Quote:
Originally Posted by Henry Schmidt
Jeff
I'm thinking about buying a conversion cylinder that will allow me to shoot cowboy ammo instead black powder.
Any input on which conversion if any is the best. This one is R&D
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I've heard good things about the R&D. I think in addition to the version in your photo, they have one with an integral loading gate. The one you show requires that you remove the cylinder from the frame to load and unload. Even with that inconvenience, I think it's the one I would go with, since the one with the loading gate requires some modifications to the frame to accept it. Taking the cylinder out of the frame to load and unload is still miles ahead of loading it as a cap'n'ball gun.
I have to wonder how well these guns shoot with modern .45 Colt ammo, though. Everyone likes the R&D because it is well made and functions well, but the Cowboy Action set isn't exactly looking for gilt-edged accuracy. Minute-of-bad-guy at about ten feet is all they need. Anyway, the Old Army uses a .457" ball, where modern .45 Colts use .451"-.452" bullets, and older ones used .454" bullets. Modern .45 Colt loads with soft lead bullets still use .454" in deference to the old guns, and they swage down easily enough to be used in the new guns. I have to wonder, though, if they would just rattle and skip down an Old Army's bore.
I've never slugged the bore on mine. I might have to do that - I'm curious now what it measures. One would think it is just a .45 caliber Blackhawk barrel, which would run .451", but it's not. It's unique to the Old Army. It's actually a gain twist barrel, of what I believe is a 3:1 ratio, starting out as a 1:54" twist right in front of the forcing cone and tightening up to a 1:18" at the muzzle. Or maybe it's only 2:1, starting out at a 1:36". I can't remember, but I do know it is a gain twist, so it's not just a Blackhawk barrel.
Gain twists work great with conical bullets as well as round balls, so that's not the issue. It's the groove diameter that would be the issue. Calling for a .457" round ball, I just have to suspect it's at least a .454" bore. That would still work with .45 Colt ammo loaded with soft lead bullets, but if it's any bigger than that, all it's going to do is shoot poorly and lead. Not a big deal to the Cowboy Action guys, but it would probably annoy the rest of us.