Can this be done with a BP Pistol?

N

Nalapombu

New member
Hey all,

I have wondered something. Remington shooters have the option of having a cylinder for cartridges in their gun, Brownells has them. Can the same thing be done for the 1851 Navy and the 1860 Army guns?
I know that you can get open top revolvers but that is not what I am interested in. I would like to have either of the guns listed above but have the cylinder available to shoot cartridges instead of black powder.
I know that they make them for the movies and such, just wondering if anyone has ever seen one or owned one or know about getting one made up.

Nala
 
I've seen an original 1860 that was cased with components for both cartridge and percussion firing. I believe it was a Thuer conversion. There was a person I met at a gunshow in Minot North Dakota that was modifying repro 1860's to use the Thuer conversion a few years back, he was displaying them at the show but I don't believe he was selling them. If you are a good machinest it probably wouldn't be too difficult to modify one yourself.
 
What do you mean "shoot cartridges instead of black powder"?

These guns become blackpowder cartridge revolvers with the conversion. That means handloading the cartridges with blackpowder and not smokeless powder.
 
The two most well-known cartridge conversions of the Colt were the Thuer (not very many made) and the Mason-Richards (much more common). While dual system guns did exist they are not all that common now. Getting the hammer to strike (a) caps and (b) primers interchangeably must have posed some problems.
Various lookalike cartridge revolvers were made by the Italians in the '50s/60s.
Today here some people are converting Ruger Old Armies to smokeless muzzle loaders, using shotshell primers.
 
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