some tips on cartridge conversion fitting..

[powder-n-lead]

Hello everyone:
with the continuing, and growing interest in conversion cylinders I thought I would share my most recent conversion with everyone in hopes it may help with your new conversion if you decide to do one, and I hope you do as it is a real bang! sorry had to do it..

anyway my recent conversion was done on a 4 year old pietta 58 new army remington this was the original long standard barrel with case hardened frame, which I shortened to 5 1/2. (coudn't find one at the time) I decided for my own personal taste to go with the Kirst "civil war" Konverter as I like the looks but they are all great to be sure.

when I went to install it I could not get the cyl. pin to enter the frame, so I knew I would have to lower the cyl. back plate foot (for those that don"t know) this is the flat metal foot on the very bottom of the ( kirst) cylinder back plate oppisite the fireing pin. well this only took 5-10 minutes of filing, and smoothing and throw some cold blue on. the other problem I had is something that most will not incure but I wanted to list it anyway for someone who might.

when I went to shoot this rem it would not fire! well I took the cylinder out and noticed a very fine dimple on the primmers and I was a little puzzeled at first but after looking at the hammer recessed area in my frame I could see where the machine work or lack of was high on one side! cnc machines are great as long as they are kept maintained.. so I cleaned it up with a file and was able to enjoy my first 50 rounds thru this remmy. these will alot of times just drop in but do not assume they will! I have been working on guns for over 40 years and like some of you I have seen it all ( well maybe not all but have seen alot)

now a little about the sights, when you convert one of these cappers remember the ammo you use will have a heavier grain bullet usually, this means simply that the heavier bullet will bring Point Of Impact up, and the heavier the charge the higher it will be because of the heavier recoil and natural energy. if you reload your own then you can taylor your load to work best for you and your gun but if you are planning to buy cowboy loads then you will be a little limited mostly because who has any? yea I know there are places but they are really back logged with production and you end up taking what you can find out there.



as far as sights go just make sure after you settle on the best ammo for you and your gun and only then should you start filing on it.. I will post a pic of my rem and if you have any questions please let me know and keep them irons shootin.

one final note: IF you sight in on a rest, that is good to get er close but from my own experience if you normally shoot off-handed then make sure your still hitting where you aim (off hand) before you do the final filing on them sites! also please note that there are other issues that sometimes occur on fitting your new conversion cylinder like hand length and bolt thickness and height but you can find threads on these issues elsewhere here, this is just a few things to look for, also this is a pietta I just used a uberti front sight and loading barrel lug on it..casey

 

[noelf2]

Kirsts seem to have more fitting issues than the Howell's type.

 

[powder-n-lead]

could be, but I know that every gun will have at least 1 dimention that is different from one gun to another of the same type, same date code ect.
like in my article I had to remove metal from the foot but the next guy may not.

gun manufacturing is a major improvement since the early 90s and hopefully will continue to improve. also cnc machining is just that it is a machine computer linked and like any machine they need to be re-calibrated on a regular basis, this is good except that metal often has hard spots and it is enough along with other things to cause a fluxuation or even pre-dulling of cutters ect.

a machine is only as good as the operator and finally how many get past inspection before any out of accepted tolerances are caught , they do not check em all, and we would be surprised at what is let go down the line, they can't afford to send all perfect guns.

the texas boys at cimmaron import ubertis, and there smiths tune em up, I had a .45 evil roy and it was nice, I still had to tune the trigger pull but a nice piece considering they don't have the time to perfect them either, time is money with all companys.....

this is just my 2 cents worth, what else am I going to spend those pennys on