Dave Markowitz
Member
Tonight I got to shoot my Pietta 1858 Remington New Model Army with .45 Colt Kirst Konverter, along with my Uberti Colt 1862 Pocket Police.
My father and I put 40 rounds through the Pietta and it worked like a champ. Ammo was Black Hills .45 Colt loaded with a 250 grain LRNFP bullet at a sedate 750 FPS. At 7 yards it shot a couple inches high but into one hole. This Pietta has a heavier trigger pull than my other 3 Pietta Remingtons which makes it harder to shoot accurately. I may look into a trigger job.
Recoil was noticeable. Not painful by any means but the gun has a good deal of muzzle flip with this load. It'll be interesting to try with 200 grain loads, maybe even .45 Schofields. Since you cannot safely run hot loads in these conversions, I may as well go with light loads.
The .45 Colt cowboy loads are low pressure and don't require you to use the ejector rod to extract them. I was able to get a lot of the empties out of the gun by elevating the muzzle then tapping the revolver's butt on the carpet-covered shooting table. Any that didn't come out this way could be easily pulled free with a fingernail.
Since the empties extract so easily, if you want to do a conversion but save about $100, you could just get the gate and cylinder, but forego the ejector rod. If you do get a stuck case it could be popped out with a pencil or cleaning rod segment pretty easily.
Overall, I am really pleased with the Pietta and the Kirst Konverter. The combo gets two big thumbs up from me.
The Uberti is a different story. I bought it about a year ago and have had problems from day one. Uberti did a crappy job of dovetailing the loading lever lug into the bottom of the barrel. It came loose during my first outing. I tried using a silver-bearing solder paste to secure it, without success. I then tried Loctite Blackmax adhesive, which is rubber filled and designed to work with metal and fill gaps. It lasted about 10 rounds tonight, and then the lug came off again. Aside from that I got constant cap jams. Also, the action itself is very rough, which is surprising because the exterior finish is absolutely gorgeous. Deep, rich bluing, nice wood, and superb wood-to-metal fit. Too bad the damn thing won't run.
I've owned three other Ubertis, an 1851 Navy, a Dragoon, and a Winchester 1873 carbine replica. Likewise, my father has had a few Ubertis including an 1860 Army and 1861 Navy. All of them were built well and ran fine. I think the Uberti 1862 is going to wind up as a means for me to practice my gunsmithing on.
My father and I put 40 rounds through the Pietta and it worked like a champ. Ammo was Black Hills .45 Colt loaded with a 250 grain LRNFP bullet at a sedate 750 FPS. At 7 yards it shot a couple inches high but into one hole. This Pietta has a heavier trigger pull than my other 3 Pietta Remingtons which makes it harder to shoot accurately. I may look into a trigger job.
Recoil was noticeable. Not painful by any means but the gun has a good deal of muzzle flip with this load. It'll be interesting to try with 200 grain loads, maybe even .45 Schofields. Since you cannot safely run hot loads in these conversions, I may as well go with light loads.
The .45 Colt cowboy loads are low pressure and don't require you to use the ejector rod to extract them. I was able to get a lot of the empties out of the gun by elevating the muzzle then tapping the revolver's butt on the carpet-covered shooting table. Any that didn't come out this way could be easily pulled free with a fingernail.
Since the empties extract so easily, if you want to do a conversion but save about $100, you could just get the gate and cylinder, but forego the ejector rod. If you do get a stuck case it could be popped out with a pencil or cleaning rod segment pretty easily.
Overall, I am really pleased with the Pietta and the Kirst Konverter. The combo gets two big thumbs up from me.
The Uberti is a different story. I bought it about a year ago and have had problems from day one. Uberti did a crappy job of dovetailing the loading lever lug into the bottom of the barrel. It came loose during my first outing. I tried using a silver-bearing solder paste to secure it, without success. I then tried Loctite Blackmax adhesive, which is rubber filled and designed to work with metal and fill gaps. It lasted about 10 rounds tonight, and then the lug came off again. Aside from that I got constant cap jams. Also, the action itself is very rough, which is surprising because the exterior finish is absolutely gorgeous. Deep, rich bluing, nice wood, and superb wood-to-metal fit. Too bad the damn thing won't run.
I've owned three other Ubertis, an 1851 Navy, a Dragoon, and a Winchester 1873 carbine replica. Likewise, my father has had a few Ubertis including an 1860 Army and 1861 Navy. All of them were built well and ran fine. I think the Uberti 1862 is going to wind up as a means for me to practice my gunsmithing on.
