OK, i give up. What's up with this Peacemaker (?)

mykeal said:

Manufacturing a handgun (or a long gun for that matter) for personal use is not restricted or prohibited in the US. However, manufacturing and then SELLING or otherwise transferring such a gun requires an excise tax license.

The cartridges have nothing to do with it. It's legal so long as he doesn't try to transfer it. He will need an excise tax license to do that if the cylinder is capable of using modern ammunition.

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you are right I was just being lazy and didnt want to be so thurrough in my reply

mykeal said:

I agree with that. I can't wait to see someone do this and prove that wrong.

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Heck what's left to make but the frame and barrel.

I'm not followin ya there Craig

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There's no recoil plate with a little hole for the firing pin. There's a BIG hole for the big percussion hammer to pass through. You'll either have to weld up the hole or machine it out enough for a larger diameter, scratch-built recoil plate.

Just curious for further explanation here, but whats the problem with just removing the material in the firing pin slot to accommodate a regular 1873 hammer's firing pin?
Does it leave too big a gap for the cartridges to sit against or what? All I had envisioned was getting the cylinder from the .45 Colt 1873 Cattleman (which is this BP versions twin, right?) and a hammer from the same, and then using a tool of some kind (dremel, file, or other more intricate sort) to simply widen that slot in the frame. That doesn't sound anywhere close to the claims of being the same amount of work as building a peacemaker from scratch as a couple guys mentioned and joked about.
Of course I realize that this whole line of discussion is absolutely not cost effective, considering you could probably just go out and purchase a new cartridge revolver for what you would likely end up spending for the BP gun and associated parts for conversion.
I checked numrich and VTI and found VTI to be priced better. They have the cylinder for $110 and the hammer for $70 (or $55 in the white) here: http://www.vtigunparts.com/store/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=23&cat=Uberti+1873+Cattleman+SAA+and+Target

tomegun
the pistol was made for sales in the UK which has laws aganst owning such types of cartridge revolvers so the pistol was made so that it would be very hard for the average person to convert Yes it can be converted but would take making the parts or at least modifying the original ones to work with a cartridge cylinder.
I really was not joking when I said it would be just as easy to build a complete peacemaker from scratch.

I would just enjoy it the way it is or either get a cartridge firing peacemaker.
but that is just me.

That's built into the conversion cylinder Craig.

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What conversion cylinder??? For an 1860? Even if there was a conversion cylinder available, you're gonna go to all that trouble and expense and still have zero function from the ejector and loading gate and remove the cylinder to reload it??? What's the point?

Like I said, it's offset anyway. Find that other thread, there's pictures in it that explain better than I ever could.

So are you saying that the cylinder and hammer of the 1873 cattleman will not "drop in" to the blackpowder model? Thanks St8Line, I am well aware of the black powder models euro market heritage thanks to previous postings here at THR I kinda wish someone would pop up on here that had tryed to see if the hammer and cylinder were interchangeable, then I could just shut my fool mouth for the night!

Seems like we have to go round and round with this every few months.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=658953

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=634653

It doesn't matter if the hammer and cylinder drop in but no, those parts typically don't and require fitting. You still have the gaping hole in the frame. No, you can't just clearance for a hammer-mounted firing pin. Because primers will flow into that big hole and lock up the gun. These guns are engineer to prevent this.

St8LineGunsmith said:

I would just enjoy it the way it is or either get a cartridge firing peacemaker.
but that is just me.

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And me.

tom e gun said:

So are you saying that the cylinder and hammer of the 1873 cattleman will not "drop in" to the blackpowder model? Thanks St8Line, I am well aware of the black powder models euro market heritage thanks to previous postings here at THR I kinda wish someone would pop up on here that had tryed to see if the hammer and cylinder were interchangeable, then I could just shut my fool mouth for the night!

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In a word NO there is not a drop in conversion for this copy nor are the parts interchangeable that is the whole purpose of how it is made so the parts cannot be interchanged.

That's a lot of if's. If there was a conversion cylinder available, with a gated conversion ring then there would also have to be a new hammer. You'd end up with a SAA that fires cartridges, yet has two loading gates and a cylinder that is so short that you couldn't fire any existing cartridge in it. Perhaps .45S&W. A gated Kirst conversion kit runs at least $300 and a new hammer will be at least $100, if not more. So you've just spent $400 to create something you can buy all day long for $400 yet is inferior in every way. And for what, the sake of doing it??? I'm sure the guys at Kirst understand what a silly undertaking this would be and that is why they don't make one.

You ever hear the sayings, "you can't get there from here" or "penny wise and dollar foolish"???

I wonder if a cartridge cylinder is too long to fit, you could mill a small bit off the back of a cartridge cylinder with a lath, re-chamber it, then create some kind of recoil shield to cover up the hole in the back of the cylinder and drill a hole in the center, remove the offset blunt firing pin designed for the caps, then fabricate some kind of firing pin to strike the primers.

Or if the cartridge cylinder fits you could skip making a separate recoil shield and just alter the breech and hammer for centerfire cartridges.

Just my thoughts on this.

~Levi

Does this mean you can't drill out & thread the firing pin channel, make/install a bushing, and install a peacemaker firing pin and cylinder?

Looks to me, like a centerfire firing pin, a piloted counterbore drill, and a threaded bushing would make quick work of the conversion.
That, and a .45 Colt cylinder.

Mykeal, the reason a round hole would be really easy, compared to a square one, is that you can easily purchase or make a piloted drill to drill it out. Then, you can counterbore it to give it a shoulder. Then, you thread it and make a threaded bushing to work with a standard SAA firing pin.
If the Uberti uses a replaceable firing pin, like an SAA, you can make or purchase a firing pin and cylinder for one and convert it.
If I could find one like yours, for $200 or less, I think I'd go ahead and give it a shot.

Alas, I haven't found one for a good (cheap) price.

Of course, you could also just get a couple of spare cylinders and a loading press. Load all 3 cyls in the press, and cap them in the gun.

My reasons for continuing to poke at this thread is that the numrich schematics for the black powder and cartridge models are IDENTICAL. Perhaps they are just lazy and using the same diagram for the two? It still leaves me curious...

if you are that curious buy one and a cartridge cylinder and see if you can get it to work.
keep a talley on the cost of parts you will need to complete the conversion
I am sure you will see that you could have just went and bought one that don't need converting for about the same price .

the whole point I am trying to get across it is yes it can be converted but just too expensive to make the effort.

you would wind up with enough money in one pistol you could have spent that money to buy another gun.

GEEZ tom-e:banghead:

I wish I had not read this thread. Now I have to add one of these to my buy list.

Of course this gun can be converted to use cartidges! Just send it to Levi Busyhands with an old .22 rifle barrel and he will have it shooting cartridges in a day or two.... Rimfire cartridges.....but cartridges.

Sorry . Could not resist. And I am sure Levi could find a way and do a good job of it.

Still the only conversion I would be willing to perform on this topic's gun would be to convert its ownership to me.

-kBob