Walker Cartridge Conversion

[Michael Tinker Pearce]

Just finished (except for the front sight) converting an Armi San Marcos Walker reproduction to fire cartridges. The barrel is cut and re-crowned at 3-1/2" but it still weighs 3-1/2 pounds. The gun is shown with a Richard-Mason conversion for size comparison-

Yeah, the Walker is a big gun. Seems like it should have a big cartridge, right? This one is set up to fire .44-50/200. This is a .452 Heel-base bullet loaded into modified .44 Supermag brass. This will hold 50 grains of black powder pretty handily, but I am going to be focused on smokeless loads. If I've done my math right I should be able to safely load a 200gr. bullet up to 1150-1200fps. from the 3-1/2" barrel for around 600 ft/lbs at the muzzle... but I am going to work up to that mighty carefully...

Waiting on brass and dies, but in the meantime I can shoot .44 Colt (HB) from it just fine.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

Very nice.

 

[adcoch1]

That is cool, and a hoot to shoot I'm sure!

 

[dickydalton]

You do Fine work.

 

[Col. Harrumph]

Oy! Three and a half pounds. 1.6 Kg! You must gotta swagger like John Wayne. I think you should stick to black, though. The cloud is half the experience, nes pas?

 

[Michael Tinker Pearce]

Oy! Three and a half pounds. 1.6 Kg! You must gotta swagger like John Wayne. I think you should stick to black, though. The cloud is half the experience, nes pas?

My local indoor ranges disagree.... lol.

 

[kozak6]

That's pretty wild. The slab sided barrel block makes for a unique look. I bet it's a hoot and a half to shoot.

What kind of velocity do you think you'd have gotten from a full length barrel?

 

[Panzerschwein]

The KING of the Avenging Angels!!!

 

[bannockburn]

Tinker

One word: Impressive!

 

[Michael Tinker Pearce]

That's pretty wild. The slab sided barrel block makes for a unique look. I bet it's a hoot and a half to shoot.

What kind of velocity do you think you'd have gotten from a full length barrel?

Hard to say for sure- Walker hot-rodding is a pretty esoteric field! One fellow loaded loaded 60gr. of black powder in a .460 S&W case behind a 173gr. ball and got 1350 fps. Another says he got that with smokeless behind a 200gr. bullet. That seems pretty reasonable. Honestly I'm not sure how hard I want to push this; I'm not sure how good of materials I am working with here. I'm not worried about blowing up the cylinder so much as I am stretching the frame and accelerated wear.

I have to remind myself that the original Walkers were mostly wrought iron and case-hardened steel, and for the most part they had no problem with round ball over 60gr. of BP. This gun is at least made of steel, with crucial components like the arbor heat-treated. It ought to be significantly more durable as long as I stay within the limits of the originals.

 

[chicharrones]

That is impressive. Someday, I want to get my hands on a Walker replica.

 

[entropy]

You must gotta swagger like John Wayne

Well, he is a Viking!

A snubby Walker. that is too cool, Wish I'd have thought of it when I had one.

 

[Michael Tinker Pearce]

Well, it shoots OK- this is not bad for 5 yards with no sights...

 

[Col. Harrumph]

Well tempting as it is, I'll take a pass on that target's message.

 

[DWFan]

deleted

 

[kBob]

Tinker, you have done it again! "Patch" Rockwell would be proud.

Now the question becomes, "What sort of small Mexican coin are you going to cut down for a front sight?"

-kBob

 

[chicharrones]

Well, it shoots OK- this is not bad for 5 yards with no sights...
View attachment 776981

Someone needs to mount your target lower.

 

[Michael Tinker Pearce]

Someone needs to mount your target lower.

Someone needs to put sights on my gun...

 

[The Evangelist Cowboy]

Neato! Thatd put a hurting on anything stupid enough to cross your path.

 

[sean m]

to quote the Rooster, " Well, this'll sure get the job done if you can find a fence post to rest it on while you take aim."

 

[ms6852]

Make sure you do weak hand firing so that your strong arm does not get bigger than the weak arm. Great job!

 

[PapaG]

1847 super redhawk.

 

[entropy]

1847 super redhawk.

Alaskan.

 

[bannockburn]

entropy

PapaG said: ↑

1847 super redhawk.​

Alaskan.

Perfect comparison!

 

[PapaG]

Entropy wins. Still based on the Super.