I have the very same revolver except its made by Uberti. I load 255 gr hardcast with 5.5 grs of Trailboss for 45 Colt. There should be a comparable loading of Unique that you can use with the same type of boolit. Its just me--but I wouldn't bother with 45 ACP--I would stick with the cowboy cartridge for that pistol.​

 

Just thinking...

Look into how the 45acp cases eject from the conversion cylinder. The 45 Colt is rimmed and may have an easier method of removal from the cylinder. Don't know.

Also the 45 Colt has more potential for bear defense than the 45 acp. Being that it is a revolver and requires that the cylinder is removed for loading/reloading, you will not lose cases.

It may be just me, but shooting 45 acp out of an 1858 Remington is just wrong.

 

I had a .45 ACP cylinder for mine and used 200-grain LRN bullets with 3.5 grains of Bullseye. Very pleasant and accurate. Have since sold the gun, but the Kirst Konversion in .45 ACP worked well.

 

The Remington solid frame revolvers were tough and with modern metal the replicas should be even stronger.
I would go 45 Colt and work up to a good recipe with Unique since you have it.
Here's a quick sampling for what you are after.

45 Colt loaded for cowboy using a 255 grain bullet has no shortage of loads that get you in the 700 to 850 FPS neighborhood. Powders like Titegroup, Red Dot, American Select and Unique to name a few.

Titegroup 4.5 to 5.2 grains
Red Dot 4.6 to 5.6 grains
American Select 4.8 to 5.8 grains
Unique 4.6 to 6.3 grains

I had a Kirst Konversion for my 1861 Remington NMA, but went 44spl with a .429 barrel liner (the bore was badly pitted) I used Green Dot (because I had it) and 240gr cast SWC @ 700 and change.. I also test fired a couple of factory Remington 44spl rounds through it with no ill effects. There was a marked difference in recoil ;D
I had another that was a Rollin White conversion to 44Colt back in the day but ran BP because it was original.


* just a note on extraction. I built an ejector and welded it to the head of the ( Dixie GW) cylinder pin on my 1861. It was out of the way and allowed me to eject sticky brass in the same manner as a SAA. I left the loading lever to keep it locked in place. It was a better option than carrying a pen to poke brass out with.
Here's a couple of pics of the old gal to give you an idea

 

The Remington solid frame revolvers were tough and with modern metal the replicas should be even stronger.
View attachment 663545
View attachment 663561

Dang, I LOVE that revolver. I've been teetering back and forth between a Howell (cheaper) and a Kirst (more expensive, but neater because you can load it like a modern pistol). If I do the Kirst, I may ask you for tips on making the ejector like that. It looks pretty swell.
EVERYONE: Kirst or Howell? And, does anyone know who can lower the hammer a little? It's a long reach for my short thumbs. Also, anyone ever put a rear sight leaf in for a 'real' back sight? Might not be needed, yet, but my eyes aren't getting any younger, and that's a hair of a sight picture to work with. Maybe file the notch out a bit and touch up blue, or add a blade to the back and file it down to 'sight in'?

 

Unique or trailboss.

 

I have had several 1858 Pietta's
3 Conversion cylinders all in 45 Colt.
I do prefer the 5 shot Howells.
So far my favorite load is a 200gr. cast on top of 6.6gr. of Win. 231 or HP-38.

 

I bought my Pietta a few years ago at Cabela's on Black Friday,got her out the door so cheaply I felt bad. It's now a .45 Colt. She likes the 185 grain Missouri Button on top of 6.7 grains of IMR Red or Alliant Red Dot. Standard(non magnum) primer. Hits right to the sights at my 65 yard gong. I also shoot the 185 grain Badman bullet. Both are the .452" H&G 130 type flatbase SWC. Recoil is mild,bullet hits hard,and they both leave the barrel clean. Absolutely no complaints here. Some of my favorite shooting. Ran off 20 rounds of the Badman at sunset today.

The heavier grain bullets hit too high in my pistol,the sights are set up for a 145 grain roundball. That's why I finally settled on the 185 grain SWC after some testing. My pistol didn't like Unique. I couldn't get it to pressure up enough to seal with the light loads,and the cases were sooty. The switch to the faster powders did the trick. It all worked out fine.


Rob

 

I run unique or trailboss loads out of mine, light recoil, fun to shoot all day! It can handle more, but Im not interested in pushing it that hard.. just treat it as cowboy loads and you cant go wrong and it will last forever. Its still a 240grain bullet doing about 900-1000fps. that's pretty darn effective on most things...

