'51 Grip

[rodwha]

I often read how nothing points like a '51 Navy. I'm guessing this holds true for the franken .44 cal as well?

I'm fond of caliber, and to me a .36 is fitting in the Uberti Police model. But I feel I ought to have a Colt Navy. I've wondered about the .44 cal version and a .36 barrel and cylinder just a swap away. As this would be a Pietta it would open the door to the 12" barrel and a stock, as well as a snubbie, 5.5", and 8" barrel to work with. A smoothbore seems fun to have for shot loads to play with too, though initially I figured I'd do this with a Walker so as to likely better replicate a .410.

A Walker is a bit higher on my list too...

 

[drobs]

I don't know about interchangeability between calibers with Pietta's. I do know that my 44 1860 Pietta will take Pietta 1851 44 parts. I bought a $150 free shipping Cabela's 1851 - brasser sheriff's model this last Christmas sale just for the short barrel to use on one of my 1860's. The barrel swaps perfectly. I also swapped grip and trigger guard over to my 1860 and vice a versa.

I might have this backwards but I found that the trigger on the Pietta 51/44 is longer and the trigger guard is bigger on the 51 than the 60. So to do a full swap and have 2 fully functional guns I'd either need to swap triggers or trim the end of the 51 trigger.

Here's a thread I started over on the firing line. The last poster with a picture made the same swap.
https://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=578825
Looks like I neglected to update my positive results on that thread.

Borrowing drftrman's picture -

 

[rodwha]

As an aside I talked with a fellow who converted his .36 pistol to .41, which is intriguing. If I recall correctly Colt tried a .40 cal in his '51 model. Surprised it didn't pan out over a .36.

 

[drobs]

I'm not familiar with the .41 this smith lists it in his services:
http://www.cartridgeconversion.com/SERVICES.php

 

[rodwha]

Me either.

The fellow I'm talking about had his chambers reamed and barrel lined to use .41 cal Pistol bullets through a .40 cal barrel.