R&D or Kirst

No worries, really! - I thought your post was very even in tone and I didn't read any kind of criticism or slam or other negativity into it. I just wanted to try to tie things together, at least as far as my recent experience goes. To be honest, I'm glad I had no idea of the things in that other thread, but the other side is that they treated me extremely well and had no reason to treat me differently from anyone else.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread... :D
 
If Ken is makin' a 5 shot .44 Pietta Remington cylinder it's news to me...Walt Kirst makes a 5 shot .44 Konvertor. Ken has always made the Howell or R&D in 6 shot cylinders. Now Ken Howell makes a .45Colt 5 shot for the 1860 Army that I know of that also fits the Pietta 1851 Navy in .44 C&B.
I like the 45Colt Kirst with a loading gate and the R&D or Howell that you remove like in Pale rider to reload.
I have one 38spl/38Colt Kirst Gated Konvertor for a 61' Colt that I'm real happy with the fit and finnish of.
Have an R&D .45Colt Cylinder for a SS ROA that shoots great and ticks like a Swiss Clock... and have one(R&D) also for my Rogers&Spencer that one shoots fanominally.
Anyways that's my $.02 worth...
 
Rogers and Spencer !

Smokin_Gun:

Thanks for that feedback on the conversion cylinder for the Rogers and Spencer. Of all the revolvers that are a bit like the 1858 New Army, the Rogers and Spencer is my favorite.

The Rogers and Spencer is leading the pack for my second BP purchase after ... a BP rifle ... and errrr ... a colt ... and errrr ... first another 1858.

Man, I gotta have a serious sit down with Santa Claus, yeah?
 
SG, here is a pic of the new 5 shot Pietta 1858 by Howell.
RD185845P.jpg


From the website:
This Howell Old West Cartridge Conversion turns your Pietta 44 Caliber 1858 Remington percussion revolver to a five shot 45 Colt caliber. For use in steel frame revolvers only.

Near as I can tell, there is one safety notch ground between the 3 o'clock and 5 o'clock firing pins (as you look at the pic). Looks beefy to me.
 
Pietta 5-round R&D New Army conversion cylinder

As near as I can tell, there is also an extra cylinder notch that probably allows you to release the hammer at half-cock into the safety notch ground into the backplate and then the bolt fits in that extra notch on the cylinder as well, they match up I'm guessing.

But that might be a trick of the camera angle as I'm looking at the cylinder notch closest to the background, the rightmost cylinder notch as we look at the picture.
 
Thanks for the Info and Pic of that new 5 shot .45Colt conversion for the Rems...Iwonder why he did that? the 6 shot Cylinders worked just fine.
Myself I do not like a 5 shot cylinder as far as clocking and timeing go...I think if I get a new conversion it would be the Kirst for a Rem with the loading gate. The Kirst only holds 5 shots but it is a 6 shot timed cylinder with jus a dead chamber not drilled thru.
I guess actually i don't really like that one as much as i do the Old R&D 6 shot conversion and would rather buy a used R&D with 6 shots than the Kirst or the New Howell 5 shot.
But that's just me and what I prefer...I'm certain that the new Rem Cylinder is more beefy but not by alot and that 1 degree of slanted chambers in the old Convesion R&D ain't nothin' to worry about as they shoot just fine.
I may jus' stick with my R&D 6 shot cly. for my Rogers&Spencer and the ROA 6 shot and be happy.
Thanks for the Info ... and these are just my opinions on what I like, no more & no less :O)
 
Smokin_Gun said:
Rems...Iwonder why he did that? the 6 shot Cylinders worked just fine.
Click to expand...

My first thought was that the 5 shot cylinder is cheaper to produce. And now they won't be outdone and overlooked because of the 2 degree angle. Since the competition also has a 5 shot too, for Howell it's a win-win I guess. And only those shooters who would really prefer a 6 shot cylinder will have "lost out". :rolleyes:
 
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The 1 or 2 degree angle as you mentioned it to be don't mean a dang thing as it comes out the barrel...if anyone can show where it makes any differance I'd be glad to listen. Also if anyone has an R&D Conversion 6 shot Cyl. in .45Colt for a Uberti for sale let me know I'll take it. Hell I may even take a Pietta one and lap it down a few .0010".(for the right price)
CAS I am told will not alow a 5 shot cylinder in competition, so I'm not sure all competition shooters will want a five shot revolver that compete.
Anyone have the all the competition facts?
I'd rather shoot a six shot Remington C&B with five rounds loaded and have two cylinders and shoot Frontier Class that not be able to shoot a 5 shot .45Colt in Competition at all... According to CAS rules I thought you had to have the hammer down on one empty Chamber. Have those rules changed?
Just curious and putting the question out there so some Cowboy or Cowgirl don't buy something they can't use.
What they should have done was made a .44 Colt... 6 shot.
My inquiring mind jus' wants to know...cause they wouldn't let me shoot an 1862 Pocket Police 5 shot .36 cal rev at a CAS shoot with 5 in it and the hammer down on the safety pins.
 
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Well, the Kirst 5-shot cylinder is CAS legal because that sixth chamber is there, but just a "dummy". If you look at the Howell/R&D 5-shot cylinder, there's a hole between two of the chambers for the hammer to rest. Is it the same as an empty cylinder? Well, neither is, really, but it seems to me that if the rules allow for Kirst's method, it should allow Howell's, too. If you can show that your hammer is down on that fake cylinder, it's as safe as being on an empty.
 
That makes sence to me hardcase. I bet Kenny Howell had already checked into that about the CAS rules before he made that 5 shot Conversion for the rems. Ken's a pretty sharp guy when it comes to makin' these Conversions, and I have two R&D Mfg. Cylinders and one gated .38 Kirst for a Colt.
How much are them new 5 shot Cylinders goin' for now and who's sellin' um besides Kenny Howell himself, anyone know?(is there a long line to wait for them?)
 
Yur welcome Gentlemen... all I know is I like um both...I think I'd prefer an R&D 6 or Five shot as they are more authentic to the Rimfire .46 cal than the Kirst for the Remingtons. But I like the Kirst cause you can hog out the loading channel and match it to the Kirst backring and make it a five shot loader w/o removing the cylinder and with no gate.
Halfway Creek Charlie built that one with the U-joint loading lever that way and it shot great. It was a Pietta that he shortened the barrel on made that u-joint lever, and put a .44Colt Kirst that took heeled bullets. We did get together one time out here in the Mojave for a great day a shootin'. I sure wish he'd show up again, he's good people.
I like the gated Kirst for Colts...all I can say is you may jus' need to buy one a each :O) R&D makes gated ones too but you need a template tool to locate holes and drill the mounting screw holes out, so you need to buy the locating tool also or send the Rev to Kenny Howell.
Tuff choices hope this stuff helped some :cool:
 
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