I don't have a need to hot-rod mine. if i want max stopping power, I go with a different caliber and firearm suited for it.

 

I got lucky in that my Uberti 1858 Remington was made to replicate a Kirst style conversion revolver made after the Civil War (somewhat). Didn't have to gin up an ejector rod either. It can handle modern SAA 45 Colt loads but I would not use reloading data for the Ruger Blackhawk.

 

That's pretty sweet. The Uberti's seem to have a rather different grip angle than the Piettas. Ubertis are swept back, Piettas are swept forward or undercut. I like the look of the Uberti grip angle better. My Pietta is a pretty gun, I didn't notice the differences in the grip angles till I started asking questions and folks posting pictures. I plan on slightly altering my grip angle. If nothing else, removing material from the frontstrap and left grip panel to alter the way it fits my hands. I love the look of the pistol, it just doesn't fit my hands all that well.

 

If it was me, I'd just stick with FFFg.

 

One other consideration with fixed sight pistols,and that is getting the bullets to hit where the sights are pointed. Point of impact will be affected by charge weight,velocity,powder type,bullet weight,or nose shape. Part of the fun and the excellent sense of achievement is getting the hits to meet the sights. It takes some experimentation,some experience,a feel for the weapon,and sometimes just a little luck. Compounding the challenge is the fact that all firearms are different. What works for us may not work in any other pistol.
I don't know what the OP means by 'wonder powder',but I do know that sometimes a powder change can instantly give you the ballistic and accuracy results you need.

It's a great journey,and all fixed sight owners desiring precision take it at some point. Holding off target never did it for me,I love the experimentation and solving the problem. POI to POA aids greatly in accurate shooting.



Rob

 

While there is much truth to what you say, we are talking replicas here. Sights bend and can be filed or replaced with higher. Find a load that you like that's close and tweek the sights to put it on imo. Just don't get too extreme. I owned a Webley years ago that had the barrel twisted to move the fixed front sight. It was all original and took some tinkering to restore to the original orientation.

I've had the pleasure of visiting up your way once, Brother Rockeye. We hunted ducks and geese out near Kelvington. Pretty country. Plenty cold for my blood even in early October. I also used to have a friend up there who was a gunsmith, he loved to tinker on old mausers, and I think he might have been RCMP. Gus MacM..... He's probably no longer with us, but I could be wrong.

Kelvington is a long ways south of me but I was through there a few times. It's the birthplace of Wendel Clark. He was the classic all round hockey player who hit, scored, and scrapped. Old time hockey at it's finest!
Lots of nice country up here with outstanding hunting and fishing.

Just got a Pietta .45 Colt conversion by Howell as a gift, for my 1858 "Sheriff". I have a Howell for my OA Ruger and shoot 6.0gr Red Dot with 255 cast. It's accurate at 25 yards, but hits about 3" low. With all the Unique you have, I'd try 7.5 to 8.5gr with a 230 or 255gr cast for about 800fps to find a load that will shoot POA ("regulating the load to the sights"). You might consider loading only 5 rounds in your cylinder for "safety sake", and be advised that "dry firing" is not recommended. There is a "spring adapter" available to speed cylinder removal that deletes the "ram assembly" while retaining the "cylinder pin" in place (Midway sells this adapter at a fairly reasonable price.)

Remingtons look odd without the loading lever imo. Check out some of the older conversions where they were deleted to see for yourself. There's a reason they "ribbed" the 1895 ;D

No matter what you decide on OP, the platform is stout and will provide tons of fun. Enjoy!

 

I've had the pleasure of visiting up your way once, Brother Rockeye. We hunted ducks and geese out near Kelvington. Pretty country. Plenty cold for my blood even in early October. I also used to have a friend up there who was a gunsmith, he loved to tinker on old mausers, and I think he might have been RCMP. Gus MacM..... He's probably no longer with us, but I could be wrong.

 

Just got a Pietta .45 Colt conversion by Howell as a gift, for my 1858 "Sheriff". I have a Howell for my OA Ruger and shoot 6.0gr Red Dot with 255 cast. It's accurate at 25 yards, but hits about 3" low. With all the Unique you have, I'd try 7.5 to 8.5gr with a 230 or 255gr cast for about 800fps to find a load that will shoot POA ("regulating the load to the sights"). You might consider loading only 5 rounds in your cylinder for "safety sake", and be advised that "dry firing" is not recommended. There is a "spring adapter" available to speed cylinder removal that deletes the "ram assembly" while retaining the "cylinder pin" in place (Midway sells this adapter at a fairly reasonable price.)

