Opinions on cutting a snubbie .44

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I wish. I've had a few days of sunshine, a rare commodity here in the Pacific Northwest. Things like spring mower tune up, mow de lawn (French sport) and general yard clean up after a long winter has my posterior dragging. Looks like we well be back to the normal rain for the next week so I hope to get the grip frame and grips done. I well be posting before and after photos soon.

I appreciate all the input and encouragement.
 
MCB, If you haven't already bobbed the loading lever area on the other one, Here's a pic of what I do.
Snub1.jpg

I leave the lever attaching screw in place so I can re-load without having to pack around a loading stand. I radius it some but not radically.
 
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I have the barrel and cylinder ready to blue. The frame is ready to nickle plate. I have not started on the back strap re-shaping. I have to go get a bottle of oxygen, ran out. Need to anneal the brass so I can bend it. Found a guy that has done a couple of the brass back straps, he anneals and bends, anneals and bends, you just have to keep re-annealing or they crack. the brass work hardens with just a slight amount of bending. I'm swamped with my business right now but should have time in about a month.

sltm1, nice revolver, I like that idea.
 
madcratebuilder,

I did a similar thing with an old 1860 I had laying around. I did not see the need to reshape the grip frame so I will be interested in your photos.
 
I did a similar thing with an old 1860 I had laying around. I did not see the need to reshape the grip frame so I will be interested in your photos.
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The reshaping of the back strap is the biggest part of this job. I like the feel and look of the birds head style grip. I hope it is worth the effort.

I'm going to do a half bob job on the hammer and re-checker the hammer spur. I have even thought about cutting the front of the trigger guard off. I've seen that on a couple of DA revolvers, It's a different look.
 
madcratebuilder

The reshaping of the back strap is the biggest part of this job. I like the feel and look of the birds head style grip. I hope it is worth the effort.

I'm going to do a half bob job on the hammer and re-checker the hammer spur. I have even thought about cutting the front of the trigger guard off. I've seen that on a couple of DA revolvers, It's a different look.
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I have seen a couple of original Colts done with the shortened barrel and birdhead grip, if I can find the photos I will post a link.

As for cutting the guard, it was done by the Colt Promotional shooter, Fitzgerald, and the guns were called Fitz Specials. Documented ones can brign a small fortune. They fell into disfavor when it was discovered that a small bump on the remaining portion of the guard was often enough to bend the guard and either fire the gun or tie up the trigger so it could not be fired. Neither one being conducive to longevity the modification dropped by the wayside.

Bill Jordan was known to have thinned the finger side of the guard bow to allow his enormous hands better access to the trigger.
 
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I did one a coupla years ago useing an Uberti Thunderer grip and frame mated with a Pietta 1862 police [really a replica of an 1861 Navy,but with the rarer half-fluted cylinder] snubby Cabela's was selling.Hand fit and melded everything together,I called it my ''Purberti''.The fella that has it now won't sell it back.
 
Took me a while to locate these sites (and neither is the one I remember from before my computer cleared its memory for me.) Anyway, here are some old ones.

http://ugca.org/08oct/ugca08octmain.htm

http://www.ugca.org/ugca1000/ugca1000main.htm

The site I can not find did have one cut down Colt that had the grip frame rounded but nothing with a birdshead.

Here is one I picked up a while ago, it is still not a practical carry piece!

IMGP1003.gif
 
A real 1860's coin could be worth as much as the gun.Might I suggest mounting a VTI Uberti Remington sront sight?It fits in a dovetail,and is driftable.My brother did it to his '51 Navy.Now he calls it his ''Coltington''. He cut his own dovetail useing a hacksaw and a file.By a miracle,or some sort of voodoo,it came out level and looks good,and shoots to point of aim.
 
