Recently I had the pleasure of acquiring one of Taylor Firearms Uberti 1858 Remington Conversion Revolvers in .38 Special for a plinking and small game gun. I’m not a big action shooter but appreciate the classic designs from the past for both target shooting and hunting. My first deer was taken with a lever action rifle as was my first wild pig. My favorite hand guns have always been single action six guns. I like the way they feel in my hands and perhaps all that time years ago as a young lad reading Louis L’Amour got the old ways stuck in my head.
Recently I had a hankering for one of the new reproduction conversions. I looked at some of the various Colt clones offered by Cimarron and eventually settled on one only to find out it was backordered for several months. After a short cry on my wife’s shoulder she gave me permission to also order something else. Bless her heart.
With one Colt clone already on the way, I did some searching and ran across the web site for Taylor Arms and saw their 1858 Remington Conversion. I began drooling immediately. The 1858 Remington Conversion seemed to jump out of the web page just begging me to fire it. The web site also showed that the conversion also came with a black powder cap and ball cylinder. How could you beat that! The single action sported a loading gate, loading lever, and ejector.
So I placed an order for a 7 3/8 inch in .38 special only to find out that the cap and ball cylinders were unavailable and would have to be ordered separate at some future date. No problem since I mainly wanted to shoot cartridges anyway. I chose the 38 special over the 45 colt for one reason, ammunition costs. I’m a reloader but frankly I wanted to do a lot of plinking with this gun at small targets without a lot of hassle. The gun meets SAAMI requirements for 38 special so it can shoot standard factory ammo but not the +P or hyper velocity rounds. The local gun shop sells 50 rounds for about $10 which is perfect for someone who wants to do some plinking or small game shooting.
After it arrived and the obligatory agony of the 10 day waiting period and background check, I finally had it in my hands. The first thing that I noticed was that it was heavy, much heavier than any other single action that I had previously shot. If you couldn’t hit what you were shooting at you could certainly use the thing as a club.
Unlike the old single actions with three different hammer positions, this reproduction came with four. The first being the classic half cock for loading, the second a new fangled safety position I had never seen which was probably to get by some legal or liability issue, the third being full cock, and fourth the fully down or fired position. The safety position is just plain annoying. I never use it preferring to leave the hammer down on an empty cylinder. The only other annoying feature was the ejector rod. It is not spring loaded and is kept underneath the loading lever for the black powder cylinder. Unlike your more popular colt clones or Rugers that have spring loaded ejectors, the Remington clone requires you to move the ejector in and out manually and release it from the loading lever. This takes a bit more time and can be frustrating at first. I found that it was faster just to shake the empties out which was possible with a clean and oiled cylinder.
The sights are of the fixed groove variety with a front post dovetailed into the barrel. The handles appear to be some sort of wood although I could not tell you what kind. The stain or sealant from the wood got on the brass where the bolt holds the handles on but I was able to scrape that off. Otherwise fit and finish was good. I broke it down and did not find any metal shavings, burrs, or sloppy machining which was good. The gun did have a lot of oil on it which I cleaned off before firing.
Performance wise, the single action Remington clone was a dream. I picked up a couple boxes of full metal jackets and a couple boxes of wad cutters and the gun seemed to shoot just as well with either. I didn’t have any cowboy loads to fire through it so I do not know yet how those will fare. Since it meets SAAMI requirements, modern factory ammo isn’t a problem as long as you don’t use plus or hyper velocity ammo. A few shots to see where it was shooting and I found that it was a little low but the right and left was perfect. My big fear had been that it would be shooting 10 inches to the left and 10 inches high making it a pain to shoot. I proceeded to try it out on some ground squirrels and rabbits that happened to be around with excellent results. The gun put two of each down for the count with little effort. Reloading was a bit slow compared to a Ruger or other Colt clone due to the ejector rod but I was fairly satisfied other than that. Recoil was very light as one would expect from a .38 Special, especially one that weighed this much. Report was not very loud at all in hunting situations which is also a nice feature of a .38 Special.
In summary, I’m very pleased with this single action. It shoots well, feels good in my hand, and is very enjoyable to shoot. The price was not too unreasonable and the quality is good for an Uberti/Taylor clone. The brass trigger guard really makes it a handsome piece. The gun comes in a modern bluing which is a slight drawback when looking at a more historically accurate looking piece. Bottom line: I can’t wait to shoot it some more!
For more information on the Taylor 1858 Remington Conversion you can visit the Manufacturers Web Site at
http://www.taylorsfirearms.com/Hope you found this review helpful.
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