Nice looking guns dude!
I have a pair of 44mags and shoot a 44/40 1866 Uberti. I can order spare cylinders I suppose, what's involved in fitting them? I suppose I should go to the gunsmithing section. MIck.
Howdy, Pard,
Ruger used to NOT sell cylinders separately, nor would they fit a second set, thereby making the guns convertible.
Haven't talked to them recently about it (or anything else). IF the cylinders were available, the ratchet teeth on the rear end of both cylinders must be fitted to the hand, rather than the other way around. A GOOD pistol smith can do it, though it can be time-consuming.
The bigger problem is to find the spare cylinders. I don't know if any after-market cylinders are available for Ruger New Model Blackhawks or Old Vaqueros. If you could find a spare .357 or .41 Magnum cylinder for each gun, then the gunsmith could ream the chambers to .44-40. I would have the chamber throats cut to .430", which ought to produce good accuracy. The toughest part may be to find the cylinders.
BTW, you can NOT recut the .44 Magnum chambers to .44-40.
An interesting aside is if and when you do wind up with a couple of "convertible" guns, 44-40/.44 Magnum, is, in a Vaquero, matching the trajectories between the two cartridges with the fixed sights. The .44 Magnum case has about 12.5 percent LESS capacity than the .44-40 when using the same bullet (weight). This translates into about a 6.25 percent reduction in charge weight from the .44-40 to the .44 Magnum (or, as I call the later when loaded to Cowboy Action velocities, ".44 Extra Long Russian". In my guns, I load 213 gr. bullets to 950-975 ft/sec (depending on the air temp when chronographing). THAT IS NOT A HARD AND FAST RULE, JUST AN ILLUSTRATION! Consult your loading manuals!
Good luck with your project!