Do the Pietta '58's play well with .45 LC ?

[345 DeSoto]

"For what it's worth, the lockwork on these revolvers demands that only 5 chambers be loaded in the six shot cylinders, the hammer must always be down on an empty chamber for safety, no different than a SAA."

You do NOT need to keep an empty chamber in a 6 shot conversion!...that's what the detents between the chambers are for...

 

[MCgunner]

It was my understanding that the 6 shooters didn't have the detents (safety notches) and the 5 shooters do? Actually, they're saying it has 10 cylinder stop notches for the purpose, not safety notches for the hammer. I got that impression from reading the following on this site. This is regards to the Howell .45ACP cylinders and may not apply to others, I simply don't know.

http://oldsouthfirearms.com/howellconversions-1858remingtonpietta45cal5shotacp.aspx

The 5 shot cylinder is an excellent choice since you should only load 5 shots in a 6 chamber cylinder, letting the hammer down on an empty chamber. The 5 shot conversion cylinder has 10 cylinder stop notches. Five of these notches are set between the chambers and are designed to be used to lock the cylinder out of battery and allow you to safely lower the hammer fully down between the loaded chambers.

 

[1KPerDay]

It was my understanding that the 6 shooters didn't have the detents (safety notches) and the 5 shooters do? Actually, they're saying it has 10 cylinder stop notches for the purpose, not safety notches for the hammer.

He's referring to the standard safety notches that appear on every unmodified original cap/ball remington, and on the 6-shot conversion cylinders. You can safely lower the hammer between chambers, just like on an original cap/ball, and that is how they were carried in the 19th century (Colts don't have notches for the hammer, but they have a notch IN the hammer that fits over safety "pins" between chambers).

This isn't good enough for the SASS; they require lowering the hammer on an empty chamber OR using one of the newer 5-shot cylinders which were built specifically to comply with SASS' rules.

 

[MCgunner]

Mmm, same site shows the Kirst with the safety notches....

http://oldsouthfirearms.com/kirskonverter-originalcivilwarstyleconverterringpiettaanduberti.aspx

Perhaps it's the Howell that doesn't have them?

 

[1KPerDay]

Mmm, same site shows the Kirst with the safety notches....

http://oldsouthfirearms.com/kirskonverter-originalcivilwarstyleconverterringpiettaanduberti.aspx

Those aren't safety notches... that back plate doesn't rotate. The notches and false nipples are purely cosmetic. The large "false chamber" with the giant notch in it is the "safe/empty chamber" position on that model.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

OK, now a little bit of explanation about those 'safety notches' on my Conversion cylinder. It would be nice if I could let the hammer down into them, but the fact is, the hammer nose is too thick and does not fit down into the notches. This is true about both the cylinder pictured with my old EuroArms Remmie, and my stainless Uberti. On neither one can I actually use the notches, because the hammers will not slide into the notches.

Yeah, I know I could file the hammer noses down a bit so they would enter the notches, but since I only use the cylinders in CAS, and since we are ONLY allowed to load 5 rounds in a revolver in CAS, there is really no point. I just let the hammer down on an empty chamber, just like I already said.

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

My 6 shot conversion Taylor's does not have the safety notches?

 

[1KPerDay]

Well from what Driftwood says they're not much use anyway.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

This Pietta 1858 plays real nice with .45 Colt.

 

[1KPerDay]

OoooooooOoooooo that's purdy...

 

[MCgunner]

Beautiful, Dave!

 

[MCgunner]

Oh, I went to the LGS today, 40 miles away, but the closest one. No percussion caps, but I picked up 1000 large pistol primers, so i guess I might need that .45 cylinder, too, out of necessity, soon.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

Thanks, guys. I have to say that I'm really pleased with not only the cosmetics but the function. It shoots very well.

I did the conversion last year. It's a Pietta 1858 from Cabela's with a Kirst gated conversion kit and Remington factory-style ejector. The Kirst cylinder holds 5 shots. The part where a 6th chamber would be is solid. The firing pin is mounted in the cylinder ring that also holds the gate.

If I do another one I'll use Kirst's Richards-Mason type ejector, which is spring loaded.

To cut the loading port I used a Dremel tool with a grinding wheel, sanding drum, and felt polishing bob with some Flitz. To cut the notch in the loading lever I used a hacksaw and files. Then I finished it off with some Birchwood Casey cold blue.

I have ~8 hours into it. I took it slow because this was the first such conversion job that I tackled.

The ammo I've shot through it has been Black Hills .45 Colt CAS loads, consisting of a hard cast 250 grain RNFP bullet at an advertised 750 FPS. By modern standards it's rather wimpy but I found that it will shoot through a seasoned 10" pine log from ~10 - 15 yards. Also, it has more muzzle energy than the .455 Webley ball load, which the Brits considered to be a good manstopper.

 

[MCgunner]

I might be tempted to try 777 handloads in it. It'd probably perform better without excessive pressures. 777 clean up is like BP, of course, but it's easier to clean than Pyrodex or BP, less goo. Nice to have the light smokeless option, though. Sure is easier to clean with smokeless loads than ANY BP or sub.