Converting a Percussion Revo to Centerfire

Under the spreading chestnut tree the village smithy stood…. When he wasn’t busy shoeing horses or forging wagon-wheel rims, the village smithy often transformed blackpowder shootin’ irons into cartridge-packing revolvers. He didn’t worry about patents while he was doing it. We suppose it was because patent attorneys didn’t have many spies afield in those days. es over loose powder, plus patch, ball, and cap.

The combat records of the .44 Henry rimfire, the .56 Spencer rimfire, and the .32 S&W revolver rounds on both sides of the conflict left little doubt that the cartridge was the future of both shoulder arms and handguns. The same could be said for an original antique M1858, but more than a cylinder would be required. But why would anyone want to convert a percussion revolver to the metallic cartridge in the first place?

Answer: The Civil War proved the advantages of self-contained cartridg- A man named Rollin White pretty much held back the future singlehandedly until after the war. In 1855, he was awarded U. S. patent #12649, which covered anew, bored-through revolver magazine (cylinder). The wording in the patent prohibited anyone in the United States from producing revolvers with bored-through cylinders until the patent’s expiration in 1865. But Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson had no intention of waiting that long.

A year after his patent was issued, Smith and Wesson signed an exclusive agreement with White to manufacture his design. The result, in 1858, was the tip-up .22-caliber rimfire Model 1, First Issue. Ten years later, with White’s permission, S&W entered into an agreement with Remington Arms allowing that company to convert its New Model Army to five-shot .46-caliber rimfire. Then and Now What the village smithy had to do when performing a full conversion is a mirror image of what you’d have to do today.

You would begin with the caliber desired. Let’s suppose the antique revolver in hand is an original .44 caliber, and the customer wants a .45 Long Colt. The old .44 had a .444 bore diameter. The p Long Colt calls for a eter, so the .44 barrel t After that, a cylinder is built to accept the Long Colt cartridge. Then the frame is annealed and cut back to house a made-from-scratch recoil shield.

The rear of the action is reworked for a two-step hand, cylinder stop notches are cut, cylinder ratchets recut, the revolver retimed and headspaced, the barrel milled for an ejector housing, the ejector system built, and the frame case rehardened.

And that’s still not all. If performing a Richards-Mason conversion, add a firing pin to the hammer. If just the Richards conversion is chosen, part of the hammer has to be cut off and a floating firing pin installed in the frame.

Assuming your skills and equipment are up to it, you could convert any number of original percussion revolvers. (Perish the thought.) Or, you could forget all of the above and leave your cowboy-action customer’s highly valued antique sidearm alone’ except to replace its percussion cylin- R&D Gun Shop Period. no relation to the Ken Howell whose massive custom cartridge book partially filled these pages in June 1999) operates R&D, and would have been most unwelcome in Rollin White’s or the smithy’s vicinity.

His cylinders are unique, true dropins. A cowboy-action participant can switch back and forth between smoke Consider this a test. and smokeless’s imply by pulling out the cylinder pin and substituting one cylinder for the other. It sure speeds up the reloading process. The back plate on Howell’s cylinder lifts off with the fingers. When it’s in place, it serves each loaded cylinder with ingeniously conceived floating firing pins.

The Model 1858 Remington shown here is a handsomely made Uberti reproduction pr r’s & Company, Inc. It lacks adjustable sights, so it cannot be used in "modern" cowboy-action competition. Wearing the Howell cylinder, however, it can be used with smokeless .45 Long Colt rounds, then loaded up with commercially available blackpowder ammo for a "frontier cartridge" shoot out.

If the competitor wants to broaden his participation, he can switch back to the percussion cylinder and get it on in the "Frontiersman" category. Shooting Means Dirt Whether converted or not, sooner or later the revolver will need a detailed cleaning. For those who missed the April 2003 issue and the full feature on the 1858 Remington, I’ll briefly

address the disassembly directions here. Whether you use these instructions merely for a clean up or decide to accept the challenge of a full conversion is purely up to you. Be assured, the latter will require considerable study of the procedures previously outlined. And, to my knowledge, no single source of step-by-step instructions exists.

Perhaps we can encourage Ken Howell to contribute apiece or two on the subject without violating any of his proprietary methods. (Listening, Ken?) AGA Corner American Gunsmithing Association News Consider taking AGI’s Complete Video Armorer’s Course. It offers hands-on expert instruction on over 30 popular firearms’pistols, shotguns, rifles’for you to review in the comfort of your home.

Each course provides gunsmithing tricks of the trade, history and design, complete assembly/ disassembly, feeding and ejection correction, step-by-step function and repair, tips for customizing and tuning, along with troubleshooting guidelines. Titles include M1 Garand/M1A Rifle, S&W Revolvers, Marlin Lever Action Rifles, Colt AR-15/M-16, and many more. As an AGA member, you can order any single Armorer’s Course’approximately 90 minutes in length’for just $27.95.

You can order two for $47. e courses for $79.95 and get one FREE. Call and we’ll The grips come off after the grip screw is removed. You full cock the hammer, pull the trigger, and ease the hammer down. Loosen the mainspring screw to take the tension off the spring, and then tap the spring to nudge it out of its frame slot. Remove the triggerguard screw and pull off the guard. To keep from losing the trigger-bolt spring, invert the gun before backing out the spring’s screw. No danger of spring loss now.

Now turn the revolver right side up and remove the trigger screw from the left side of the frame. This will free the bolt and trigger. Depress the hammer enough to see the hand and hand screw, undo the screw, and pull the hand down to remove it with the hammer spring still attached from the bottom of the frame. In from the bottom, by the way, is how the hand and gladly mail you the information. Or check out the ad in the upcoming May issue.

Remember, as an AGA member you’re eligible for Liability insurance"$1,000,000 in annual coverage for just $1,000 per year. For membership information, contact the Amer g Association Membership Ser Greenwich, CT 06836-2626. Or call Also available are three-ring binders that hold a year’s worth of American Gunsmith issues. Order several to house your collection safely and securely. Binders are $8.95 each (shipping and handling FREE American Gunsmithing Reader Services, Beachwood, OH 44122.

Allow 4-6 week spring must be reinstalled. Pull the hammer free by its top before pulling the loading lever about half-way down and taking out the lever screw. The lever assembly, including the base pin, link pin, and plunger pin is separated from the frame toward the muzzle. Among other things to keep in mind is the hammer roller. It must have free movement to avoid a horrible trigger pull. And all pins in the gun should be worked out or in on a nylon bench block.

A great deal more on the Remington, Colt, Allen & Wheelock, Starr, Whitney, and Cooper percussion-revolver conversions is to be found in what we consider the standard reference on the subject titled A Study of Colt Conversions and other Percussion Revolvers, by R. Bruce Mc Dowell. This is a book anyone even mildly interested in conversions should have in their gun library. Krause Publications an AGA supporter, 800 drawings and photos.

Anyone who’s interested can order a copy of the Rollin White patent (or any other patent, for that matter) by sending a check for $3 made out to Commissioner, Patents and Trademarks, and mailing it to the U. S. Patent Office, Washington, DC 20231. Don’t forget to include the patent number, unless you can afford the cost of a patent search. I