Another option, instead of a birdshead grip would be to mount the grip, guard and backstrap from an 1851 or 1861.
 
madcratebuilder:

And anyone else who might be interested. ;)

The links listed below are for a super-sized auction going on in California. They have a number of original Colt, (cap & ball as well as metallic cartridge), S&W and other revolvers that were altered to snub-nose configurations during the 19th century.

If you click on the thumbnail you can get a bigger picture, and if you then expand your screen and click on a banner at the top of the illustration that says “larger picture,” or words to that effect, you can get a still larger picture. Click to close the screen (“X” in the upper/right corner) and you will be back where you started.

The descriptions with the pictures often offer a lot of useful information. Read them and learn.

These 4 auction sessions off an outstanding (and free) opportunity to see what and how it was done. Thereafter it is quite easy to make your own “snubby” just like it was “back then.”

Auction links.

http://www.proxibid.com/asp/Catalog....auction&sort=0

http://www.proxibid.com/asp/Catalog.asp?aid=19924

http://www.proxibid.com/asp/Catalog.asp?aid=19925

http://www.proxibid.com/asp/Catalog.asp?aid=19926
 
I got to quit looking at those, I'm thinking about ways to raise cash. Not good.
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Not to worry, you're safe. The auction is over but the experience remains. On the first day I knew I wasn't going to play - not when someone pays the kind of money I saw going down. Obviously those on-site bidders weren't worried about any economic downturn, and I am delighted to see that the collectable firearms business isn't in need of any help from "da' Obama."

For the rest of us it was an opportunity to see an extensive collection of perhaps the finest 19th century (more or less) firearms and edged weapons that still remain, and while reality may limit us to less expensive replicas and reproductions I saw some interesting ideas. It is also obvious that snubbies are nothing new, and that great-Grandpa and gunsmith of that era understood how to use a hacksaw. Also a few of the companies turned out some themselves. One that interested me was a '49 Colt Pocket Model with an about 2 3/4" barrel - and bullet rammer to match - that was cased, complete with accessories. Wouldn't be too hard to duplicate either. Another thing I noticed is that not one of them had a rounded "birdshead" style grip. Apparently that wasn't popular, at least as much so as one might expect.

I also made some mental notes concerning the design of original belts and holsters, that were sometimes much different then what we see being duplicated (more or less) today.

We live and learn. ;)

Uberti made a snubbie already.
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True, but some of the original ones I looked at were much different. The idea is not to buy a "store-bought" revolver, but rather make one along the same lines as were done at the time the original guns were being currently used. If one looks at at photographs of the guns made during earlier times and pays close attention they may see that the Italians didn't always get it exactly right. Best of all, this looking and "educating" comes free. :)
 
Good point on the birdshead grip. I have only seen two old snubs that had a birdshead style. I really enjoy looking at the oldies, some really nice revolvers.
origsnubnose-3.jpg
I'm going for the look of the revolver in the upper right.
short02.jpg
 
I'm going for the look of the revolver in the upper right.
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Brass tends to work harden as you know, perhaps cutting out the square back portion and hard soldering a rounded piece in place would be an option for you.

I think the photo you posted was one of the sites I had and then lost. It is interesting that two of the four revolvers shown had front sights.

Also, all the barrels appear to be cut just at the end of the lug, must have been a convenient place to rest the hack saw!
 
Brass tends to work harden as you know, perhaps cutting out the square back portion and hard soldering a rounded piece in place would be an option for you.
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Yes, that has been the fly in the ointment. I have talked to one person that has successfully altered the radius on a brass back strap. You anneal the brass and make a small bend. The bending quickly work hardens the brass so you need to repeat the annealing process several times.

I have considered cutting a new piece out of some brass stock and braze or silver solder. I plan to nickle plate the strap when completed.
 
I have considered cutting a new piece out of some brass stock and braze or silver solder. I plan to nickle plate the strap when completed.
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Sounds like a plan to me. Hard solder might be better than brazing as the temp for brazing will be real close to the melting point of the brass. Been there...

Keep us posted.
 
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