[chilean-hunter]

I have installed a "kirst konverter" to convert the 1858 Remington Pietta (which was bought at Cabelas it has target sights) from black powder to 45 long colt. I have filed polished and blued the frame of the 1858 to complete the conversion so that i can use the loading gate which the kirst comes with.
I have been shooting winchester cowboy loads though it 250g RNFP.

I have a 250g Lee R.E.AL. mold which i use for my Ruger O.A.

a 200g lee conical mold for the Rem 1858

and round 454 round ball mold for the Rem 1858

now i am thinking of re-loading the empty cases, will any of these molds work?

and do i need to crimp the case?

what loads do u use?

 

[chilean-hunter]

for anyone interested!!!
i loaded 10 with 250g lee REAL and 5g trailboss and 10 with 200g lee black powder conicals at 6g trailboss just for an accuracy check and to make sure nothing was going to break!! got the loading data from IMR's web site.

mmm boy can this gun shoot straight!! those factory cowboy loads from winchester suck in this gun, a five inch group at 10 yards!!

the hand loads how ever man what a difference the 250g did a 1.5 inch group at 10 yards and the 200g did a 2 inch group at 10 yards and i wasn't even really trying my best!!
i am going to load more and test them out to 25 yards or more.

 

[MMichaelAK]

Chilean HUnter. Sounds good!
I load a 250 grain Laser Cast RNFP lead bullet over 5 grains of Trail Boss in MagTech and R-P cases for my Cowboy level loads in my Ruger Old Armys with the R&D Conversion cylinders.
I wasnt happy with the Winchester Cowboy ammo either but the brass is good.
I do get good accuracy out of the TrailBoss handloads and decent velocity out of the ROA's 7 1/2 inch barrels. Best Ive shot was a 2 inch group at 25 yards off the bench and 6 out of 6 shots on a 6 inch steel spinner at 50 yards for a lunch bet.

 

[James Gates]

I think over time you will really enjoy that Kirst cylinder. We have with working with them on two Ruger Old Army's
We have them setup as hunting guns (45 Colt) and/or backup guns (percussion) when ML hunting.
We have tried all matter of powders. Trail Boss is good for lighter loads, but for heavy hunting loads we have gone to 38 grs of Swiss and a 200 gr bullet for the 45 Colt in the Kirst.
We tried some Triple 7, but did not like the goo left in the bottom of the percussion cylinder or left in the bottom of the 45 Colt hulls.
I did notice that the Swiss loads shot pretty close to the fixed sights on the 5 1/2" ROA.
Blackhorn 209 works real good in the 45 Colt, but not the percussion cylinder(even with extrs hot #11's)
Regards, James