksmithing.

Whilst, conceptually, it seems dirt simple, I am quite certain that I will run into my own personal Kryptonite that will cause
my head to explode, taking out the entire block   some sort of unforseen issue ....

yhs
prof marvel

[Major 2]

a good read

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

This kind of project is a bit beyond me, but why all the cutting & bending & soldering/brazing?

Can the toe of the grip frame be filled with brass somhow, and then the toe ground back to form the birds head?

[Hoof Hearted]

This kind of project is a bit beyond me, but why all the cutting & bending & soldering/brazing?

Can the toe of the grip frame be filled with brass somhow, and then the toe ground back to form the birds head?

Well we have officially drifted WAAYY off topic

Yes there are many ways to skin a cat, I am just not very fond of the birdshead and they seem too bothersome and labor intensive to me. Having siad that I do offer a couple of grip mods that I feel make a poket pistol easier to carry. My "Sinister" model (in the other thread and reposted here by major2) has the rear "trumpet" portion of the grip changed to be more Colt like and the heel reshaped slightly. This is easy to do on a brass frame if you intend to leave it brass or on a steel frame if you intend to antique, age, or reblue.