If you'd rather shoot cap & ball, why even read a thread about a cartridge conversion?
Show me a Colt pocket model conversion cylinder. No, you can't buy conversion cylinders for ANY of the pocket models. They discontinued the 1849 converter because accuracy sucked in the oversized bore of the .31 barrel. Even if they did make a conversion cylinder for the pocket .36's, you'd have the same problem. Sorry but give me a .380 pocket model over something I have to use heeled bullets in any day of the week. Sure, I'd rather it was a .38Colt that still used .358" cast bullets but beggars can't be choosers. A common cartridge like the .380 probably made more sense from a marketing standpoint.
The excitement here is that one can procure a factory cartridge conversion on a Colt pocket platform. Previously, if you wanted one, you paid about $2000 and waited 2-3yrs to have one built.
You got me curious and you're correct. My bullets aren't .321, my mistake. Went down to the cave to measure. Guess I'm casting too many and losing track of all those numbers ;-)Yes but you're using a larger diameter bullet. Standard .32 bullets are .312".
Very cool ! A little disappointed to see the MSRP on this though. I know prices will be high as these are essentially niche items from a production stand point. Thanks for the info ! I'll have to give this one some thought.Reviving an old thread part 2. I just got my hands on the Cimarron 1862 pocket conversion pistol. I took it to the range yesterday. It is a sweet shooter and as usual with Cimarron firearms, it is beautiful. It won't win any matches for accuracy, but the original was built to stick in a person's belly and pull the trigger. Anybody getting one won't be sorry. I am totally satisfied.
Forgot to ask...does this have additional bolt stops on the cylinder to carry safely with 5 rounds? Not that it really matters....just my OCD when loading from an ammo box. ;-)I paid $525.00 for it. I have a bunch of Cimarrons and many original old west guns so I thought that this one had to come home with me.
Or for people who want to buy ammo. Let's face it, most people don't handload and fewer still do so with blackpowder. A .380 appeals to more folks and makes more sense than trying to resurrect the .38 Short Colt.380 ACP Colt for people who don't want to deal with black powder?
The 6" barrel is to meet weight requirements for importation.
Or for people who want to buy ammo. Let's face it, most people don't handload and fewer still do so with blackpowder. A .380 appeals to more folks and makes more sense than trying to resurrect the .38 Short Colt.
We need the 32 Short and Long Colt resurrected for those of us with the 32 rimfire Marlin 92's and such!
Not to mention the black powder frames are sooooooft steel. I dealt with this on my 49 pocket with the 32s&w cylinder. Mind you my hand loads are very light for this but it was still compressing the ring on the frame recoil shield. Needless to say this was causing exaggerated end shake and timing issues as well as damage to the hand. I found a place that sells run out shims for lathes and managed to make a spacer to fit over the cylinder to take up the gap of the compressed ring on the recoil shield. Ordered a new hand and tempered it to a nice purple/blue hardness. Now she shoots like a dream and the action is silky smooth. The R&D conversion cylinders are very high quality and the teeth on the back of the cylinder are much harder than the hand in a black powder revolver. The hand will wear quickly under these conditions. So in a nutshell, I seriously doubt a black powder frame in a colt design will hold up to conversion to 380 acp. I'm specifically talking about the small pocket police and 49 pocket frames. Just not enough meat on the recoil shield to prevent compression with smokeless rounds. Remingtons in general, don't have this issue because the of the design of the recoil shield.CraigC and others. The geometry of the ratchets on the Pocket Police and Pocket Navy are wrong for simply boring through conversions. To use a rimmed cartridge would require moving the hand toward the arbor and the use of a two pronged hand. This is how the Colt’s factory built the Pocket models for cartridges.
I had asked one of the conversion artists about it a while back and got it explained to me. The best we could do was a rimless and he was reluctant to try that because of lack of space. That is why I asked about dimensions.
Kevin
Hi Mike !atom, it wouldn't have happened if the "arbor length" had been corrected. A nice close .002" end shake would have kept the cyl from battering the ring.
Hand damage typically happens when the hand is long with a slightly misaligned chamber (over rotation) attitude. Firing causes the bullet to "align" (or attempt to) which jams the ratchet into the hand. Over time, it's "self correcting" at the expense of damage to the hand. Ideally, there should be no contact of the hand and ratchet at lock-up.
The 380 is a gated set-up which has a conversion ring which is the recoil surface supported by the recoil shield (same as the Kirst and factory conversions Colt offered). The R&D, Howell type conversion cyl. mimics the C&B cyl which transfers the recoil to the original ring which is a much smaller surface. That is why the cyl movement must be kept to a minimum to prevent it from pounding the much smaller ring. That said, correct set up will allow for a good shooter.
As for the Colt design, it is more than an adequate platform for the correct conversion set-up. For this reason, I like the Kirst conversions for open top revolvers but the "drop cyls" in the top strap designs (Rem., Ruger, and others). That is, . . . untill I'm done with my gated conversion for the ROA !
Mike