 

I shot my Pietta "Sheriff yesterday using the .45 Colt conversion. At 15 and 25 yards I could keep the 5 rounds within about 3" to 3 1/2" respectively. My best load was with Trail Boss. I was using 6.2gr (Lee dipper thrown charges) of Trail Boss with a home cast 230RN (Lee) bullet. I was surprised to find that combination required a "fine bead" for a POA hit holding 6 O'Clock on the "Bull" (what luck J.B.!). I noticed that the bullets were real close to the end of the cylinder with a loaded COAL of 1.590. I prefer the 255gr bullets, but have had good luck with the 230 (normally used in the .45 ACP) in my 1873; they just don't leave the nice "cookie cutter" holes in paper like the FN. All the cases are Starline and while some fell out of the cylinder unloading, the rest came out using my "BIC" as a punch. The low recoil and relatively fast reloading of the "set up" added to the enjoyment of the 1858.

 

Just me but I would not mix snake and bear duty in a lightly-loaded replica. Sure, snakes no problem but if I found myself and a momma black bear in a mexican standoff, I would not want to have to depend on 200 gr.-ers at 700 fps. Especially in a single-action. Again, just me...

Tim

 

I get what yer sayin', V1Rot8, but in all likelihood, it will be snakes plenty and bears very unlikely. We've had a few close brushes with them over the years, but mostly it has both us and the bears running in opposite directions at full speed! My other pistols include a Glock 9, a Shield, a cheap but capable stainless Rossi 357 with a 4" barrel, and a very accurate Ruger Bearcat in 22lr. All have their strengths and weaknesses on our property, but the Bearcat is best for snakes, the .357 is best for bear, and the 9mm is a good balance. This one will be just one more to add to the pot, and if I were seriously worried about bear on one particular day, the 870 with buckshot would be my first grab over any handgun. Still, I'd rather get along with the bears outside of bear season, if they concede to the same gentlemanly code of conduct!

 

When shooting light cowboy action loads, or even loads appropriate for the strength of the revolver, the 45 ACP shows considerably better velocity consistency than the 45 Colt does.

For example, load the 45 Colt with an acceptable charge of Unique and chronograph with powder near bullet and powder near primer.

Prepare to be dismayed. Even the more filling loads of Trail Boss leave more airspace than desirable when going low with lightweight bullets. Test that as well and get back to me. The lighter you go in bullet weight, and the more mouse farty you get in power levels when chasing SASS suggested minimum levels (sanctioned minimum power levels fly in the face of acceptable ballistic uniformity...this is indisputable) the more unsuited the 45 Colt becomes.

So define what you wanna do....then decide what does it best.

I find it doubtful that a black powder frame would allow much hot loading of the revolver. Since attainable power levels are limited you might want to keep that in mind. For black bear defense keep the 870 handy and leave this revolver at home. For repeat fire, power level and hittability a single action revolver based on a black powder frame ranks low in any situation where “bear defense” is reasonably likely.

 

• Sort of fell into a deal on a R&W 6 hole conversion. I had wanted a Kirst, but the price on the R&W was way lower than anywhere else I'd seen advertised. I took it to our little range on the hunting club, along with 24 hand loaded 240 gr lead/6.5 gr Unique and a 25 round box of 255 gr LRN Winchester 'target' listed at 860 fps. I figured my handloads were 'pipsqueak' loads (they were) and that the Winchester loads would be about the max safe load in my pistol. The handloads were minute of 4" steel target at 25 yards (when I did my part) and a pleasure to shoot. The Winchester loads surprised me both in recoil, report, and 'target dancing'. It was almost a whole 'nother pistol. Reminded me a bit of a 44 magnum. Definitely 'enough power' to handle most anything I'm likely to tangle with. Both were fun to shoot. I'll have to see if I can get some pics up over the weekend.

Thinking about loading up some lightweight loads (not squib, just light) for snakes and what not. I really like this pistol, and the holster I made for it. I also probably need to spend some time over the summer looking for an accuracy load for it. I'm not expecting much due to the type of sights/my eyes, but it shows potential for sure, and I've heard a few of these are plenty accurate. I'm pleased with mine.

 

What's an R&W? Never heard of them. I even googled it and got no response. Picture? Packaging?



Rob

 

Howell's, I've heard them referred to as either R&W or R&D (can't remember, no coffee in my brain yet), my bad. They normally run about $250 plus shipping for a cylinder, I got mine for $220 delivered to my door, new in the box!