Dixie Walker Kit

J

Jaxen

Inactive
Dixie lists two kits for the Walker, one is by Uberti for $250 and the other is Dixie's house brand for $225.

Anyone familier with these kits? Are they both Uberti's, or does someone else make the Dixie name brand one?

Also, I was thinking of purchasing a pair and finishing them to look, well, old. Not too long ago I came across a picture of what is supposed to be Walker's Walkers. Finish was completely worn away, but they are still in nice shape. No blueing or case hardening was visible. Any ideas on how I would go about finishing the bare metal to duplicate this look, used and with a patina of age, yet still have some protection to the steel and not have it look like bare steel? What about the grips? I was thinking of darkening them and using a matte oil instead of varnish to replicate the old, stained look.
 
I know that Euroarms produces/imports some of the rifles sold under the "Dixie" name. I can't be any help to you beyond that.
 
different kits...different level of effort to finish

The $225 kit is alot more work to finish. (not sure who the manufacturer is)
The $250 kit is an all but finished Uberti.

a couple of smiths have bought a pair of the $225 kits and reworked them just enough to make them look like EXACT Walker (aged) replicas with sequential serial numbers. (took about 50-100hours per gun to get them to that point)

I would say your in for more work (like, well beyond difference of $25) with the lower end kit.

From what I have READ, they both will allow you to go full load (55-60gr) and experience it w/o cylinder explosions like what they did way back when Colt first sold them.

Most folks fire 45-50gr of FFFg and don't have too much problems.

-W
 
Buy the Uberti kit! The Dixie kit is difficult for a home build. The easiest way I have duplicated antiques is to cold blue the steel and then slather JFG mayo on the steel. I then use CLR cleaner with eye protection and rubber gloves to clean the steel. Rinse well with water. The final step is waxing with carnauba wax. You will need to wax after each shooting and cleaning.
 
What Sir William Said.
I don't think Pietta makes a Walker and if that's right the unpleasant prospect of the Dixie Kit coming from them is eliminated. But that leaves the disgusting likelyhood that it comes from Palmetto.

Like Sir William Said, the Dixie Kit is virtually complete with a great action leaving only finishing work to be done. The one on the target is still in the white and has been kept free of rust by routine cleaning. the other one is Company E #39. It has all the numbers and lettering extra sharp and is considered one of- if not the best walker in a private collection. You cant see a thing on the cylinder. I just looked at the walker revolver in RL Wilsons Colt book. that one is so good that you can read USMR on the cylinder and see part of the engraved picture.

The chambers will hold a full load of 60 grains under a ball. Funny thing though, velocities with goex and swiss black powder became a bit erratic past 55 grains. I suspect a .457 ball might have fixed that but haven't tried it. Chamber/forcing cone measurements are .450 and the 454 balls seem plenty tight. The swiss powder was getting pretty close to the 1200+ velocities recorded by pyrodex P. The Uberti functions very well like most of the larger colt copies. The loading lever drops down after every shot but this seems to be par for the course with this design.
 
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thread immediately above. The Kit I reference is a Uberti obtained through Dixie. It is a fine piece of work.

The Dixie kit itself, is made by Palmetto. The few dollars you save ordering a Palmetto product is notworth near the agrevation that goes with it.
 
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