Pair of pistols to go with my 1860 Henry toting Persona

[Tuolumne Lawman]

My Persona is a Lawman in the gold fields of the California Motherlode around 1870.  His 1860 Henry is the rifle he used as one of Union General Blunt's select body guards in the Civil War.  His pistols are a pair of cartridge conversion revolvers: a Colt 1860 and a Remington 1858.

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





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.

[mtmarfield]

      Greetings!

   You've got some lovely goodies there! I, too, feel the need for a Rem NMA Conversion to accompany my Uberti Henry.
Hmmm...!

                    M.T.Marfield

[Tuolumne Lawman]

I really like the Kirst in the NMA.  It is a 5 shot, and that is what the original NMA conversions were in 1867 - five shot .46 Rimfire.  It was basically a rimfire version of the latyer .45 Schofield: a 230 grain, .454" bullet over 26 grains of powder, instead of the Schofield's 230 grain bullet over 27 grains of powder.  From what I have read, it had a good reputation as a reliable fight stopper.  The Kirst 1860 is five shot, also.  I just pretend it is a private conversion with a five shot .46 Rimfire cylinder.....

[mtmarfield]

      Greetings!

   Personally, as much as I'd like a Rem NMA .44-40 to go with my Henry, I would like a .45Colt, with a custom cylinder for .44Remington.
I found a like new BACo 447/250 Bullet Mould for less than $50 on eBay, and I have nothing against experimenting with a new cartridge...!

                     M.T.Marfield

[Cliff Fendley]

I love that Saber River conversion. Sweet!

[Sacramento Johnson]

Howdy!
Interesting combination of firearms; I like it!
Years ago, I also did a mid 1860s era character with my 1860 Henry, but I used my cap and ball 1858 Remingtons (all with BP); played a Texian at the Texas State match in 2011.  On another occasion, I went late 1860's to very early 1870s, and used an 1866 carbine and those same 1858 Remmies, but used Taylor/Howell drop in conversion cylinders in 45 colt in them (again all BP); you are right, 235 grain bullets with a good amount of BP really nail one's knuckles in the Remmies! Since then, use the Remmies as cap and ball only; much more comfortable to shoot, if more time consuming to clean.  Use Slim Jim holsters made by Old Pueblo Leather to carry them.

[Tascosa Joe]

The .46 Remington Short had a case length of .836" which is fairly close to the .45 Cowboy Special.  Which might alleviate the knuckle busting properties.

[Tuolumne Lawman]

Here they are now that they both have faux-ivory grips.



My current load is about 5.0 grains of Trail Boss under a 200 grain RNL .45 Auto bullet, or 200 grain .45 Colt RNFP bullet.  I was loading 5.5 grains, but it still did knuckle knock on the Remmie.  The .45 Schofield is a good centerfire replacement for the .46 Rimfire.  The Winchester loading of the .46 rimfire was 26 grains of powder with a 230 grain heeled bullet.  That about duplicated the Army's downloaded .45 Schofield (230 grain bullet with 27 grains of powder), and not much less than the Army's downloaded .45 Colt (250 grain bullet with 30 grains of powder).

In my fantasy persona the Remmmie (a five shot Kirst) is a NMA conversion in .46.  The famntasy comes in that the 1860 Saber River Kirst (five shot)is a private LCC (Long Cylinder Conversion) that is also 5 shot in .46 Rimfire.  After all, if they could make new 5 shot .46 cylinders for Remmie, they could do it for 1860s also!  Need to swap box labels, though.