But ya doesn't has to call me Mr. Johnson. Geez Woody, it's a term of endearment. All I learned was he may have been competing with New Service instead of some sort of #3. I guess the New Service was chambered in the russian round. I was kinda looking for some info on his life. Anyway thanks for the suggestion......Woody.
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Top Break "Cowboy" Revolvers
- Thread starter Screwball
- Start date
Aguila Blanca
Staff
Yes, I saw that thread. I wish the lady well, but she might as well have been carrying it in the original cap-&-ball configuration. The conversion cylinder she has, IIRC, is the Ken Howell's type (don't recall if she had the 5-shot or 6-shot version), which requires removing the cylinder from the gun and taking the back plate off the cylinder to reload. It's slightly faster than reloading with black powder, seating individual balls, and capping each cylinder ... but not much. In terms of self defense carry, such a firearm is for ALL practical purposes limited to the number of shots the cylinder holds. With a Remington clone, the only effective field reload is to carry a spare, loaded cylinder (like Clint Eastwood in Pale Rider). But those conversion cylinders cost a couple of hundred bucks each -- at some point you have to realize that it makes more sense to buy a used gun of a more modern design for concealed carry.Ricklin said:If it is all you have, you find a way. Better to bring a gun to a gunfight. To clarify she was running a conversion cylinder, not cap and ball.
[Edit to add] Here's the thread about carrying the Remington repro with the conversion:
https://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=587813
She has the Taylor's conversion cylinder, which is the 6-shot version that Taylor's bought the rights to from Ken Howells. She acknowledges that reloading requires removing the cylinder. Compared to that, even a Colt 1873 SAA is lightning fast to reload.
Last edited:
Driftwood Johnson
New member
Yes, I saw that thread. I wish the lady well, but she might as well have been carrying it in the original cap-&-ball configuration. The conversion cylinder she has, IIRC, is the Ken Howell's type (don't recall if she had the 5-shot or 6-shot version), which requires removing the cylinder from the gun and taking the back plate off the cylinder to reload. It's slightly faster than reloading with black powder, seating individual balls, and capping each cylinder ... but not much. In terms of self defense carry, such a firearm is for ALL practical purposes limited to the number of shots the cylinder holds. With a Remington clone, the only effective field reload is to carry a spare, loaded cylinder (like Clint Eastwood in Pale Rider). But those conversion cylinders cost a couple of hundred bucks each -- at some point you have to realize that it makes more sense to buy a used gun of a more modern design for concealed carry.
Howdy
First off, I agree that a single action revolver, either a Cap & Ball or a C&B with conversion cylinder is a poor choice for a self defense revolver.
However you are completely wrong about how long it takes to load a 1858 Remington that has been fitted with a Taylors or R&D conversion cylinder. It is not slightly faster than reloading a C&B revolver. It is much, much faster than reloading a C&B revolver. I have two of them and I can speak from experience. With practice popping the cylinder out takes about two seconds. You set the hammer to half cock, lower the loading lever part way, and roll the cylinder out. The backplate of the cylinder comes right off, it is not screwed on or anything, there is a pin that orients it properly, and it is held in place by the frame when mounted in the gun. As I said, about two seconds spent there. Then you poke out the empties, either with the end of the loading lever, or a stick. I keep a short brass rod in my pocket for that purpose. Then you pop fresh rounds into the cylinder, pop it into the frame, raise the loading lever and you are ready to go.
Just for the fun of it, I just did a reload with a Conversion cylinder equipped Remmie. Took me about 20 seconds. Try to equal that with a C&B revolver.
Then, just for the fun of it, I did a complete reload with a SAA. Took about 30 seconds, because unlike the Remmie with the conversion cylinder, with a SAA you have to empty each chamber one at a time, and reload one at a time.
TruthTellers
New member
It's been a year and a half since NAA tossed out a fake prototype at SHOT 2016 and they still haven't even finished prototypes to decide which will be the final design for production............NAA is going to make another run of Rangers. Read that on the NAA Forum.
I'm thinking they cannot make the thing at a cost effective price. The whole spiel with the Ranger II has been to make it for less than what the original Ranger was and so far that hasn't happened.
I would not hold my breath on the Ranger II.