>> As you can see in the picture above, Mr. Bowen (the Earth-walking god of revolversmiths ) has done this particular conversion before. I wouldn't recommend shooting Buffalo Bore grizzly stompers out of it, but it is more than safe for shooting SAAMI-spec .45 Colt. The OD of the .38/.44 cylinder is the same as the OD of the Model 25 cylinder, so that point's moot. <<
I didn’t mean to question the safety of this conversion, at least so far as standard .45 Colt loads are concerned. However the .38 barrels had a slightly different taper then those intended to be bored for .44 or .45 calibers. Also the front sight (which is an integral part of the barrel forging) is made to a height that would be correct for a high-velocity .38 Special, not a .45 Colt. This can be corrected, but making the correction will add to the expense. I learned a long time ago to carefully consider all aspects of such conversions before jumping.
>> As far as why he's not asking about a Model 25, it's probably because Model 25's have heavy barrels and adjustable sights, unlike that beautiful wheelgun gracing the photo at the top of the page, with its fixed sights and tapered barrel. <<
I agree that the pictured revolver is “beautiful,†but it would be equally so in its original chambering. A conversion on a model 27 or 28 would provide a easy way to solve the sight height issue. The revolver I had was one of the first model 1950 Target’s with the barrel shortened to 4 inches at the factory. These of course had the narrow rib and smaller taper used on the .357 Magnum (pre-model 27/28) and later. While it hasn’t been mentioned yet, a model 58, .41 Magnum might also be a candidate for conversion to .45 Colt.
I also suspect that for the money involved (gun plus total cost of conversion) one might be able to purchase a .44 Hand Ejector with a 4 inch barrel. I would at least look into the possibility of doing this.