Kirst Konverter Installed!

J

johnrtse

Inactive
Well, I finished installing the Kirst Konverter in my 1 day old Remington. I bought the .45LC set-up used on a different forum. It is the ported version without a loading gate. And, I got an extra cylinder in .45 ACP too!

Everything went ok, but I ran into something unexpected; As I was grinding on the recoil shield, I discovered a couple of tiny air pockets in the metal. Obviously, defects when it was being cast. I had to remove a bit more metal from the lower part of the recoil shield than I really wanted to, but I was able to remove that flaw completely. You can see what remains of the other flaw in the top part of the recoil shield (a speck about the size of a pinhead).

Other than having a "hogged out" loading port (no problems loading or unloading cartridges here!), this one should make a fine shooter.

John
 

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Dang, look at that - brass in a 1858! :) Looks great! Let's hope you load black powder into those things just to keep the authentic smoke pole image alive! ;)

I'd love to have a conversion cylinder for mine, but they're just too darn expensive for my wallet...
 
You use "Cowboy Load" cartridges.

The Kirst Konverter website even says this in bold, black print right on the main page. So does the Traditions website who sell the R&D conversion cylinder for the Ruger Old Army.

Modern bullets are too strong and is not safe to use in these guns. In fact all you really need for proof is that statement on the side of the barrel that says "blackpowder only" right on the pistol.

Look for "cowboy loads" or "cowboy action shooting" for the right kinds of cartidges. Black Hills ammunition comes to mind. It looks like you can mail order Cowboy loads from Cabela's.
 
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I reload 45 Long Colt cartridges(if I didn't I couldn't afford to shoot much) with 6.5 gr. Red Dot powder and a 220-230 gr. bullet and fire lots of them in my Remington conversion with the R&D drop in. That load goes about 850fps. The manufacturer recommends using "Cowboy" loads factory loaded(liability) or black powder loads. The factory smokeless loads are supposed to be labeled "Cowboy" and be equivilent to blackpowder loads. The blackpowder loads give good vel. and ft.lbs.energy with 33gr. black FFg or Pyrodex RS and a 220-230gr. bullet.
 
I had always thought that "cowboy loads" were brass cartidges filled with blackpowder and not smokeless powder, but I started to look into these conversion cylinders a few months ago and that doesn't seem to be the case.

What is the nature of a cowboy load?

After looking into these things it seems that cowboy loads are weak charges of smokeless powder. They must be mixed with something to slow down the burning process to keep the pressures controlable.

My dad ruined a 1906 double barreled shotgun by using regular shotgun shells in it when he was teenage, instead of the "low base" shotgun shells it was made for. It splits the shotgun shells open, and there is a gap at the rear of the barrel and the breachblock. It hasn't been fired in decades and is now a display piece hanging above the livingroom door on top of some Texas Longhorns.
 
What is the nature of a cowboy load?
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There really isn't a pressure spec, which is kind of dangerous for gun-shouldn't-blow-up safety.

Essentially Cowboy loads are rounds which meet the velocity specs required for Cowboy Action Shooting. These specs are designed around the bullets going fast enough to fragment safely (without ricochet) on the metal targets they use, but not so fast that the plates will be damaged. Generally the rounds have velocities around 750 fps.
 
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