Sometimes Smaller Really is Better !

[LeMat1856]

while surfing on gunbroker com several months ago i came accross what they called a 'snubbie' and just had to have one... but not at the price they were asking ($300 for a cut used .36 colt '61 navy)..

then i noticed that even pietta was getting in on the act: (Slideshow of 5 or 6 brand new items) - none of which were to be found online or in suppliers catalogs at any price.. what to do.... what to do... ah, ha !

i'll make my own:

and so i did !

so as to preserve the original navy arms model, i bought a generic replacement barrel from taylor's ($79) for an existing .44 5" 'reb sheriff' and some high tech gunsmith tools (ace hardware $5.95 hacksaw and flat stones) and went to it.. naturally, it didn't work..

the original arbor of the old frame was too long or too fat to fit into the new one and the whole project was headed for disaster until 'madcrate' came to my rescue and reamed out the space so both barrels could fit.. wow ! is it ever the talk of the range *and* more accurate than the original 5" 'reb sheriff' setup..

anyone with parts and some time to kill should try it; you won't regret the effort.. and i could probably sell it now for twice what i paid..

i tell people it's "my idea of a real pocket model" - ha!

uses the same .454" round ammo and 20-25 gr FFF as the original but i doubt i'm getting the same velocity.. another shooter at the range said he could actually see the ball as it went down range, so it must be getting 700-800 fps at best.

now all i need is a used 7" griswold & gunnison barrel and i'll have the complete collection - one for each season.

like it or hate it ?

~d~

 

[rafterob]

Now if you modified the grip to a bird's head, that would float my boat!

 

[mazo kid]

You did a nice job on the snubbie conversion. I did about the same thing a couple of months ago; here is the link in case you missed it. It was a lot of fun and something out of the ordinary. http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/228920/
Emery

 

[Don]

Cutting down the barrel looks cool but really lowers performance. If you get 600fps with 25 grains of powder your doing well.

Don

 

[mazo kid]

Cutting down the barrel looks cool but really lowers performance. If you get 600fps with 25 grains of powder your doing well.
Don

Granted, but I have 5 other full size revolver repros and was just looking for something a little out of the ordinary. It has a little more barrel length than my S&W mdl. 19 snubbie. And....600+ fps across a table would put some serious hurt on any bad guy. I'll have to try to get mine chronographed just out of curiosity.

 

[LeMat1856]

great job !

this is going to be the next 'big thing' in black powder.

bobbing the hammer could be really hard because it is case hardened..... maybe a giant bolt cutter could do the heavy lifting ?

they are sooooo cool.

here are some others that look really old.. i cant make out the tags, but they look 1800's:

now, what else can we come up with...

~d~

 

[mazo kid]

Paul V had suggested bobbing the hammer, but I just filed a bit on the under side, heated it and put a little bend in it so that the top of the thumb piece is at or lower than the barrel height. Not having an acetylene torch, I just couldn't get the hammer hot enough while holding it in my vise (so the notches would stay hard) to get an easy bend to it.

 

[mazo kid]

great job !
this is going to be the next 'big thing' in black powder
now, what else can we come up with...
~d~

Well, I need to make a loading lever/stand now. I could just use a pin instead of the screw in the frame and use the original lever I suppose, but there is no challenge in that.

 

[lonewarrior]

Using a steel frame and bumping up the powder charge may be an interesting idea. How would one even make birds head grips for this?

 

[Mike Brooks]

I've handled probably a dozen or so original "belly guns" in the past month or so. I don't recall any with bobbed hammers. it would be pretty tuff to cock the gun with out a good hammer spur. I saw one with out a trigger or guard, designed to be "fanned" at close range. As a point of interest I have seen more navy caliber guns cut down than army.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

Yup. Bobbing the hammer on a single action revolver doesn't make any sense at all. I've seen a couple of percussion Navy belly guns where the front portion of the trigger guard loop had been removed to just in front of the trigger supposedly allowing the trigger finger easier access to the trigger. And maybe it does.

 

[mazo kid]

How would one even make birds head grips for this?

Check out my post above for my way to do this. In the early days, blacksmiths and gunsmiths bobbed the barrels and just cut the bottom off the grip frame and bent the steel frame around to intersect with the trigger guard. Then they screwed it in place. I have fairly large hands and that type of conversion makes for a pretty small grip. I made mine from a strip of 1/8" brass soldered to the top of the grip frame and it made for a little larger grip. Some early types just cut off the barrels; I like the birds head grip.