Howdy
I hope you are not all getting bored with photos of my Richards Conversion.
Yes, the Richards Conversion was only built on the 1860 Army 44 caliber frame.
There are two features which make the Richards Conversion easily identifiable, and different from the later Richards-Mason Conversion.
The Richards Conversion had a frame mounted firing pin. It also had a raised rear sight machined onto the top of the conversion ring.
The hammer had a flat face to strike the frame mounted firing pin.
The second easily identifiable feature of the Richards Conversion was the ejector rod assembly. This was a complicated assembly and expensive to manufacture.
It was mounted in the hole left behind where the cap & ball loading lever had previously resided. It was secured by the same screw the loading lever had pivoted on.
The later Richards-Mason conversion reverted to a firing pin attached to the hammer, and I am pretty sure the rear sight of the Richards-Mason conversion was the old fashioned V groove in the hammer. I do not have one to show you, but the ejector rod assembly of the Richards-Mason conversion was much simpler, therefor less expensive to produce.
The 44 Colt cartridge was developed specifically for the Richards Conversion. Basically it was a metallic cartridge to replace the "44" caliber round ball used in the 1860 Army Cap & Ball revolver. The ball used in the 1860 Army was usually around .451 or so in diameter, so a ring of lead could be shaved off when it was rammed into the Cap & Ball chambers. But the actual rifling groove diameter was close to .451. So the 44 Colt cartridge bullet had an outside diameter or around .451, to engage the rifling. The rear of the cylinders were machined away, leaving the straight bored through front portion of the chambers. The cartridge case had the same outside diameter as the bullet, so it could easily be slipped into the chambers from the rear. Because the case and the outside of the bullet were the same diameter, the bullet was 'heeled' so the rear of the bullet could be crimped into the case. I found it quite interesting the first time i peered down the barrel from the rear end. It has gain twist rifling. Sorry, I do not have a photo of that.
Interestingly enough, according to R. Bruce McDowell in his book
A Study of the Colt Conversions and Other Percussion Revolvers, Richards Conversion cylinders reworked from percussion cylinders are relatively rare. Most of the cylinders were newly manufactured and not reworked old stock.
Moderators: I am getting real tired of some of my photos not showing up in my posts.
