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

Seems to me the people who make cylinders for these conversions make them for both Uberti 1858s and Pietta 1858s (the two are not interchangeable) and I think that 45 works pretty well in them.

Yes they do work pretty well. They come in 5 shot and 6 shot. Mine is a Howells. You can get it from Taylor's firearms or midway USA. Either is a good source.

The R&D unit that I have for my 1858 short barrel fits and works fantastic!

Speaking of which if anyone has one of these for sale for .44 Pietta New Army LMK.

Ideally I'd like the .45 ACP version which nobody makes anymore. Or a 6-shot .45 Colt version would be fine also.

I am curious if the cylinders will work for both Uberti and Pietta?

Not without a lot of 'smithing. They make different models for the two brands.

I have the hots for this. I shoot cast lead 200 grain SWCs in my Ruger KP90DC and have a bunch loaded for it. I also shoot .45 Colt in my 4 5/8" Blackhawk, but 8.3 grains of Unique behind a 255 flat nose might be a bit much for the NEW ol' Remmy, methinks. So, I'd rather go with .45ACP for which I don't currently have a revolver at this time, anyway. Be cool to have a revolver in the caliber. It's on the back burner, though. Danged gubment wants 515 bucks of my hard earned money.

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

Your friend probably realizes the conversion cylinder sells for more than gun itself which will wind up with more invested in it than just buying a 1875 model.

MCgunner said:

I have the hots for this. I shoot cast lead 200 grain SWCs in my Ruger KP90DC and have a bunch loaded for it. I also shoot .45 Colt in my 4 5/8" Blackhawk, but 8.3 grains of Unique behind a 255 flat nose might be a bit much for the NEW ol' Remmy, methinks. So, I'd rather go with .45ACP for which I don't currently have a revolver at this time, anyway. Be cool to have a revolver in the caliber. It's on the back burner, though. Danged gubment wants 515 bucks of my hard earned money.

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

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Interesting... howell no longer carries that caliber on their site, anyway. I've emailed them for clarification. thanks!

Got a response from Howell FYI:

The 58 Pietta cylinder in .45 ACP is available, the Caliber selection is now in a separate dropdown box.



http://www.howelloldwestconversions.com/shop/productinfo.cfm?catID=261&productid=822&a mp;cfid=2325225&cftoken=34375340

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Cool... does anyone know the reason they say lead bullets only? I understand you need to load lower pressure rounds, and FMJs need more pressure generally, and I also understand the older 6-shot designs' chambers were angled very slightly to allow fitment of 6 rims in the cylinder, and the lead rounds would allow deformation/whatever upon entering the barrel. But does anyone know if low-end PLATED bullets would be okay, and if not, why?

I'm sure the manufacturer will stick to the lead only rule, but I wondered if anyone had any input.

thanks!

Might be variances in bore diameter in various guns/models, not sure, though, just a guess. I planned to use my own cast bullets in the gun, anyway, but I did wonder about that.

Another thing that I wonder about, they claim not to shoot any ammo over 1000 fps. WITH WHAT BULLET WEIGHT? Makes a difference. My 200 grainers are running 900 fps out of my 4.5" Ruger KP90DC, so I guess I should be okay, but then, out of an 8" revolver, it might approach 1000 fps. Barrel length is a factor here, too.

1858

They do specify Black powder pressure loads,ie cowboy etc.

But, there's never been a black powder .45ACP and no cowboy loads. Main reason I don't consider the .45 Colt conversion is I don't wanna get mixed up with my handloads for the Blackhawk which wouldn't be very nice to the Remmy. The OP probably doesn't have this problem.

If you have the extra brass and are willing to do the work, why not just cut some .45Colt brass down to .45ACP length? You might have to do some inside reaming after they are cut down.

Meh, i'd prefer to be able to shoot my cast .45ACP stuff in my revolver. Nothing wrong with a .45ACP conversion. I sold my old S&W 1917. I didn't much like it, was pretty worn, but worked fine with jacketed bullets. It didn't like lead bullets, though, very shallow rifling in that gun. I have no reason to ever wanna shoot jacketed in the Remmy. I only have 50 rounds loaded of jacketed bullets, my carry loads in the KP90DC. And, I have tons of .45ACP brass as I used to pick it up at the range all the time. You don't find .45 Colt laying around on the ground. AND, I already have one revolver and a Contender barrel in .45 Colt, no revolvers in .45ACP.

