Has anyone converted a walker?

[1858remington]

A buddy from the range is working on converting his colt walker repro to fire 45colt.

He wants it to be able to load from the rear, like a ported kirst converter.

The biggest problem seems to be with boring through the cylinders. The teeth on the cylinder need to be rotated a bit, because they are in the way. Seems the walker is the only colt like this.

He's got an adjusted cylinder now, and had to alter the hand to get it timed right.

anyone else working on a walker conversion he would appriciate any ideas.

 

[Preacherman]

Well, I'd recommend not using the rammer...

 

[arcticap]

Here's a recent thread about buying conversion cylinders and where one person mentions the Walker... http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=161521

 

[Mike Weber]

A fellow over at http://www.frontierspot.org/index.php?sid=f55d23f4782ac03edc4fcd22ad4fedd3 who goes by the moniker of Mojave Gambler has an online magazine called "The Hobby Gunsmith". A few months back he ran a series about converting a 2nd model Dragoon to .45 Colt. this was done by modifications to the gun itself not with a kit or replacement cylinder such as the R&D or the Kirst. I would imagine that a Walker could be modified in much the same way as the 2nd model Dragoon.

 

[mainmech48]

I have no doubt that it can be done, but I'm wondering if it'd be worth the effort in terms of being able to hit much of anything with it. Being widely known for having a perhaps excessively high regard for the well-being of my Personal Favorite Body Parts, I'd have to admit to some safety concerns, too.

Seems to me that the bore and cylinder throats would be grossly oversized for the 0.451-0.452" bullets on modern .45 LC ammo. One could likely buy lead slugs of 0.454", or cast them however large you'd like but wouldn't you have some problems getting them to fully chamber in a lot of .45 LCs?

I'd be real wary of touching-off a full-strength BP cartridge load, much less a modern smokeless .45 LC load, in any cylinder that hadn't been properly heat treated as part of the conversion process.

Before we get into the whole "standard charge for the Walker was 50+ gr., so it could surely stand up to 38 grs. in a cartridge", "modern steel is so much better that it doesn't matter" spiel I'd like to respectfully point out that those 50+ gr. charges were under a RB that weighed about half of what the standard .45 LC conical weighs. And that many replicas are made from mild steel which has had only slight cosmetic case hardening on the frame or hammer if it's had any at all.

At least the commercially made conversion cylinders for the Remmies get that heat treat. And the factory replica Richards, R&M, and 1872s aren't made from the same parts used in C&B models, plus they're chambered for much-less powerfull cartridges. Does anybody even make commercial smokeless loads for .38 or .44 Colt? FWIW, the only solid info that I can find on custom-made conversions on replica C&B models include a new, specially fabricated cylinder as part of the cost. So far, I have found only one who starts with the stock cylinder, and he sends it out for special heat treating post conversion.

YMMV. Personally, while I might be curious to see such a conversion, I'd have to have some major faith in the engineering and machining expertise of the maker before I'd fire one myself.

 

[Mike Weber]

As I recall that 2nd Model Dragoon cartridge conversion of Mojave gamblers involved using a reduced charge with filler with a round ball seated into the cartridge. The finished revolver looked similar to the full Kirst conversion complete with loading gate and ejector rod.

 

[Ditchtiger]

.45 Colt cartridge conversions

I just found this in the Sept. 2006 Dillon catalog. .45 Colt cylinder conversions for Colt and Remington cap+ball revolvers. www.cimarron-firearms.com

 

[sjohns]

Talk to these guys:

http://www.armsportllc.com/index.htm


here's their Walker:

 

[mec]

Cylinders available here:
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=126824

customer review:
Rating:
Date Posted: 3/12/2006

Review:
It functioned great and was very accurate with my cowboy loads. It was good to be able to shoot the beautiful walker with RED DOT powder.

 

[1KPerDay]

Dumb question: is it legal? If cartridge handguns have to be purchased through an FFL, and BP revolvers don't... what are the legalities involved in converting a BP to cartridge? Do you suddently have to register the gun? Or do you only fire BP cartridges?

 

[mec]

for some unknown reason, it is still legal as they regard the frame to be the actual gun. I suspect the people's democratic party will get around to them sooner or later.

 

[dwave]

Might be awhile until they do get around to it, they still have to ban all our other guns first. I believe that they are not worried about it at the moment because most criminals don't want a wheel gun, and they probably won't take the time or the money to convert a BP gun into a cart. gun. Besides the average criminal probably has no idea about BP guns or converting them.

 

[sjohns]

is it legal? If cartridge

Its my understanding that if you sell it, then the paperwork has to go through an FFL guy.

 

[Third_Rail]

For what it's worth, we could make you a cylinder for the Walker. :

 

[1KPerDay]

Third Rail, I assume you're affilitated with BigIron Barrel works... I recently sent an inquiry through the website regarding tuning/timing 3 replica cap/ball revolvers I have: A Walker, a paterson, and a 3rd Model Dragoon.

If you happen to see that inquiry, would you mind also pricing how much a .45colt conversion would be on the 3rd model? Or do you only deal with the cylinder itself (rather than adding ejector, loading gate, etc)?

Thanks!

 

[Third_Rail]

I thought I responded to that e-mail; my computer is on the edge of dying. I'll PM you and e-mail it again.