I really didn't know where to put this one...

[armoredman]

But since my Uberti 1858 New Model Army is now wearing a Howell Conversion Cylinder, that makes it a smokeless firearm, not a black powder revolver...
So we tried the Howell with some new loads, but since the sticks broke on my paper target holder, all I had was steel, and I don't like steel any closer than 25 yards with handguns. Nice thing - nobody else was out there, which is REALLY rare! These loads are all the Lee cast 200 gr bullet cast of recovered range lead, powder coated, over smokeless powder - I don't have my lube cutter quite yet, (from a HECKUVA nice buddy), so I won't be doing any black powder loads.



And we're off to the races! Target is an AR500 3/4 scale IDPA, and yes, it's been around for a while. This is the last time we see this revolver all nice and shiny.



Hold at the top of the orange aiming point, and this was from a braced bench position. Not bad.





10 rounds, missed a couple.



Now this fell out when I unloaded the conversion cylinder on these round, which, BTW, needed a punch to get all the brass out. This seemed like a pretty substantial chunk of lead, but it never happened again, and I found no evidence of any side spitting.



Onward, Accurate Number 2, a powder I use a LOT with 9mm and 38 Special. Notice how dirty the Ramshot ZIP is.



Oh my. I like this.



Yes, liking this. Long distance picture, other people showed up on the firing line.



I think I have found a direction to go with this. The conversion cylinder worked perfectly. Funny thing is, I swore that diva of a revolver complained at cleaning time, "I am supposed to have a hot bath, WITH BUBBLES!" Sorry, Princess, you are a smokeless revolver now, you get cleaned like the big boys.
I think these 200 grainers are a real winner.

[armoredman]

@LAGS
@Jackrabbit1957

[jdfoxinc]

So dirty might as well be black.

[nuclearcricket]

You said that you needed something to poke the cases out of the cylinder after they are fired. Well your revolver comes all ready set up with an appendage to do that, its the handle end of your loading ram. It will fit nicely into the cylinder to poke the cases out. That saves on having do drag another thing along with you to get lost or misplaced.
Sam

[stubshaft]

You said that you needed something to poke the cases out of the cylinder after they are fired. Well your revolver comes all ready set up with an appendage to do that, its the handle end of your loading ram. It will fit nicely into the cylinder to poke the cases out. That saves on having do drag another thing along with you to get lost or misplaced.
Sam

You can also use the cylinder pin.

[armoredman]

Cylinder pin is captive. Never considered the loading lever, but since this gun will VERY likely never be used anywhere other than the range, where I have my bag and tools, not too worried about it.
Yes, some powder used for reloading is quite dirty - Unique is notorious for that.

[45 Dragoon]

Chunk of lead probably from cylinder unlocking as hammer falls. This happens with Howell cylinders because the locking notches are shallow. That means the bolt arms are not as far back as they normally would be. This allows the cam to "push" the arm forward and unlock the cylinder. That should be taken care of for safety reasons. Mention it to Dave.

[nuclearcricket]

It does look like you have a pretty good shooter there. Did you try it out with RB and Black? Or was the conversion its maiden voyage? If you did try RB how well did they shoot?
I have all 4 of the Rem models all are blue steel and the only one I have had out yet is the .32. Not really a match read pistol but I guess one shouldn't expect too much from something that small. The others are all Uberti, a .36, a .44, and a .44 carbine. Some day whey will make the trip to the range and see how well they do.
Sam

[armoredman]

I did try it with black, mentioned in the black powder cartridge forum...it didn't go well due to my own idiocy. I have new testers in 45 Colt BP ready to try, hopefully with the mistakes fixed.

[nuclearcricket]

You may be in for a surprise when you first touch off a BP cartridge load. I sure was when I first loaded up some BP 44-40 loads. I had shot some factory loads and some reloads from the Lyman manual. The BP loads sure had a lot more stuff than the smokeless loads did. Hopefully they perform well for you. Good lube is the secret to success with BP.
Sam

[Captain Wheelgun]

Nice! I’ve had a ‘58 Remington repro and a conversion cylinder for some time but haven’t gotten around to shooting it. Looks like it should be a winner.

[armoredman]

It's really a lot of fun, that's for certain!

[armoredman]

You may be in for a surprise when you first touch off a BP cartridge load. I sure was when I first loaded up some BP 44-40 loads. I had shot some factory loads and some reloads from the Lyman manual. The BP loads sure had a lot more stuff than the smokeless loads did. Hopefully they perform well for you. Good lube is the secret to success with BP.
Sam

Yes it is.

[nuclearcricket]

Bang, Breathe, cough and repete. That is a nice looking bullet. I hope it shoots well for you. I have a mold that casts a bullet that looks like that, I think its an RCBS mold. about 200 gr or so. I also have a Lee REAL mold that came with my carbine that I am interested in trying out if and when I ever get the time to get out to the range.
Sam

[jdgabbard]

Very nice. I've been looking at doing a similar build. Boy have those 1858s gone up in price though. I remember a few years back you could buy one at Bass Pro for like $200-240. Now, they're basically $400, then another $250-400 for the conversion. But, you can get conversion cylinders for 45LC or 45ACP. So they're pretty versatile.

I would definitely look into that lead shaving issue. If it's like mentioned above with shallow cylinder stops, I'd think I'd have that resolved before shooting too much.

[nuclearcricket]

The best way to save a bit on a Remy is to keep an eye on Midway, sometimes they put them on sale at a good price. The last one I purchased was a Uberti Navy .36. It was a blemish and from what I can see is there is a stray file mark on the top side of the frame parallel with the recoil shield. And the gun came in a Taylors box. The blem doesn't effect anything that I can see and I got a nice padded bag to keep it in. And I save a few $$ so I am a happy camper.
SAm