Michael Tinker Pearce
Member
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2016
- Messages
- 1,576
I had a cartridge conversion set up on a brass frame, but I was never really happy with the brass. When I came across a steel 1851 frame I decided to swap it in. I was planning on a straight transfer; same gun, just with a steel frame. You can guess what happened... in the end only the cylinder, barrel and hammer were retained, so it's basically a whole new gun.
The barrle is 1-13/16" long and based on the profile of an antique 'Avenging Angel.' The trigger guard and grip frame are modified into a short 'Bisley'-style grip. The custom grips are Quilted Maple, hand-sanded to 3000-grit before being finished with several coats of lacquer. Took a bit of fiddling to get all the parts to work and play well together, and there is still some final finishing to do, but the results are quite satisfactory. Lock-up is dead tight, and the cylinder gap is .004". The caliber is .38 Short Colt... almost. The Colt brass is .765" and .38 S&W brass is .80", and since the cartridge uses a heel-base .375 bullet and a straight-bored chamber I just went ahead and used .38 S&W brass. I'm using Triple-7 for powder, and it seems to work well.
One good thing is that it fits in it's predecessor's case, and all the accessories still do their jobs just fine.
I've test-fired it in the shop, but I almost can't wait to get it to a proper gun range and shoot it properly.
The barrle is 1-13/16" long and based on the profile of an antique 'Avenging Angel.' The trigger guard and grip frame are modified into a short 'Bisley'-style grip. The custom grips are Quilted Maple, hand-sanded to 3000-grit before being finished with several coats of lacquer. Took a bit of fiddling to get all the parts to work and play well together, and there is still some final finishing to do, but the results are quite satisfactory. Lock-up is dead tight, and the cylinder gap is .004". The caliber is .38 Short Colt... almost. The Colt brass is .765" and .38 S&W brass is .80", and since the cartridge uses a heel-base .375 bullet and a straight-bored chamber I just went ahead and used .38 S&W brass. I'm using Triple-7 for powder, and it seems to work well.
One good thing is that it fits in it's predecessor's case, and all the accessories still do their jobs just fine.
I've test-fired it in the shop, but I almost can't wait to get it to a proper gun range and shoot it properly.