.44 Remington Conversion-FINISHED! 02/05/2006

[sundance44`s]

yep pards with all the conversion talk ..and charlie with his 44 brass .. hum. my world of caps and balls is getting shakey .. this would mean no more crisco stained pants and shirts , my wife will think i`m cheating ..

[Oldelm]

Hi Bill,...it took me awhile to figure out what you meant by TTT,....duh!!  But I finally looked at the beginning of this thread and saw the pics,.....real nice! You are a very talented gunsmith, to say the least.

I cut and finished the cylinder this week, chambered it in .44 colt. I made it from scratch and 20/1000 ths. bigger then the stock Pieta cylinder because the stock cylinders are too thin (paper thin) where the cylinder stops are cut to re-chamber.

I'm wondering,...what is the finished diameter of the new cylinder you made for it? The reason I ask is that I  just picked up an earlier Nickel Plated  Ken Howell '58 Rem conversion chambered in .44-40 , with 5 chamber cyl. rather than 6.  The cylinder measures 1.618" in dia.  With 5 chambers, the cylinder stops fall somewhat between the chambers.  I haven't figured out yet just what frame was used, because it was completely defarbed , with only "R&D Beloit Wis USA" and "Black Powder Only" and  R&D serial #.  I think it's a Pietta, though,....because Uberti and Armi San Paolo grips don't match up to it.  I'm thinking about de-plating it, because I much more prefer the blue steel finish.

[Ottawa Creek Bill]

Oldelm,
Man that is a nice looking pistola....I don't think I would touch the finish at all. As a matter of fact my son is going to buy some of the fake ivory grips from River Junction Trade company (they have real ivory dust in them $69.00), and once we have them fitted to the frame, we are going to have his pistol plated in an old brushed nichel finish.
The cylinder I made is 1.615.5/1000 snths in diameter, real close to yours. R&D probably chambered you pistol with five shots because of the larger case size and rim of the 44/40. The .44 colt rim is only .483 so it fits nicely.
Oldelm, was this a used purchase? The reason I ask is, this pistol may have been built for someone in that specific caliber probabaly to match a rifle since it is not a standard caliber for those old Remington five shot Army's. Most of them ( I may be wrong on this) were .46 cal. Still, a nice looking firearm...

Bill

[E.R.Beaumont]

Howdy Pards/Pardettes.

Ottawa Creek Bill; Sir that is some nice work, must be some home workshop you got there.  I would really like to see some pictures of the Rogers&Spencer pistols you converted.  Those would be some one of a kind unique pistols.  Again, that is real good work.

Regards, Beaumont 

[Ottawa Creek Bill]

E.R,
Here you go: The large photo show the guns prior to distressing (made to look used), the two smaller photos are of the guns after they were made to look as if they had about 8 to 10 years of holster wear and use (done ny owner), and he did a fantastic job. These pistols are in .44 Colt and are extremely accurate, I've got a pretty good work shop with all the right tools   These were copied from McDowell's book on Colt conversions.

Bill

[Oldelm]

Bill,....Wow,....again,...very nice work! Those Rogers & Spencer conversions look great,.......they're no doubt pretty accurate. I really like your antique finish on them.  You relined the barrels to .429, right? ...Or did they start life out as .44 Colt?  I don't know much about the Rogers & Spencers, ...'cept  that they're used alot in competition shooting.

Thanks for the specs on your .44 Colt cylinder.

I slugged the barrel in my new Howell conversion , it's .429( been relined). Yes, it was a used purchase (GunBroker).
It's one of Howell's earlier ones,...the serial # is 064. Dennis Adler, in his cartridge conversion book (2002 edition) said that Howell at that time had built over 300 Colt copies, but only about a dozen Remingtons. This must've been one of those dozen. As far as the Nickle Plate finish,......it's just too shiny for my likes,...I maybe could live with it if it was dulled down, ...but can it be dulled now? Bead blasted? I wonder. I'm at least going to de-plate the trigger guard (brass), and replace the grips. I'm looking forward to loading some .44-40 BP loads. I've heard the .44-40 shoots a flatter trajectory than .45LC.

[Ottawa Creek Bill]

Oldelm,
No the barrells are not lined, I shoot a .44 hollow base bullet cast from a Rapine mold. The bore is the original .451. The R&G's are .44 percussion, that I chamber to .44 colt. You load the .44 colt just like you normally would only with the hollow base bullet. I would suggest you contact Brownells to see if they might have a chemical to dull down the finish...they may have something that would work...

Bill

[E.R.Beaumont]

Howdy Pards/Pardettes.

Ottawa Creek Bill;  Whooo Hoo those are purdy.  Now all you need is for Clint or Tom to use them in a movie, and everyone will want a pair.  Thanks for the pictures.

Regards, Beaumont

[Yankee John]

So it was YOU who snagged that fine R&D Remington conversion off Gunbrocker!  I was watching the auction,  but was a bit short on cash when it ended. Congratulations!

I agree with Bill- That nickled finish looks great!  Here is a pic of a couple of genuine originals to compare to.

John

[Oldelm]

John,.......yep,...it was me.    I figured it was rare that one of Ken Howell's Remington conversions comes on the market, especially chambered in .44-40,  so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try to get it. Couldn't stop thinkin about it for 2 days prior to auction's end,......LOL!  Did some research on Nickel de-plating beforehand and found a great, non-toxic, inexpensive,  simple product that could de-plate nickel,.... but am going to take my time in making my final decision about de-plating it. I know I'll do the trigger guard for sure,....just gotta see that brass.

Yes,...I like those pics you just posted of the NP originals,.......I'd love to get it toned down looking like those. Then, I think I could live with the nickel plate.
The gun has had some smokeless rounds put through it,....the barrel's leaded up, and won't brush out or break up with the stuuf I have. Will have to find some good lead remover. Also, the machining on the rachets was pretty rough and was tearing up the hand, so I had to do some specific, careful stoning on the rachets. Guess there's always something to work on and tweak with every gun we get,...that's all part of the fun with these great designs from the past.

[Luke MacGillie]

Se Koh Bill!

Small world it is, I think the last time we met was at the Feast a few years back. 

Luke (AKA the son of that guy in Brown County who "Stuffs" animals" 

[Ottawa Creek Bill]

Fred Jr!?,,
How you been?

Bill

[Dirty Doc]

hOWDY rEMNUTS+. i HAVE THE USUAL uBERTY oUTLAWS AND JUST SCORED MY FIRST original '75 Remmie in 44 RENcf. I've spent months reserching everything from re-chambering to finding loads. So far; my gunsmith will chamber the cylinder for 45 Colt and I have founs GAD and Old West Bullet Molds. I sent Bernie at OWBM my specs + slug measurements. I will be reading your entire post. Yhis is my FIRST mechanically excellant Remmie. Been looking for 20 years. Glad to be on board. Doc