Remington pockets in .32 and .22?
I had one of the little Remington .31's I picked up 2nd hand on Gunbroker. It was a neat little piece, but it was one of the ones imported by Traditions, and I guess they get a better price from the manufacturer by going with a lower level of fit and finnish. I wouldn't have minded the fact that it came up short on the looks department, but it was real rough mechanically. Felt like it was packed with sand. Didn't always index correctly, sometimes it would just lock up and refuse to go past half cock, and even at it's best it had the worst trigger on any revolver I ever had.
I think it was made by Pietta, but I've seen Pietta .31 Remingtons that looked and felt pretty good. But again, it was marked Traditions and I've seen more than a few Traditions marked guns that left something to be desired. That being said, I have seen several of these little Remingtons that were nicely finished and functioned smoothly. And it's such a nice little package that I would sure like one made up as a cartridge revolver.
Now I'm a big fan of the Kirst units, and I have two of them for my Uberti 1858. One is in .45ACP and I also have the .22 unit, and both function perfectly in both my 5.5" revolver and also my Remington carbine.
I had spoken to Jay Strite back before I bought either one of them, and we talked about several other conversions as well. I know in our conversation we discussed a conversion for the Pocket Remington in .32, and it seems to me that although they are not listed in their regular offerings, he told me that they had made up a few cylinders for them and at least at that time, he was offering them for sale. It's been a while, but I am thinking he said the conversion was around $350. with the customer supplying the revolver. I also seem to remember that it wasn't a "drop in" conversion, but you would have to send him your piece for some fitting and smithing. Again, it was a while back, but I could swear he also mentioned that they could do a .22 rimfire conversion for the little remington by lining the barrel along with the cylinder replacement and smithing. I,m not sure, but I think he may have said it was around the $400. mark. And I got the impression that if you sent him your gun for conversion, he would give it a pretty good overhaul inside and out. I got the feeling that he wouldn't put his name on anything he wasn't proud of, and that you would probably end up with a one of a kind piece that would be worth more than you had into it as soon as you got it back from him.
I've been thinking about it a lot lately, and I think it may be time to sell some of my other stuff, give Jay another call, and have him do one of his custom jobs for me. I think it would be a good investment and a darn nice shootin' iron to boot. And as a .22, it would probably get used a lot. Heck, using those quiet Super Kolibri's BB/CB type .22's yopu could shoot it in your back yard without bothering the neighbors!
Boney Notches!
