My newest project: Kirst/Pietta 1860 Saber River w/Faux-Ivory grips

[Tuolumne Lawman]

Well, my son wanted the 44 Caliber Richards-Mason back and gave me my 1875 Schofield 45 back.  That caused me to switch to my latest project, my Saber River .45 (I hate having two different pistol calibers at the match.  Just finished porting the recoil shield and timing it this morning.  Pics to come.

As a Post Script, I just couldn't make myself pair the Schofield with an 1860 Richards and an 1860 Henry...it was too "New"! LOL  It just doesn't seem right. That caused me to make my second pistol, a Pietta/Kirst 1858 Remington .45 Conversion.  Right now, it is a Pale Rider, but I have the gated ring coming.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

I put one of the Kirst gated conversions in a Uberti '1858' with good results. The thing is a tack nailer. Even used Pale Rider fashion, those conversions are great.

[Tuolumne Lawman]

Tom Selleck's:



My Saber River:

[Coal Creek Griff]

I'm not normally much of a fan of engraving or ivory, but I'll have to admit that is a fine looking revolver.

CC Griff

[Tuolumne Lawman]

Mine is actually prettier than the pictures, which is an inside cell phone pic.  I'll do a daylight pic with the Nikon that will show how pretty it really is.  I have a different pair of grips that are slightly tanned faux-ivory that may look better.

[Tuolumne Lawman]

Better daylight pics with a good camera.  as you can see, I changed the Pietta glossy bright white faux-ivory grips for a set of off-white (actually very light tan) grips I got from an outfit on Ebay.  Very nice grips that needed minimum fitting. Bottom picture shows the grip color better.  The fill-flash washed it out on the close up.

Belt is a repop Prairie Belt with officer's belt plate I got years ago from a place by the wharf in San Francisco.  Holster is a Texas Jack's Slim Jim.  Box labels are my own, designed after an actual label from a  Frankford Arsenal 12 pack of .44 Martin cartridges.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

That does look good. Very nice rig.

[Abilene]

Lookin' good!

[Tuolumne Lawman]

Here's my pair of conversions to go with my 1860 Henry:  Pietta/Kirst 1858 .45 conversion and Pietta/Kirst 1860 Saber River engraved .45 conversion.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Those look really good. I like pistols that look like someone picked them up as he could. Even my matched pair are not matched. I also like a rig that looks like someone really bought the items as needed.

[Tuolumne Lawman]

Great rig, Will, and Thanks!  I am a huge fan of conversion revolvers, and a huge fan of Walt Kirst's Konverters.  The 1858 Konverters are drop in, but the 1860 took some timing work by me.  Both are slick.  The hand engraving on the Saber River is awesome.  The light tan grip on the 1860 is really sweet also.  I have a matching grip from the same company coming for the 1858.   

Having converted them from percussion revolvers myself, I have far more attachment than a factory conversion.  They are a perfect pair to go with my HRA 1860 Henry in .44 WCF.  Perfect armory for an 1870 lawman. 

The 1860 Holster is from Texas Jack and is made specifically for an 1860 Conversion revolver. It is pretty spendy, but great! The ejector assembly on the 1858 would not fit in the Texas Jack. The other holster is an Oklahoma Leather Slim Jim for a 7.5" barrel.  The 8" Revolver peeps out about 1/4", so I used a brass Chicago Screw to keep the trigger guard from going in the last 1/4" so the barrel does not pop out.

I use .45 Schofield cases with either a 200 grain bullet, over 5.5 grains of Trail Boss.  I used to use 6.0 grains, but it was too stiff in a knuckle knocking Remington!  With a 230 grain bullet, I use 5.0 even.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

I saw that Chicago screw on the holster and wondered about it. It's a good solution.

I use almost the same loading for my conversions. 205 gr soft lead bullets, 5.5 gr Trail Boss in Schofield length .45 Colt cases per the Govt contract of 1878. I swedged my barrels and found that they needed .454 bullets, which really tightened up my groups.

Although I prefer Walt's conversions, that pair of pistols had drop-in cylinders, I had two cylinders that shot accurately and one that didn't. On checking, I found that the accurate ones had a muzzle end ream of .454 and the inaccurate one had a ream of .452. It was swedging my bullets back down to .452!

[Tuolumne Lawman]

Here are the Saber River along with the 1858 conversion.  Both with faux ivory grips.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Those make a fine pair. How do they feel in a match situation?

[Tuolumne Lawman]

They make a great pair!  Since 80% of my 26 years in SASS have been Colts and Remingtons, and in the last 15 years has been almost exclusively Colt and Remmy conversions of various flavors, they both feel natural to me.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

I thought you'd say that. After a few years in CAS, I started using the Remington 1858 (aka NMA) design because of the pointability and the action being slightly shorter. I can't think of anything I like better. An open top Colt is the only thing that comes close in pointability for me. Many years ago an 1851 Navy reproduction was my first single action sixgun. I got spoiled early on.

[Tuolumne Lawman]

For the last 15 years I have alternated between either open top Colts or Remington conversions.  Finally, I settled on one of each!

[Marshal Will Wingam]

One of each sure does make a handsome set.

[Coffinmaker]

   Lawman   

Allow my to repeat myself please      That there be a FINE pair of conversions     I are also a huge fan of conversions      That be a Truly FINE pair of conversions      Did you mention where you got the grips??  I may have missed that.  Really good looking grips too!!

[Tuolumne Lawman]

Both sets are from an Ebay seller, "Get-A-Grip-On-it".  Very happy with the grips.  Just slightly off white.