Conversion Cylinders???

[tinroad37e]

I have a few Uberti black powder revolvers I would like to purchase conversion cylinders for, but concerned. From what I read these conversion cylinders are not truely drop-in as manufacturers claim. I've heard of people claiming they have to fit them by doing some filing on the frame. I want to purchase one for my Uberti Walker, Uberti 1858, and my Pietta 1860. My body shivers thinking about filing my frames. Plus, I still want to use the cap and ball cylinders too. Should I just purchase a couple single action revolvers?

 

[mike101]

If you get a R&D cylinder, and it doesn't fit, you have to send the gun and cylinder back to them for fitting, which could take forever. Try a Kirst, or contact www.bigironbarrels.com, and they will make you a cylinder.

 

[LEE3370]

I have two R&D for the Ruger Old Army, no fitting required.
Two R&D and one Kirst for Pietta 1858, no fitting required.
One R&D for the Uberti Walker, took about .002 off the end of the cylinder.
Two R&D for the Uberti 1858, no fitting required. AND these two drop in the Euroarms 1858 and work just fine.
Hopes this helps,
Lee

 

[J.T. Gerrity]

Have an R&D for my Uberti "Cattleman's Carbine". Drops right in, no fitting required.

 

[sundance44s]

Sundance44s

I have an R&D and a Kirst drop in for my Uberti Remmie ..they both dropped in and worked flawless right out of the box they also work out of the box on my EuroArms remmie...Had to do just a little fitting on an old ASM remmie to make them work with it ... not a big deal though just a little fileing and stoneing to the cylinder pin window it was a little tight there and was binding.
I don`t have a drop in for my Pietta remmie yet ..maybe Santa will bring me one .

 

[Cincinnati Slim]

Did my "Drop-IN" cylinders really did just drop-in ?

Howdy,

Got a Pietta 1860 Army and a R&D .45 Colt cylinder from Taylor's.

They test fitted it before shipping to make sure all was well and checked the timing. Taylor's is a great outfit.

Then I ordered a Pietta 1858 Remmie from Cabela's and a R&D cylinder from Midway. Would have got them both from Midway but they would not ship a C&B revolver to Cincinnati !

The bolt notches on the R&D cylinders were too narrow. Newer Pietta Remmies have a wider bolt. R&D has since corrected this issue

I returned the R&D to Midway and ordered a Kirst gated cylinder from River Junction. It dropped in and worked perfect.

Of course, I then had to get out the Dremel and spend three hours and ten or twelve 5/8 sanding drums to cut the loading port. This stuff about "soft Italian steel" don't wash with ME !

A little cold blue and all is well. Loads easy as my Colt SAA. "Cowboy" loads pretty much just drop out by gravity. A medium size allen wench makes a good ejector. The loading port also makes caping the percussion cylinder easy and eliminates cap jams since the fragments just fall away easier.

I'd say "go for it" you can always return 'em if there's an obvious problem.
The conversion cylinders tend to be just a few thou longer than the percussion versions. This narrows the barrel/cylinder gap for better power/accuracy but increases fouling tendencies if shooting black powder cartridges. My Remmie w/conversion cylinder is the most accurate revolver I own. It's also the CHEAPEST ! $ 199.95 from Cabela's

Of course the conversion cylinder cost more than the gun itself...

Happy Trails

Cincinnati Slim

 

[sundance44s]

Sundance44s

I try not to think about the price of adding a conversion to the price of a Remmie .. after all you have the best of both worlds with it ... there are those warm days when i enjoy shooting it with the cap and ball cylinder ..so its like 2 guns in one ...and shoots great with both it just doesn`t get any better than that ...so is it worth 500 bucks ..sure thing .

 

[Franco2shoot]

Uberti 1858 Remmy

Mine dropped in and functioned flawlessly for the last 2 years with no fitting at all. I really like the R&D conversion cylinder since it allows me to use the indoor range. Most ranges in our area will not allow BP.

It was just a month ago that the first minor problem arose when one of the pins became sticky. The back plate that contains the 6 firing pins would not seat properly alerting me to the problem. What is nice about the design is that these pins are mounted in a housing that screws into the back plate. I'm sure I can purchase a single pin and housing directly from R&D but the one I had loosened up with a little grease and tinkering. My vote is for you to go for it.

KKKKFL

 

[sundance44s]

Sundance44s

I`ve got the same problem with my R&D cylinder ...one fireing pin sticks down after fireing ..was doing that soon after buying it , i haven`t bothered to order a new pin to replace it yet because i only load 5 at a time anyway //I`m sure new fireing pins aren`t expencive for replacement .
Never had that problem with the Kirst cylinder ... good thing its only got one fireing pin . The Kirst has a spring loaded fireing pin , so it retracts .The R&D doesn`t ..the fireing pins just float in their houseing on the R&D. I thought i was the only one that ever had this problem with the R&D cylinder never heard anyone else complain .

 

[Cincinnati Slim]

Stuck pins in R&D

Howdy,

That's why R&D says NEVER dry fire one of their cylinders !

Sure way to get a firing pin stuck.

I use snap-caps for practice and all is well.

Slim

 

[sundance44s]

Sundance44s

Slim your right it is dry fireing that will mess up the fireing pins on an R&D cylinder ..it happens quick too. thinking back , i never have dryfired mine But .. i only load five chambers always hammer down on an empty hole ... ok here`s the problem ..my falt .. forget did i fire 4 or was it 5 ..next hammer drop is on an empty hole ..same as dry fireing . I ordered some extra fireing pins from Taylors this morning 2 bucks each .. but after thinking about what the cause was , i`ll just keep them for a latter repair ....I never know when I`ll lose count again and mess up another pin ..this way i keep the ruined pin over my empty hole ...won`t hurt to hammer on that one .

