Kirst conversion for 1860

[flibuste]

Hello,

I have 5 Pietta 1860 and the Kirst 45Colt Pietta conversion does not fit rightaway in any of them, problem being the timing of rotation of cylinder. It seems that it is due to hand or bolt adjustment which does not permit to free soon enough the cylinder when starting the rotation.

I understand hat I could adjust it to function but my goal is to swap back and forth without modification between percussion cylinder and Kirst . If I adjust for Kirst, it will not be adjusted anymore for the percussion cylinder ?

I have a 1858 Uberti 45Colt Kirst conversion which swaps easily, no timing job being necessary, and would like to be able to do so with my Colt.

Any idea ?

Thanks

 

[Mike 56]

I have a Pietta Walker that i think is doing the the same thing with my R&D converter. Is your 1860 fairly new tight? When you put the Kirst cylinder do you have a .004 clearance between the cylinder and the barrel? Try the Kirst cylinder with the wedge half in and see if it works. What i am going to do with my Walker is shoot a hundred rounds with a max charge to see if i can loosen my gun up a little. Hope this helps.

Mike

 

[flibuste]

After a close examination, the problem is due to the difference of diameter of cylinders at the notch location (the rebated portion of cylinder) : the Kirst is 0.5mm larger than the percussion one ; probably in order to increase the thickness of chamber walls for security and strengh.

So the bolt has to be lowered in order to get it work : it is quite a delicate job to gring the bolt enough to free the cylinder but not too much to block it clockwise and anticlockwise when necessary. The timing action is much more difficult than with the percussion cylinder due to much less tolerance. And to get both cylinders functioning is even more challenging !

Anyway I got it to work on one Colt and it is very satisfying

Regards