I have the 5 shot version from Howell's and it works great. I have used mine in cowboy action shooting matches a couple of time. I really like shooting the .45 Schofield's out of it:

Cool!

with taking the cylinder out to reload the conversions are not as fast for a quick shot after empitying your gun.in a fight after firing six shots, it takes more time to fire a repeat shot from a conversion that a regular CB revolver. if you have several replacement cylinders the point is moat. eastbank.

Lead bullets are required for SASS/CAS shoots, but more to the pouint, the barrrel steel used by the Italians is softer than the barrels used in cartridge guns. Jacketed bullets are not advised. I don't think copper washed bullets would be a problem.

The very small angle used by Howell in the chambers is not enough to distort a bullet or affect accuracy.

45ACP makes a great black powder round, lots of smoke and economical to load. That was the point when the 45 Special was offered.

with taking the cylinder out to reload the conversions are not as fast for a quick shot after empitying your gun.in a fight after firing six shots, it takes more time to fire a repeat shot from a conversion that a regular CB revolver. if you have several replacement cylinders the point is moat. eastbank.

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Howdy

Exactly how many gunfights have you taken part in using a C&B revolver? Point of fact is it is quicker to pop the conversion cylinder out of a Remington type C&B, dump out the empties and reload and pop it back into the revolver than it is to reload all the chambers on a conventional SAA type revolver where each empty has to be ejected one at a time and each chamber has to be reloaded one at a time.

I have two 1858 Remmies that I have conversion cylinders for. One is my old EuroArms Remmie that I bought a gazillion years ago.



The other Remmie is a stainless Uberti that I bought used a number of years ago. It came with the C&B cylinder and a conversion cylinder.



No, you cannot interchange cylinders between the Uberti and the Pietta revolvers. The two different brands are slightly different in size and the cylinders are sized to the specific brand of revolver. For what it's worth, the cylinder in my old EuroArms Remmie is a Pietta 'sized' cylinder.

The only 45 Colt six shot conversion cylinder on the market today is the one sold by Taylors. Anyplace that sells the six shot 45 Colt version is buying them from Taylors. Kenny Howell patented the idea of angling the chambers out less than 1/2 of one degree to allow six chambers to fit into the cylinder. For some reason, Kenny Howell sold the rights to his patent to Taylors a few years ago, so they are the only company that can produce the six shot version. Anybody like Midway who is selling them is buying them from Taylors. Kenny Howell now has his own company making conversion cylinders, but because he sold the rights to his patent, he is only making five shot cylinders for 45 Colt in Remmies.

The other player in the game is Walt Kirst. Kirst too makes 5 shot cylinders for the Remmie in 45 Colt. Kirst also offers the option of adding a loading gate to the gun so it can be reloaded one chamber at a time like a SAA.

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.

The makers of these cylinders stress that they are for steel framed guns, not the brass framed guns. Although they are proofed for Smokeless powder, at least one maker suggests sticking to cowboy loads, no high powered stuff. Look how thin the chamber walls are on my cylinder and that should be self explanatory.

Regarding 38 caliber cylinders, don't get too excited about that too soon. The rifling groove diameter of modern 36 caliber revolvers is too large for modern .357 diameter 38 Special bullets. In order to shoot 38 Special out of these guns with any accuracy, either hollow based bullets must be used, which will expand at the base to engage the rifling, or the barrels must be sleeved for .357 bullets.

Great info, Driftwood. Thanks a bunch!

Another reason to shoot cartridge (.45ACP in my case) is that sometimes I wanna shoot the gun, but I'm just too lazy to strip and bath it in soap and water. I have 3 cap and ball cylinders for the gun, can load the three and fire up 18 fast, but then i have to reload from the front. I don't really mind this too much, though. I have all the time in the world since I'm retired now and I can set up the reloading in my shop where it's handy and out of the wind or even come in and do it on the bar or kitchen table. . Still, I just think it'd be neat to have the .45ACP conversion.

Driftwood

Would I be correct in assuming the Euroarms 1858 uses a Pietta cylinder? I have an unfired gun and think I would like to convert it.

4speed

Yes, my old EuroArms Remmie has a 'Pietta' conversion cylinder in it. But I cannot guarantee one will fit yours.



What I did a bunch of years ago was to get in contact with Taylors. They had a policy back then that they would fit a conversion cylinder to your Remmie FOR FREE. I sent them the gun, they selected a cylinder and did a little bit of fitting for me. I paid for the cylinder and they shipped me back my gun with the cylinder. You might want to contact them and see if they still have this policy.

http://www.taylorsfirearms.com/