Just Finished- Walker Cartridge Conversion

Tinker Pearce · Feb 1, 2018

Last year I picked up an Armi San Marcos Walker reproduction with a plan to convert it to fire metallic cartridges. You can buy a Kirst converter to fire .45 Colt, and while this is a potent cartridge it seems a little... small for a Walker.

I found that others had the same thought. .45 BPM, .45 Brimstone, .45 Walker... there were any number of variations on that theme. Naturally I chose 'none of the above.' Since I already load .44 Colt (HB) I decided to do a variation on that theme. Use modified .445 Supermag brass with a 200gr. heel-base bullet. The case will hold 50gr. of black powder easily, so using 19th C. naming conventions we're looking at a .44-50, and with the bullet I'll be using call it .44-50/200.

Based on the experience of others and a bit of math I should be able to safely drive the bullet from this gun's 3-1/2" barrel at 1150-1200 fps. for about 600 ft/lbs of energy at the muzzle. Needless to say I will approach this cautiously! It'll be a while before I have the dies and brass assembled so that I can begin experimenting. In the meantime I can shoot .44 Colt.

I still need to mount a front sight and do a little fitting on the grip, but the gun is basically complete. Here's the -mostly- finished gun with a few rounds of .44 Colt-

GOG · Feb 1, 2018

Nasty little thing.

CountryGent · Feb 3, 2018

Very nice. I so dig the classics.

GOG · Feb 3, 2018

I guess I shouldn't have said "little" since it's a Walker.

DunRanull · Feb 3, 2018

Wow, man, far out! The barrel is a little short to give full velocity to your cartridge (blowing a lot of

unburnt powder out the barrel) but a really cool idea... nice piece! That's a real "Josie Wales" pistol.
Ive got a couple of Uberti .44 Remmies Id like to convert someday...

Tinker Pearce · Feb 3, 2018

DunRanull said:
Wow, man, far out! The barrel is a little short to give full velocity to your cartridge (blowing a lot of unburnt powder out the barrel) but a really cool idea... nice piece! That's a real "Josie Wales" pistol.
Ive got a couple of Uberti .44 Remmies Id like to convert someday...

The muzzle-blast with black powder will be EPIC! Smokeless loads will be formulated for the shorter barrel, but I will still lose a couple hundred fps.

Argonaut · Feb 3, 2018

You are downgrading it from the original Walker loading. As a blackpowder revolver it was the most powerful pistol until the advent of the 44 Magnum.

Ura-Ki · Feb 3, 2018

I have two pairs of Replica Remmy 1858's one Pair is " stock" .44 B.P. and the other pair are Full pop .44 magnums, purposefully built FOR that round! I almost went with .45 Colt, but decided .44 Mag was better, especially after trying the .45 Colt conversions on the last pair I had, just couldn't get them to shoot with any thing approaching full house .45 Colt with out serious safety issues! Most impressive combination of revolver and cartridge! That little Walker looks Mean as Hell, bet she kicks like a mule, and puts a big grin on your face!