Pietta 1858 Remington New Model Navy with Howell .38 Special Conversion Cylinder

[@kmorris180]

Yesterday at a show in Bentonville, Arkansas, I picked up this same combination plus the original and an extra BP cylinder. I have yet to take it to my range. I have a Colt bullet mould for the black powder. I hadn't thought about using a hollow based bullet. Thanks for making the video.

[@johnzx6r]

Thank you for watching! I haven't tried using regular pain based bullets in this yet. I have heard, though, that accuracy can be less than spectacular with them.

[@kmorris180]

@@johnzx6r having fired mine with the conversion cylinder, I don't think I'll keep it. It's nice, but it's not my thing.

[@johnzx6r]

@@kmorris180 Understandable. They are more fun as percussion guns!

[@tranders365]

Glad to see you back. Was beginning to wonder about you. Thanks for another great video. 👍🏻👍🏻

[@johnzx6r]

Thank you. I've been a little busy lately and just have not had any time to do any videos. I think I'll be able to get some more out in the coming months.

[@Codevil.]

Same comment from me. Thanks for the most through videos on 1858s

[@Gunsmith-4570]

Great video. I use the same components in my 1851 Navy colt Uberti with a Kirst loading gate conversion. I like the accuracy so far but I still need to work with it some more.

[@johnzx6r]

Thank you. The Kirst converters are nice. I have a couple for the Remingtons, but have not tried one yet for the Colts. I may have to rectify that!

[@rquest3059]

Big difference between factory and hand loaded rounds. Easy fixes are the best kind to have.

[@johnzx6r]

I was a bit surprised how much better my handloads did compared to the factory stuff. I'm sure with some load tweaking I could probably shrink that group down some more.

[@robertrobert7924]

Fortunately, conversion cylinders that fire 45 Colt thru 44 repro Remington barrels are very accurate @25 yards. As you found out, the 36 cal. barrels are a bird of a different feather. The best solution I have found is to get a custom HBRN mold with a relatively thin skirt. Using pure lead, these cast bullets expand so well that they are accurate @25 yards. I shoot them in my converted Uberti 1851 Colt and my Uberti 1858 Remington 36 cal.

[@markraymond3198]

I have a 1860 Army (Pietta) snub nose with the birds head grip. If I am not mistaken, the Howell cylinder .38 that I just got is the same one. Just f.y.i.. I can not wait to try it out, it fits perfectly , and I bought a box of wadcutter cowboy loads. Merry Christmas!

[@johnzx6r]

Thank you. I think that might be one of my next projects - a .38 cylinder for the Colt style revolvers.

[@rkirschner7175]

Still waiting to try my conversion cylinder for Ruger old army. HSM cowboy action load.

[@smartmeis]

with my pietta the bore size is .357 grove to grove or land to land i cant remember, but it would be fine with .38... or heeled base 38.

[@Ford360CID]

John I got the same Howell 38 conversion, your hand loads were abit more pressure to upset the hollow skirt engaging the rifling better, the non hand loader are better off with factory hollowed base wadcutters from winchester, Remington or federal there a bit more accurate and upset better, I myself use a 145gn hollowed based mold from western bullet molds and it made the biggest difference, I loaded a video about 2 years ago on the subject...great shooting and happy new years.

[@johnzx6r]

I kind of assumed that the Fiocchi stuff wasn't filling out enough to engage the rifling. I ended up buying some Speer HBWC and I think I'll try those through this next and see how they perform. I'll be sure to check out your video on the 145gr bullets you used.

[@Ford360CID]

@johnzx6r thanks John the Speers should fit the bill ....keeper around 700fps i believe the police target load was 2.7gns of 🎯 bullseye anything higher you have a good chance of leading and blown skirts.

[@johnzx6r]

@@Ford360CID That's the charge of Bullseye I was using with those mystery bullets I had. I was going to try the same load with the Speers.

[@Ford360CID]

@johnzx6r they should be perfect the lead brindell # is just right and should give better accuracy from a high quality bullet.

[@Codevil.]

