Nickel Plated
Member
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2012
- Messages
- 385
So I'm convirting my Uberti 1858 Remmington Navy to 38spl. cartridges. I plan to use the Kirst gated cylinder to do the job.
Now anyone who's familiar with cartridge conversions knows, .44 cap and balls are easy to convert to 45 cartridges. Just swap the cylinders.
The .36 cap and balls are a bit trickier because the bore for them is a bit too big (.375 cal) for your common .38 cartridges like the .38 Long Colt or .38 Special. (.357 cal)
Now generally the solution for this was either use heeled bullets or have a smith drill out and reline the barrel to .357. But I decided to try another method.
I didn't want to use heeled bullets because I'd like to just use any standard .357 cal bullet for my loads if bullets become hard to come by where you don't have the luxury of being picky.
And sending it to a smith takes alot of time between shipping to him, waiting for him to get the work done and shipping back. As well as the shipping costs and hoping the smith didn't screw the job up.
What I decided to do is simply swap the barrel with one from a factory Uberti cartridge conversion since those use the proper .357cal barrel.
I did go out on abit of ahunch and assumed that uberti uses the same frames and barrels between their cap 'n ball and cartridge models as far as the theads go. My hunch proved right.
The new .357 barrel screws right in.
Here's some pics.
The new barrel. Got a 5" one instead of the orifginal 8". Kinda wanted the gun a bit handier.
The frame with the barrel removed.
New barrel screwed in the frame.
As you can see the rear of the barrel hits the front of the frame about 45 degrees before the sights line up.
Anyone know if the frame or barrel is supposed to be filed down to allow the barrel to screw in further and line the sights up or if the barrel is supposed to just be screwed against the frame as it is giving you a pressed fit?
Now anyone who's familiar with cartridge conversions knows, .44 cap and balls are easy to convert to 45 cartridges. Just swap the cylinders.
The .36 cap and balls are a bit trickier because the bore for them is a bit too big (.375 cal) for your common .38 cartridges like the .38 Long Colt or .38 Special. (.357 cal)
Now generally the solution for this was either use heeled bullets or have a smith drill out and reline the barrel to .357. But I decided to try another method.
I didn't want to use heeled bullets because I'd like to just use any standard .357 cal bullet for my loads if bullets become hard to come by where you don't have the luxury of being picky.
And sending it to a smith takes alot of time between shipping to him, waiting for him to get the work done and shipping back. As well as the shipping costs and hoping the smith didn't screw the job up.
What I decided to do is simply swap the barrel with one from a factory Uberti cartridge conversion since those use the proper .357cal barrel.
I did go out on abit of ahunch and assumed that uberti uses the same frames and barrels between their cap 'n ball and cartridge models as far as the theads go. My hunch proved right.
The new .357 barrel screws right in.
Here's some pics.
The new barrel. Got a 5" one instead of the orifginal 8". Kinda wanted the gun a bit handier.
The frame with the barrel removed.
New barrel screwed in the frame.
As you can see the rear of the barrel hits the front of the frame about 45 degrees before the sights line up.
Anyone know if the frame or barrel is supposed to be filed down to allow the barrel to screw in further and line the sights up or if the barrel is supposed to just be screwed against the frame as it is giving you a pressed fit?