Shopkeeper's Special

This is a Cimarron/Uberti 1951 Navy Richards-Mason Conversion in .38 Special that I modified into a 'belly-gun' or 'Shopkeeper's Special.' My favorite revolver these days; this was the first gun I did any serious customizing on. A cool thing about the R-M conversion- you can safely load six rounds because you can rest the hammer-mounted firing-pin between the case-heads. I made a nice knocking-around sort of belt-holster and it's still a favorite companion in the woods.

WestKentucky said:

I like it. Seems like a fun gun to have around. Doesn't seem like it would be superbly accurate but it sure does look like fun.

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The sights on these guns are pretty iffy to begin with- a shallow v-notch in the hammer nose and a bead front. When I shortened the barrel I improved the sights, so the accuracy really hasn't changed. I can still do about a five-inch group at 25 yards on a good day- about as well as I could with the 7-1/2 inch barrel. At close range it's better- one-hole groups at 7 yards aren't very difficult.

And yes, it is a lot of fun!

owlhoot said:

I like the modified "bird's head" effort on the grip. I've seen hundreds of original cap and conversion pistols and photos of many more, but I've never seen one with a modified grip frame. I wonder why nobody tried. Folks were as concerned with concealing their weapons back in the day as they are today.

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Years ago someone told me they saw one in 'Guns of the Old West' magazine (I think that's what it's called...) but that's the only one I've heard of. It seems like an obvious thing to do doesn't it?

Malamute said:

What did you do with the ejector assembly? I'm working on a conversion project and don't have an ejector rod setup for it.

I think I may have a picture somewhere of an 1862 pocket Police that was modified to birdshead grip. I'm not a birdshead fan in general, but it looked cute.

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At the moment it's sitting in a bin in my shop, but I seem to have lost the mounting screw. Drop me a PM.