Driftwood Johnson
Member
Does that conversion allow you to switch back to percussion operation ?
Howdy
I will answer that. Before the Colt Single Action Army came out in 1873, Colt came up with four conversions for their existing Cap & Ball revolvers. These were more or less permanent conversions, they were not meant to be converted back to C&B. The engineers at Colt actually came up with more than four, but there were only four that were sold commercially.
First, their was the Thuer Conversion, which used a strange reverse tapered cartridge and chamber, to get around the S&W controlled Rollin White patent on revolvers with chambers bored through to accept cartridges.
Next was the Richards Conversion. This is a Richards Conversion. The original 1860 Army frame and barrel were used. The cylinder was cut at the rear, removing the nipples, and a conversion ring was mounted to the frame to take up the space where the nipples had been on the cylinder. The loading lever was removed and an ejector mechanism was mounted in its place.
Notice the loading gate is on the right side, in the same location as the SAA, taking the place of the recess where caps were placed on the nipples of the earlier C&B revolver.
The Richards Mason Conversion the OP has was a simplified version of the Richards Conversion, with a simpler ejector mechanism, as well as some other modifications.
The Open Top was actually designed from the ground up as a cartridge revolver, it was not really a conversion at all.
As such, unlike some of the modern Conversions that can be done to C&B revolvers, none of these conversions was meant to be returned to its original C&B configuration.
The replica Richards Mason the OP has, is not meant to be converted back to C&B, and frankly there is no C&B cylinder that would fit it.