Quote from: Coffinmaker on Today at 01:55:41 PM ALL

Most, if not all of Jay's conversions were built using Uberti guns as the donor.  I would presume Jay also fix'd the abhorrent Barrel to Arbor fit in the conversion process??  Abilene, you look at that??

MARSHALL WINGAM - Ah, Smooth Bore??  Really, Smooth Bore??  Ah not really.  Uberti Cap Guns are manufactured with a nominal .375 bore.  As an aside, or in addition:  With all of the .36 Cap Guns I have, have owned, have built, or shot (all of 'em), I used 148Gr Hollow Base Wadcutters.  My results, accuracy wise, mirror Abilene's results.  I got what I considered really great accuracy.  Never even tempted to have the barrels re-lined.  Just shooting HBWC is just too easy.

Oh yeah!  Glad you reminded me, I meant to tell you that no, the arbor length was not addressed. I discovered that earlier on and use the split washer down the arbor hole trick. When he built this 25 years ago I don't think people talked about short arbors much.

I'm assuming you shoot APP with those HBWC's?  How long do you have to load them to get enough powder in there?

I don't see anything in Marshall Will's post about smooth bore.  Maybe he edited it?

  ALL

Most, if not all of Jay's conversions were built using Uberti guns as the donor.  I would presume Jay also fix'd the abhorrent Barrel to Arbor fit in the conversion process??  Abilene, you look at that??

MARSHALL WINGAM - Ah, Smooth Bore??  Really, Smooth Bore??  Ah not really.  Uberti Cap Guns are manufactured with a nominal .375 bore.  As an aside, or in addition:  With all of the .36 Cap Guns I have, have owned, have built, or shot (all of 'em), I used 148Gr Hollow Base Wadcutters.  My results, accuracy wise, mirror Abilene's results.  I got what I considered really great accuracy.  Never even tempted to have the barrels re-lined.  Just shooting HBWC is just too easy.

Howdy BRS.  Both those pics were taken at an angle slightly closer to muzzle than grip which can make barrels look longer, but it is the standard 7.5"

It is Uberti because Jay told me so    but also the last 4 of the original s/n is stamped on the side of the grip frame inside, plus the matching full s/n starting with 'A' is still written inside the wood grip that came with it, which is how Uberti does it.  And besides all that, if it were Pietta then my Model P grip would not have fit.     He estimated it was 20 yrs old when he sold it to me.

Abilene,

I see that you stated the revolver was 'defarbed', but do you know if it is a Uberti or Pieta?

Can't tell if the barrel is 7 1/2" or 8".

That's a fine looking pistol. Glad to hear it shoots well with the smooth bore bbl.

Those photos are nice to have. Great family history. I have one of each of my grandparents taken in 1888 when they were married. Thanks for sharing.

I like the pistol rack with the hockey puck.

Quote from: Coffinmaker on Yesterday at 08:32:07 PM Abilene

Nice.  VERY nice indeed.  Jay did really super work.

Added: Ah, Eable??  Did you really mean Edible??  Or, ah um ah . 

Ha!  Eagle grips.  Probably can't blame otto for that one.     But hmm, edible grips...might have something there.  You know, for the bad hunter.

  Abilene

Nice.  VERY nice indeed.  Jay did really super work.

Added: Ah, Eable??  Did you really mean Edible??  Or, ah um ah . 

I just realized it has been 3 years since I shot my Kirst-Konverted '61.  That's too long!  I posted about this gun when I first bought it in 2019.  Shot it in 5 matches at 4 clubs with no misses despite the unlined bore, but hey, it was SASS targets, so...

To re-cap, bought this from Jay Strite (Raven) when he retired.  He was a 'smith for Kirst for many years.  This was his personal '61 that wasn't shot much, mostly carried to shows as a demo.  It is totally defarbed of all markings and stamped with only the tiny Raven and Kirst-Strite stamps, plus s/n 1 on all assemblies.  He color case hardened it and charcoal blued the frame.  For every different model he built, '49, '51, '60 etc. he started with s/n 1 but this was the first of them all.  Mike Brackett thinned down the shoulder stock screws.

After the 1st four matches the hand spring broke.  Took me a long time, but I finally repaired that and shot it once more in 2021.  I've been wanting to get the barrel relined to .357 but have not found anyone to do it (Kirst doesn't any more).  I got the 2-position hand from Kirst a week ago and installed it - dropped right in, action feels smoother.  It still has 4 clicks (percussion guns and conversions should have 3) and hammer over-travel after that 4th click, but maybe that is the nature of a Kirst on a Colt?  Don't know, but couldn't tell the difference today between this gun and the Richards-Mason I teamed it up with when actually shooting.  And the timing is still right for loading/unloading through the gate.

A local is getting out of shooting and I bought a box of Bear Creek 148gr HBWC from him.  I loaded these, leaving .09" of bullet exposed at the mouth, with 2.3gr of Clays.  Again, no misses for today's match.  But I wanted to know the accuracy of this load a little better, so afterwards I put 5 rounds into around 2.5" group at approximately 7 yards, then reloaded and hit the 50-yard Cody Dixon target 4 out of 5 times.  So I'm happy! 

Now, reloading that round was a PITA with my setup.  My Lee measure won't reliably throw a charge of Clays that small, so I was dipping it, and the smallest (.3cc) dipper was a smidgen low, so I had to hand trickle onto the scale for each round.  I know Bear Creek now makes a hollow base bullet that would be more suitable (130gr I think?) but for now I have these.  My plan for now is to load these on the 550 next time I do .38's, and I will just load this bullet long so I can use the same charge of N320 that I use for my regular 125gr loads.  I will just have to turn in the seating stem a hair since these are max of 1.42" to fit in the Kirst (my 125gr are 1.44").  They will look funny with that big flat bullet sticking out, but I don't care.  For shooting BP, I will just load the same bullet, which has no lube grooves, and squirt butter-flavored Crisco into the front of the cylinder over the first two rounds, same as I've always done with my other BP pistol rounds.

It's not going to get shot a lot because of all the others in rotation (a nice problem) but way more than before!

The grip is new to the gun, it occurred to me that this being a steel frame pistola, the grip is actually a Model P grip, not Navy.  And I had a nice one available that came off another Model P that is currently sporting hard rubber eagle grips.  Anyway, I like them as is but will most likely strip them to an oil finish.

Oh yeah, the pics: far right, grandparent's wedding, far left, great grandparents, little girl on the right is my mom with two brothers. 

This has been an interesting read, especially since one of my shooting hobbies is Rendezvous here in Northern CA.  I'm going to have to check at our next Arms Collector's meeting about the rifle a member brought in that is attributed to the fatal mauling of a rancher in Whitmore CA. by a Grizzly.

The descriptions here just scream California Rifle!

What is interesting, except for the sights my TC Hawkens seems to be more of a California pattern than my Lyman Great Plains which is supposed to be a Mountain Rifle.

Cylinder scene is still there.....I don't think it's been reblued, it's an even, smooth brown color,plan to try both Heeled and HB bullets to see what it prefers.....could clean off the patina, but, nah, she's just great.

Only blemish, the bottom of the backstrap is bent and scratched up...looks like someone was driving nails?  Wish I knew more on it as the bore/chambers are bright and shiny, really nice 🤠