I wish the Army and Navy frames were the same

[@dorisjohnson8857]

I've had pretty good results in my Pietta .36 Remington and Howel Cylinder. I use .357 mag brass filled with just enough 3F powder to allow a Hornady .358 HBWC to be seated deep enough to just slightly touch/compress the powder and yet not extend past the front of the cylinder when seated. I dip the tips of the loaded rounds in melted beeswax/cocconut-oilve oil lube to keep fouling soft. Too much compression/seating force will flatten and flair the soft bullet tips preventing chambering. I use a light taper crimp and CHECK that all rounds will drop freely into the chambers. Your indexing problem might be due to: the hand being borderline too short to fully rotate the Howel cylinder (they can be stretched a little to fit better), possibly dragging of rounds that did not quite chambered fully, or perhaps some primers either not fully seated or backing out a little ?? I've seen some reviews using Fiocchi factory .38 spl. wad cutter loads being very under-powdered and chrono graphed in very low 600's or less fps and not real accurate?? I really enjoyed this video as I have all you others Thanks for sharing this Keep 'em coming👍🙂DJ

[@StevenMMan]

Hey just so you know I have designed my own cap n ball conical bullets. That being said I find your comment interesting as I been questioning the true bore diameter of these revolvers. The heals on my bullets for the four different bullets is .365 and barley start in. Why is this relevant? The .365 heals do not drop into the muzzle. Leading me to believe that the true diameter maybe closer to .367-.368 which may mean we have over complicated reloading these .38 special loads. With your comment leave me with two questions. A. Using the mag cases what is your cartridge overall length? B. Which cylinder do you have, lined, or unlined? For me it is difficult to explain what it is I am thinking so I've going to do a series of videos on it . Removing my a bullet from both of my .36 caliber remingtons. One peitta the other uberti. Mountain man

[@johnzx6r]

Thank you. That black powder load of yours sounds like fun - I might have to try that out. I also have read that the Fiocchi stuff is pretty under powered. I have a suspicion that is why I didn't get great accuracy with it - it is so weak that there wasn't enough pressure to flare the base out to the bore size, and just wasn't stabilizing well enough. That's my theory, anyway. I'd love to try to capture a bullet in some water jugs or something to see what they look like after being fired in this.

[@dorisjohnson8857]

Well the cap and ball barrel bores should .36X" something as they are nominally .36 cal. But I have never slugged any of them My .357 Mag BP cartridge with about 20 gns fffg Scheutzen and Hornady .358 HBWC was seated to, I believe, about, 1.420 " LOA with bullet base just touching the powder and then gently taper crimped, I just have a regular .38 spl Howell Cartridge Conversion cylinder for a Pietta 1858 Rem New Model .36 cal. The OAL of the cylinder is about 1.618" The amount of powder actually determines the final overall length just as long as it is less than the cylinder.. Just don't seat to firmly against or try to compress the powder as the soft HBWC nose will deform and then not chamber. Hope this is helpful. DJ @@StevenMMan

[@StevenMMan]

@dorisjohnson8857 Thank you for getting back to me. Yes your #s are matching up to mine. I have a 1.620 on my.44 caliber howells cylinder, which should be the same dementions. Not to assume anything, I will add a bit of information. The Italian reproductions are not true to the original. The true Remington navy is significantly smaller frame and cylinder. The reproductions are on an army frame. Up until recently I never really had any interest in the .36 caliber revolver but wanted to add to my collection. I'm an old mountain who spent amount of time in grizzly country, so to me bigger is better and no such thing as an unloaded gun. So today I intended to open up one cylinder on each revolver to measure the shaved cylinder diameter. Also have some .375 round ball to slug the barrel with. I think I will record the process for my small channel. I have been needing to revisit one of my first attempts at a .31 caliber bullets in which I got the heals just a bit to big, usable but hard to load on the revolver. So the two .31 cal resemble a kiado like design, so I will together a custom 4 spot mold to include two new .36 cartridge bullets to it for testing. Based off my findings today. Mountain man

[@dorisjohnson8857]

