Tinker Pearce
New member
This started out as an anonymous Colt 1849 Wells Fargo .31 Percussion reproduction that I got as part-trade for another gun. I'd done a conversion to .22LR on a similar gun, but wanted to go a different route with this one. I decided to make it a test-gun for .251 TCR.
The first big job was to convert it to a spur trigger; the original trigger guard was just too small for me to feel comfortable with it. I cut away the old guard and silver-soldered some new brass to the frame, then fabricated a new trigger from 5160 spring-steel. I cut the barrel off at the lug, then bored it out to accept the new barrel (sent to me by Magnumwheelman.) I turned the end of the barrel down to fit, then slathered it with Loctite Red and press-fit it, then trimmed to and cut a new forcing cone.
I turned a new cylinder from half-hard 4140 and bored it out, but I wasn't happy with it. There were some issues with the geometry of the sprocket, and with the locking notches directly over the chambers the metal was awfully thin there. I made a second cylinder as a five-shooter, and this solved the issues nicely. The breech-plate was made from 5150 also, and incorporates an extended section that protrudes into the hammer-slot. This piece holds the rebounding firing-pin and acts as the rear sight as well. The hammer-nose had to be shortened quite a bit to accommodate this.
This is really quite a svelte little gun. The barrel is 3-1/4" long, and the gun weighs 21 ounces unloaded; not a lightweight, but not particularly burdensome either. The last photo compares it's size to a 3" K-Frame S&W; this gun is really quite small!
Launching a 55gr. hard-cast bullet at 1050-1100 fps. it's no slouch in the power department, easily equaling .22 Magnum from this barrel length. I figure in a pocket holster this would make a nice, light critter-gitter for woods stomping without being intrusive or inconvenient. Anyway, it's fun, and that's really all the reason it needs.
The first big job was to convert it to a spur trigger; the original trigger guard was just too small for me to feel comfortable with it. I cut away the old guard and silver-soldered some new brass to the frame, then fabricated a new trigger from 5160 spring-steel. I cut the barrel off at the lug, then bored it out to accept the new barrel (sent to me by Magnumwheelman.) I turned the end of the barrel down to fit, then slathered it with Loctite Red and press-fit it, then trimmed to and cut a new forcing cone.
I turned a new cylinder from half-hard 4140 and bored it out, but I wasn't happy with it. There were some issues with the geometry of the sprocket, and with the locking notches directly over the chambers the metal was awfully thin there. I made a second cylinder as a five-shooter, and this solved the issues nicely. The breech-plate was made from 5150 also, and incorporates an extended section that protrudes into the hammer-slot. This piece holds the rebounding firing-pin and acts as the rear sight as well. The hammer-nose had to be shortened quite a bit to accommodate this.
This is really quite a svelte little gun. The barrel is 3-1/4" long, and the gun weighs 21 ounces unloaded; not a lightweight, but not particularly burdensome either. The last photo compares it's size to a 3" K-Frame S&W; this gun is really quite small!
Launching a 55gr. hard-cast bullet at 1050-1100 fps. it's no slouch in the power department, easily equaling .22 Magnum from this barrel length. I figure in a pocket holster this would make a nice, light critter-gitter for woods stomping without being intrusive or inconvenient. Anyway, it's fun, and that's really all the reason it needs.
