I Snubbed My 1858 Stainless

[Gadsden2A]

This is probably going to make some people cringe. Lol. I have been wanting a snubby for a long time, then I saw Mike Bellavue’s video where he converted an 1858 into a Boston bulldog snub nose. I decided I had to have one. I still have a lot of work to do. I have to find a front sight and install it, find a way to retain the cylinder pin, and reshape the grip frame, and find a set of grips. Very pleased so far. No regrets. Why did I not just buy the Ace? I prefer Uberti over Pieta, not to mention that the Ace does not come in stainless. The last photo is Mike Bellevue’s gun.

 

[Blackpowderwarrior]

Don’t you know you’re not allowed to do what you want with your own things!

I need a safe space!!!

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhghhhghhhhhhggghghbhhhhhhh

jk man it looks great. Enjoy

 

[1KPerDay]

Cool. Bit messy around the outer front edge bevel but I could live with it. The crown looks great; what did you use? What are your plans for the front sight? I recently hacked an old brass framed army replica into an Avenging Angel wannabe and need to figure out a front sight.

 

[doubleh]

It's now a belly gun. Why even bother with a sight? Looks?

 

[Atavar]

Snubby don’t need no front sight. You’re in contact range anyway. Point and shoot.

 

[Gadsden2A]

Cool. Bit messy around the outer front edge bevel but I could live with it. The crown looks great; what did you use? What are your plans for the front sight? I recently hacked an old brass framed army replica into an Avenging Angel wannabe and need to figure out a front sight.

Thanks. I am far from finished. The mosquitoes ran me out last night. For the crown, I used a 3/8 acorn nut threaded onto a bolt. I cut the head off the bolt with my grinder and attached the bolt to my screw gun. And I used metal grinding compound. I’m still looking at sights. Going to go with something more modern. Definitely not the blade sight. I’m no gunsmith. This is the first time I’ve ever tried anything like this. It was fairly simple though.

 

[Gadsden2A]

It's now a belly gun. Why even bother with a sight? Looks?

Exactly

 

[hooisershooter]

That’s cool. I like it. Be interesting to do a accuracy test and velocity test between the 2.
Overall good job.

 

[1KPerDay]

Are you going to round the bottom/rear of the grip?

 

[Paul R Zartman]

I used a NMA target front sight, had to dovetail it in, but yours looks a bit shorter than mine, I also installed the NMA rear sight too.
Midway sells a nice latch to hold the pin in...
Awesome looking snub...
Paul

 

[Jerry M]

How do you keep the cylinder pin in place?

 

[Gadsden2A]

How do you keep the cylinder pin in place?

I need one of these doohickies. To test shoot it though, I used two zip ties. Not only did they retain the cylinder pin, they gave me a temporary sight.

 

[Paul R Zartman]

doohickie installed...

Works great...

 

[Gadsden2A]

I decided to make the cylinder pin retainer out of the old lever. It fills that void that was left by taking out the old lever, which was really bothering me. Still gonna work on the shape a little bit. And I would like to have taken a little more off of the grip frame, but I was afraid to takeoff any more metal. It feels good in the hand anyway. Gonna leave it as is. Sanded down the old grips and rubbed them with coconut oil. It’s all I had. I also sanded the shine off the stainless and made it satin finish. Lots of finish work left. And she needs a set of nipples. And a sight.

 

[Rustmangler]

Those grips look good.

 

[Gadsden2A]

Those grips look good.

thanks. Me too. I have two other 1858s with the glossy grips. I will be sanding those down soon also.

 

[Gadsden2A]

That’s it for now. This gun ate up my whole weekend. I’m very pleased with it so far. I just need a sight and some final polishing. I’m gonna try to do some penetration and velocity testing next weekend.

 

[Paul R Zartman]

You have done a great job, thanks for sharing the progress...

 

[woodnbow]

View attachment 1126038 View attachment 1126039 View attachment 1126040 View attachment 1126041 View attachment 1126043 That’s it for now. This gun ate up my whole weekend. I’m very pleased with it so far. I just need a sight and some final polishing. I’m gonna try to do some penetration and velocity testing next weekend.

I like it!
I do have one suggestion or thought… have you seen a Clark “Melted” custom? You’re almost there!

 

[woodnbow]

Dehorned in the extreme!

 

[paul harm]

I did one a year or two ago. I rounded the grip more than yours and really like the rounded grip. It just feels right. Looks like you're doing a real fine job on yours. Just looked again, your barrel is a bunch shorter than mine. Think I left 3" of barrel. I cut it at 3 thinking if I goof it and cut on a angle there would be enough to file or cut again. Well it was a good square cut, so 3" it stayed. I dovetailed a sight in. That also was a first and I used a file. Kind a proud how it turned out. Like you, I just wanted one. They are fun to make.

 

[Paul R Zartman]

I like it!
I do have one suggestion or thought… have you seen a Clark “Melted” custom? You’re almost there!

View attachment 1126180 View attachment 1126181

OMG...send info...THAT IS RIGHT DOWN MY ALLY...not sure what it has to do with this thread...BUT...make a new thread and give info
Paul

 

[Ugly Sauce]

It's now a belly gun. Why even bother with a sight? Looks?

The ultimate for looks and function would be a big old brass shotgun bead.

 

[Stevel]

One of these two.

Great job on the gun btw.

 

[woodnbow]

That’s a Clark Custom Meltdown. I don’t know if they’re making them anymore but Clark Custom Guns was founded by the late Jim Clark Sr. Jim was an excellent Bullseye pistol shooter, and one of the few civilians to win the national 2700 championship at Camp Perry. Jim was also a 2600 shooter, which is a club of shooters that fire a score over 2600 in a major match. A score of 2600 means the shooter has placed 96% or more of their shots in the 3.25" 10 ring of a Bullseye target, at distances of 25 and 50 yards, standing off hand and only using one hand to hold and fire the gun. More often the not, Bullseye shooting is dominated by military shooters.
Buy the Meltdown and you get a ,out for your money…

Trigger job w/aluminum match trigger.
CLARK Commander hammer.
Ed Brown tactical extended thumb safety.
Low mounted Clark Carry sights.*
Reliability package.
Beveled Mag Well & lowered ejection.
Ed Brown Beavertail grip safety.
Clark Big Bushing and Reverse Plug
MeltdownTM - The "edgeless" dehorn job!

Back in the 70’s every pistol was fired by Jim and guaranteed to shoot into an inch at 25 yards.