You are very welcome. I choose to go with BP for my Cartridges in the Howell conversion cylinders not only for the sulphureous fun and historical aspects which is more than enough reason, but also because: although the Howell cylinders themselves certainly can safely handle appropriate smokeless cartridge loads, the reproduction cap and ball frames are only rated for and clearly stamped black powder only. I am not sure that Pietta and Uberti use the same alloys and heat treatments for them as they do for their factory chambered 38, 44 Special , 44-40 and 45 Colt cartridge conversions. For certain I will be checking out your channel. DJ@@StevenMMan

[@StevenMMan]

Wow it is interesting this is your subject after the last video we talked. I've been considering a couple of different options for conversion cylinders on my .36 remingtons. Calibers. So a couple of questions A. Which cylinder did you get lined, or unlined? B. What is the length of the cylinder without the cap on it? If you remember correctly I have made several of my own cap n ball conical bullets. Lately I've been seeing a lot of videos on the subject of bore diameter of the. 36 revolvers, and it doesn't make sense. This is hard for me to communicate with the written word. The heal of my bullets are at .365 which just barley fit in the cylinder. I have two full cylinders, one pietta, the other is an uberti. I intend to drive out a bullet from each, and measure the diameter of said. And slug each barrel if need be. Why you you may ask. Well I've tried the heal in the end of the muzzle and .365 doesn't fit. Which could mean that with a custom bullet mould of the size I expect reloading the cartridge for these revolvers have been over complicated for to long. Now since we last talked over the double barrel 20ga, I have acquired a .63 Caliber double barreled flintlock rifle, and Italian firearms group tells there is a full length 20ga smoothbore replacement barrel for it. You may still have my email as I offered you test bullets before oh and I made a video of the double rifle. Mountain man

[@johnzx6r]

I got the unlined cylinder. I have not slugged that barrel on this or any other of my revolvers, and I am really curious now as to what the actual dimensions are on this. I'd really like to try out a better selection of bullets in these. Not that there is anything wrong with the wadcutters, but it would also be nice to be able to use different weights and designs if I can. I watched your video on your new double flintlock rifle a few days ago. Boy, that is a nice piece! I actually have the Pedersoli 20ga flintlock shotgun. I had bought it a couple of years ago now, but still have not shot it - it is just too pretty! I do still have your email, I just keep getting side tracked with other things and just forget about your kind offer! When things settle down I hopefully will get in contact with you. Thank you and take care...

[@StevenMMan]

So I uploaded a video today on my channel in which I address the cylinder chamber diameter of both my Remingtons and ultimately slugged both barrels the results of both barrels are surprising at least to me . The bore diameters isn't what you think they are or consistent between the two manufacturers

[@jason60chev]

You can have the chambers reamed to accept the more authentic 38 Long Outside Lubed CF cartridge, using a .375 dia HEEL based bullet. Or....you can handload .358 dia. Hollow based bullets, which will expand into the revolver's rifling.

[@johnzx6r]

I am using .358 hollow base bullets in this. I had thought about the heel base bullets, but I am a bit lazy, and those seem to be more trouble than it is worth to me!

[@jason60chev]

@@johnzx6r No more trouble really than any other cartridge. A Cowboy action shooting forum member suggested using super glue to hold the projectile. I haven't had a chance to try that. Would mean having the most minimal of case flaring, to insert the heel. I get a kick out of using the guns with authentic style ammunition. Many use 38 Long Colt, which also uses a hollow base (I have an Ideal loading tool for it), but that ctg wasn't debuted until 1892.

[@jeffshootsstuff]

Interesting video. My Howell conversion cylinder works better in one of my Remingtons than the other. Maybe just tolerance stacking. I assume you want to improve your videos so may I respectfully suggest that you work on slowing down and enunciating for your voiceover audio. Rock on

[@johnzx6r]

Thank you. I'm always willing to listen to constructive criticism. I do have a tendency to speak too quickly at times. I did actually try to slow down some for this video - you should have heard some of the other takes!

[@Tammy-un3ql]

👍👍👌👌

[@marcialpatton2380]

Keep your burger hook off the bang switch then not pointed at the target!