Using factory conversion parts in cap n' balls?

[Nickel Plated]

Just curious if one could convert a cap & ball revolver using the parts from a factory "conversion"?

Namely I'm thinking of barrels. If you want to convert a .36cal cap&ball and don't feel like dealing with heeled bullets. Then you'd have to send your barrel to be relined.
But why not buy a factory "conversion" .38cal barrel? They cost right about the same as a lining job, but you don't have to wait for the barrel to get to the gunsmith, wait for the smith to get around to doing it, wait for him to ship it back to you which all in all could take a month or more. And you get a factory barrel without any concerns if the smith might have done a hack job on it.

I have a Uberti '58 Navy on it's way to me and will be doing a Kirst .38spl conversion as soon as some more money frees up. And I was thinking of just buying a factory conversion barrel and installing it. Then I could even keep the original .375 cap&ball barrel incase I ever want to go back to shooting cap&ball.

 

[Gaucho Gringo]

I think that by the time you spend the money and have all the work done you will have more money invested than to go out and buy a factory conversion 58. On a Uberti .45 factory conversion the frame is lager than the percussion frame so I don't know how many parts are interchangeable. I don't know about the .38 though. I just shoot hollow based bullets in my Euroarms 1858 with my .38 conversion cylinder. Seems to hit what I aim at pretty good within 50-75 ft.

 

[Nickel Plated]

Well really I was mostly just curious about the barrel. Just to save on the hassle of sending out the original back and forth to a smith to have lined. You could theoretically just buy the proper caliber barrel and install it.

Installing them is a pretty easy DIY task so not really a huge investment in money besides the new barrel itself which costs about as much as having the original lined.

As far as using factory cylinders, after some looking, it does seem they are made to a different spec from the cap&ball cylinders and 3rd party conversions. So the frame would have to be machined to take them besides just the usual opening for the loading gate.