1851 .44 Cal Conversion Cylinder Question

[NoahBP]

I am very much interested in buying a conversion cylinder for the "PIETTA 1851 YANK SNUBNOSE REVOLVER .44" however when looking at the Howell 45LC conversion cylinders for the 1851 in .44 Cal it shows them being a 5 shot cylinder however the 1851 Army and Navy are 6 shot.

How does this work? Will a 5 shot 45LC cylinder work in a 6 shot .44 revolver?

Thanks

 

[Ziabeam]

I am very much interested in buying a conversion cylinder for the "PIETTA 1851 YANK SNUBNOSE REVOLVER .44" however when looking at the Howell 45LC conversion cylinders for the 1851 in .44 Cal it shows them being a 5 shot cylinder however the 1851 Army and Navy are 6 shot.

How does this work? Will a 5 shot 45LC cylinder work in a 6 shot .44 revolver?

Thanks

Pretty sure it involves (at a minimum) replacing the hand, and fitting it in such a way that it rotates the cylinder 72 degrees just as the hammer is cocked.

 

[AlexanderA]

Pretty sure it involves (at a minimum) replacing the hand, and fitting it in such a way that it rotates the cylinder 72 degrees just as the hammer is cocked.

At most, you might have to bevel the top of the hand (to slightly change the angle of engagement).

I have 5-shot Howell conversion cylinders in two 1858 Remngton NMA reproductions -- Uberti and Euroarms (Armi San Paolo). As I recall, one needed the hand modification and the other didn't.

This is an unpublished hack that Howell will tell you about if you call them. They normally don't want to confuse their customers by recommending modifications that are not needed.

This works because the hand has excess travel in relation to the 6-shot cylinder. There is also a bit of rotational inertia in the cylinder when cocking the hammer quickly.

 

[Catman42]

i have the cylinder you are talking about. works fine. with 5 shots it is just stronger. very very well made and you will like it.

 

[AlexanderA]

i have the cylinder you are talking about. works fine. with 5 shots it is just stronger. very very well made and you will like it.

The 5-shot cylinder has a heftier web between chambers.

The Howell cylinders for the Remingtons (I don't know for sure about the ones for the Colts) have intermediate bolt slots, so that the gun can be carried safely with all 5 chambers loaded. This makes the Howell cylinder equivalent in terms of capacity with a 6-shot cylinder with one empty chamber (for safety). A 6-shot cylinder, with its thinner web between chambers, could not be made with the additional bolt slots.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

How does this work? Will a 5 shot 45LC cylinder work in a 6 shot .44 revolver?

Yes because it's a function of the cartridges vs. the size of the cylinder in the open top revolvers.

The original cylinder conversions were 6-shot...and they used a cartridge called .44 Colt. This cartridge was developed for conversions of .44 Cap-n-Ball revolvers to cartridges. To make them fit they had a very very tiny rim. They did shoot a .451 "heeled" bullet.

Along came the .45 Colt, and it shot a .452 bullet, that wasn't heeled. So the cartridge is .024 wider, and so the rim is then even wider. There was simply no way to fit a half dozen of those wide rimmed .45 Colt cartridges into a cylinder to fit a converted open top .44. The same problem was present when using .45 Schofield ammo. So... since the .44 Colt pretty much stopped production in 1940, and .45 Colt is still around, you find the five-shot conversion cylinders.

Here's an example of why you get a five shot converted .44 Colt Army "open top"...



LD

 

[NoahBP]

i have the cylinder you are talking about. works fine. with 5 shots it is just stronger. very very well made and you will like it.

Did you have to have a gunsmith work on the hand at all or was it simply a drop in and go.

I have a Howell for my Old Army and that required no work at all.

 

[grter]

nevermind

 

[AlexanderA]

Did you have to have a gunsmith work on the hand at all or was it simply a drop in and go.

If you need to work on the hand at all (by adding the bevel that I mentioned earlier), it's an easy do-it-yourself job. The Howell instructions (that they will send you on request) even show you how to do it without disassembling the gun at all (something about masking the recoil plate, extending the hand as far as possible, and using a needle file on the tip of the hand). When I did mine, I went ahead and removed the hand from the gun. That's not particularly difficult either.

 

[NoahBP]

If you need to work on the hand at all (by adding the bevel that I mentioned earlier), it's an easy do-it-yourself job. The Howell instructions (that they will send you on request) even show you how to do it without disassembling the gun at all (something about masking the recoil plate, extending the hand as far as possible, and using a needle file on the tip of the hand). When I did mine, I went ahead and removed the hand from the gun. That's not particularly difficult either.

Thanks everyone for responding, it's much appreciated.

 

[Catman42]

drop in, works perfectly.