Survival UK Forums

1858 is a good choice, they're cheap too. The Old Army is heavy, but extremely accurate. The manual states that you can fire as much powder and lead as you can fit in the cylinder, which makes for a very satisfying bang that remains accurate. The nitro conversions are limited to pipsqueak loads which may or may not be accurate in a particular gun, with black powder or a modern substitute you can find your own revolvers sweet spot.

It's a shame we can't easily have extra cylinders so that we could use both. You could of course also buy a long barrelled revolver and shoot metallic cartridges instead, personally I don't like them at all, I enjoy the whole loading / firing of the muzzle loaders, it's fun.

Over here we have several companies making conversion cylinders to transition the .36 navy to .38 spl and .44 Remington and Colt BP revolvers to .45 Long Colt calibers. They do not require "pipsqueak loads" and shoot full power 38 and 45 cartridges.

We even have a special classification for those conversions in our competition shooting.

If one is restricted to converting to cartridge using the existing cylinders one can simply reload the metallic cartridge with BP and have the same pressure level while retaining the convenience of cartridge use.

A person with moderate mechanical knowledge can build a conversion in a home workshop in a few hours. I have seen it doe with no power tools except for a hand drill.

The original conversions done for the Colt and Remington patterns in the late 1860s were simply cartridges loaded to the same power levels as the C&B units. The first of the Colt conversions being for a .45 rim fire and .38 rim fire. The rim fire cartridges were quickly replaced by center fire versions.

Historically, the military specs of the U.S. military revolvers were a bit unusual. After the 1860 Army model was adopted it set the power standard. When the change to cartridges occurred the specs called for a .45 caliber metallic cartridge that was equal in power to the 1860 Army Model. Then in 1900, when auto pistols were tested, the spec called for an auto-pistol equal in power to the 1873 Single Action Army. That is how we wound up with our 1911 .45acp. An auto pistol based on the power of a BP cartridge.

The .45 Colt revolver cartridge was developed using a 255 grain bullet over 30 grains of BP, which gave about 750 fps and killed a lot of stuff very dead.

The .38 special was originally developed as a BP cartridge, using a 158 gn bullet on top of 20-23 grains of BP. That load will still produce the ballistic equal to a factory .38spl standard load, which is hardly wimpy.

Do not underestimate the potential of your BP firearms.

Our nitro conversions are not to allow cartridges to be loaded, they are still "muzzle" loaded but using smokeless powder instead of black powder. We are not allowed to own cartridge revolvers unless they have stupidly long barrels and a stock welded onto the frame. The only exceptions are as a humane despatch tool for deer stalkers, and these often have four or five of the six chambers welded closed.

Here is an example of a UK nitro conversion:

http://www.anvilconversions.co.uk/index_...age600.htm

The recommended load for the .44 calibre is a 147grn ball over 4.3grns of Herco. It's a far cry from my favourite long range load of 240grn bullet over 22grns of 2400.

Incidentally, the Ruger Old Army can be loaded to over 500ft-lbs with black powder substitutes, that's plenty to have fun with.

Well, since the thread is titled "gun dreams" and we have diverged to the subject of .44 calibers I will give you one to dream about.



Sauer Hawes Western Marshal, .44 magnum, nickel plated. I keep things on the calm side and load 240 grain SWC to 1200fps. I don't use 2400 because it is extremely dirty. 6 rounds of 2400 and the barrel looks like a pigeon roosted on the muzzle.

I'm so jealous, that must be really sweet to shoot.

It is one of my "fun guns" and since I bought it just to say I owned a .44 mag I decided to get it in nickel plate. I occasionally carry it while hunting deer (that is legal here) if I am wearing heavy clothing and can keep it under my coat where it will not spook the animals.

Single action pistols are extremely durable, with few moving parts and the ones that do move are fairly robust. In these big calibers they make excellent survival guns for noncombat situations. A cast bullet in 240 grain weight will punch a hole through a bunny with minimal damage or splinter the skull of a steer and drop it in its tracks.

The big brass case is also able to hold an impressive charge of BP and remain a contender in the hunting field or as a defense tool after the smokeless ammo has run out, if called to do so.

Revolvers in big calibers were the first choice as survival guns on every frontier of the world in the late 1800s, from the American west to the Russian taiga, to the African savanna. As long as black powder ruled so did the big bore handguns.

Most fun to shoot goes to other specimens in my employ. As I have stated, I do not show my whole collection on the internet,

Just enough to win.

Well going for my own gun dreams, I finally filled out & posted my application form yesterday. Hope I get it back before Xmas.

good luck Rob....Shotgun or FAC?

Went to buy a Weatherby/Anschutz that I've had my eye on for a while, got to the shop and they had sold it two days previous after it being in stock nearly a year ...grrrrrr...........so I went in search of something else in the same style....looked at a beautiful brand new Anschutz xiv at £759 ouch!!! to dear but boy I wanted it....no deal to be had as the salesman was pleading poverty whilst dripping in gold and wearing a very nice Rolex(this is happening everywhere now) so I sadly left without the object of my desire....onto the next shop...plenty of stock, a lot of very nice gun's and then I saw it tucked away in the corner..it wasn't what I was intent on buying that day but I kept going back to it over and over...eventually I succumbed to her charms and got my wallet out....a little more expensive than the weatherby but a whole £300 cheaper than the xiv I was smitten by....so I'm now the proud owner of a CZ 455 varmint.

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No money of but I managed to blag a new gunslip....result of sorts!

Oh and I put £100 down to secure one of the next batch of Marlin 1894's in .38/.357 to arrive on our shore's .44's arrived about 6 weeks ago.... .38/.357's due any day now.