 

[drdirk]

Haver two Ruger Old Army and conversion cylinder. No problem, one is stainless, the other blue. Conversion cylinder fits both fine and makes the guns even more versatile.

 

[Thaenatos]

Some notes about R&D Dragoon .45 LC conversion

I purchase this conversion cylinder at the same time as a 2nd Model Dragoon C&B revolver. I'm having so much fun shooting the gun as a b/p revolver, that I haven't shot the .45 LC conversion cylinder.

As to its fit and overall tolerances as it came, the .45 LC cartridges were a few thousands tight and I needed to hone the cylinders in order to get cartridges to seat properly. It was probably only about 30 minutes work and some smithing is usually in order for any new part on an existing gun, so no complaints there.

The one thing that I am dissappointed with is the design of this conversion cylinder is such that you need to break down the gun in order to load or reload, something I didn't realize at the time of purchase. I had hoped that once the cylinder was on the gun, reloading would be similar to a SAA revolver. Reloading 6 rounds of .45 LC is equally as labor intensive as charging 6 cylinders with powder, wadding, ball, and a cap. Reloading involves knocking out the wedge, pulling the barrel, and pulling the cylinder in order to get to the expended brass.

The frame assembly design of 2nd model Dragoon doesn't allow clearances for loading a conversion cylinder like a SAA .45 LC without removing some material from the frame, so once I had the gun and cylinder in hand, I understood the workings a bit better and can't really fault the design, it does what it sets out to do, essentially giving you another gun/another choice in shooting.

Finally, the 2nd Model Dragoon has a design feature associated with the cap and ball cylinder. There is a notch in the hammer, and little machined nubs on the cylinder between the nipples. This allows you to relatively comfortably rest the hammer between the nipples. The conversion cylinder has no nubs, it is smooth so the hammer has to be resting on a cylinder. This is a missing feature that cannot be discerned from the picture or the description.

First cap and ball revolver, and I'm pretty much hooked. My Christmas list was basically a link to Gatofeo's "everything I learned that I needed over the last 35 years" threads. MUTTON TALLON?? WTH is that!!?? <--- #1 fielded question this holiday season. /snicker

 

[Plastic Cowboy]

Can you use smokeless powder with these conversion cyclinders??

 

[sundance44s]

Sundance44s

Yep ..light loads , in the Itilian made guns .
For store bought ammo cowboy action loads . Still a pretty stout load in 45lc .
If your a reloader , lots of different loads to play with..

 

[Plastic Cowboy]

Well then I may have to get one of these for my Pietta 58 Remmie!! I've been using a lot of IMR Trail Boss lately to make mild indoor rounds for my 500 S&W and I think it would be great stuff for 45lc cowboy loads too!!

 

[sundance44s]

Sundance44s

Thats what i have been loading for my remie conversion cylinders .. Trail Boss powder smokeless loads for indoor range . They frown on my use of the black stuff ...lol Not a lot of loading data on the net for it , but i`ve sent for a data book from the company ..so far i`ve been loading pretty light ...with the data from their site .

 

[pierre bouchard]

Is it safe to use commercial 45lc loads in my stainless ROA with the R & D conversion drop-in cylinder ?

 

[Car Knocker]

or contact www.bigironbarrels.com, and they will make you a cylinder.

The following two threads about Big Iron are quite...informative.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=320123
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=250890

 

[Shawnee]

Where do you buy conversion cylinders for the ROA, and how much $ ?


Thanks !

 

[KevininPa]

Shawnee

I'm planning on a couple for my ROA as well. Here's the cheapest I've found so far:

http://www.buffaloarms.com/browse.cfm/2,357.htm

If you find cheaper, please let me know! We all need to save a few bucks here and there so that we can feed our firearm addictions elsewhere with the money saved!

 

[Gaucho Gringo]

I am wondering why some vendors have the R&D conversion cylinders in .44 Colt and not .45 LC. Not too many people shoot .44 Colt. They are the ones with the cheaper price but the difference in the price of ammo would kill the savings after buying a couple of boxes of .44 Colt. I would like to buy one from a smaller vendor but if they don't carry what I want then I will have to buy one in .45 LC from Midway

 

[BigBlock]

Should I just purchase a couple single action revolvers?

Yes. Conversion cylinders are cool - but not when they cost more than the gun you're putting them in. Not only is that a silly investment, but they're just plain ripping you off, and I won't buy anything in that category out of principle alone. You can buy a brand new Taurus Gaucho for under $300. About $350 for a new Blackhawk. Used guns are even cheaper.

"two guns in one" is fun, but two whole seperate guns for the same price is even better, and they'll hold their value a lot better.

 

[Shawnee]

Gotta agree with Big Block unless some really, really, special usage compels one to do the "two-guns-in-one" route. For very little more than the price of a conversion cylinder for my ROA I can buy a used Blackhawk or (another) 1875 Remington in 38/357.
Fun idea though.

 

[sundance44s]

Can`t explain it but all my 1858 Remmies shoot straighter with 45 conversion cylinders ..than my Uberti 45 Colt ..or my friends Tarus 45 Gaucho...Maybe I just got lucky don`t know . Sure makes it fun too shoot when you can aim at the target ..and not somewhere else off target to just hit close .