Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns .44 Open Top

It's here! It's here!





It locks up tight, timing is good, action is smooth, and I haven't even taken it apart yet.

Got some really crappy Remington .44 Special ammo.... only about half the cases have a crimp. A few of the uncrimped ones won't even chamber all the way because the case mouth still has a tiny amount of bell.... ugh. Oh, well, I'll pull the bullets from those, and shoot out the rest of them. I gotta get my press bench set up, and I'll load up some black powder cartridges!

Very cool. That model was actually submitted to the US Military to replace the 1860 Army but the Army wanted some improvements, one of which was a closed top, like on the Remington. Colt responded by designing the 1873 SAA.

PS Those guns are easy as can be to take down to the last screw and small part and reassemble.

Cool!

Why don't you just crimp the ones that need it and shoot them.

There is no more elegant handgun than the 1860 Army and the 1872 is the ultimate evolution of it.

I've had to recrimp a bunch of shatay Remington ammo over the years but once recrimped, it's almost like somebody reputable made it. So get some fuel for that open top and get us a range report.

Crimping them down does make more sense than pulling the bullets!

At the moment,though, I do not have my loading bench set up. A project that I need to get squared away soon.

Elegant is the right word. It is much more sleek and svelte than the SAA... which I always thought looked kind of top heavy and clunky. (I still want one, though... )

It fits (snugly) in the 1860 holster, which will do for the moment. I'll make a proper holster for it soon.

By coincidence, I was carrying my 1860 yesterday around the house and property, and it fits snugly in the holster for my Colt SAA. It's like it was made for it, other than about a half inch of the barrel sticking out the bottom.

Where are you located? If you were close to me, I'd crimp them for you, It would only take a minute or two. I'll bet others here would do the same.

Congrats. That is one fine looking weapon. I owned a Richards conversion in 38 Spec. (replica) at one time. Be sure and limit yourself to Cowboy type loads. I'm sure you already knew that. Warm loads can stretch the frame.

I have a different opinion on that. Frame stretching is mainly a problem with brass frames. Standard, SAAMI Spec, Non-Plus-P, loads should be fine, I would think. These guns are made of modern steel, and the open top Colt design isn't as weak as often made out to be. The steel arbor firmly affixed to the back of the steel frame is what mainly bears the explosive force when fired, and that connection is pretty strong, and should hold up fine.

I don't think they're as "weak" as they're made out to be either. Still, I have no intention of shooting anything "hot" through this gun. If I can get a 245 grain SWC moving about 850 fps, that would take care of anything I would ever need it to do. That ain't that hot, and not much different from the .45ACP that many people rely on. I might even be able to do that with Swiss black powder! (if I can get any now!). Even GOEX might get me somewhat close to that speed.

Hickok likes it.

In conventional BP revolvers, it's the arbor and wedge that take the beating. With a steel frame, securely mounted arbor and a hardened & fitted wedge, they will run a long time on standard-for-platform loads. I'd bet the maker took that into account and puts extra effort into the cartridge conversions, Anytime I need a good hard wedge, I order Uberti.

https://www.thesixgunjournal.net/el-californio-the-italian-1860-army/