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Old July 8, 2013, 11:59 AM   #1
Liam38
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1873 cap and ball wanted

Ive been a black powder shooter for while now and now im in the market for a new revolver. Ive got the navy's and army's but what Ive been interested in is the colt 1873 SAA replica's in cap and ball. So if anyone has any they would like to sell I would definately be interested. Feel free to send me a private message or just post on the thread. Also some information on the cartridge conversion of one of these pistols would be nice. Thanks for looking and any responses are apreciated.
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Old July 8, 2013, 02:05 PM   #2
prm
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http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product...oducts_id=3473

http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product...roducts_id=879
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Old July 8, 2013, 02:39 PM   #3
sltm1
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There is no cartridge conversion for these guns, they made them this way intentionally.
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Old July 8, 2013, 02:43 PM   #4
Liam38
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The dixie ones are a bot too expensive im looking for a used one. And im not looking for a conversion cylinder but i think it would be fun to convert it as a project.
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Old July 8, 2013, 03:14 PM   #5
cheatin charlie
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1873

pm sent
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Old July 8, 2013, 03:17 PM   #6
Doc Hoy
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It'd be a major project.

Frame is wrong for the center fire hammer.

You might be able to convert the hammer to a transfer or transfer firing pin system. Might be able to reshape the existing hammer and just install a transfer firing pin in the frame.

Cylinder is wrong. Take some fairly major machine work to turn it into a cartridge cylinder. If it can be done at all.

In the end, you will have a cap and ball version of a cartridge revolver which was converted back to cartridges.

I owned two such revolvers. One was Uberti 5.5 inch barrel and the other was Pietta 9 inch barrel. I liked them both but came to the conclusion that the design embodied too many philosophical compromises. In the last ten years I have sold a total of three revolvers. The two cap and ball Cattlemans are two of the three I have let go.
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Old July 8, 2013, 04:38 PM   #7
Bill Akins
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As usual, Doc is 100% correct.

The frame and hammer are made so that the nipples of the cylinder are offset from center of where a cartridge hammer would fall. It was purposely made that way so that you cannot just put a cartridge cylinder in it and expect it to work. I've read several articles about this that explained how it would be very difficult to convert it to use a cartridge cylinder. One article was very good in that it showed pictures of how the frame, hammer and cylinder are offset differently so that a center fire cartridge cylinder will not work.

About a year or so ago I bought two Uberti cattleman .45 Colts that are cartridge revolvers for $250.00 each brand new from Ray Tanner of Tanners Gun And Sports Center, in Jamison Pennsylvania. He had ordered a large quantity of them from Uberti in both .357 and .45 Colt. Not sure if he still has them at that price or not, but you could google him up, call and ask.

Like Doc advised, you'd be much better off in the long run getting a cartridge 1873 rather than trying to convert the black powder 1873 percussion models to cartridge use since that would be a very difficult thing to do.

Although they are currently out of stock, (actually listed as "discontinued") Midway did carry the R&D conversion cylinder for the percussion 1873 Uberti cattleman at this link....
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/171...d-6-round-blue Since Midway has discontinued the sale of that conversion cylinder, you could try calling R&D directly to see if they are still available from them.

Here's an interesting article about how a guy had his Uberti 1873 cattleman percussion go full auto on him when he tried to convert it to use cartridges. Does make for an interesting study for anyone who might be interested in making their revolver work like a semi auto though, via primer blowback cocking the hammer. But in this case, it didn't just cock the hammer, it made it go full auto. You'd need some sear catch work to make it semi auto.

http://www.shooterslegacy.net/forum/...hp?f=16&t=2454




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Last edited by Bill Akins; July 8, 2013 at 05:21 PM.
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Old July 8, 2013, 04:56 PM   #8
Hawg
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It can be done but its not worth the trouble. Its been discussed before.
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=310467
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Old July 11, 2013, 12:16 AM   #9
Andy Griffith
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It's a whole lot easier, and likely cheaper to buy a Remington 1858 and throw a conversion cylinder in it.
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