Rechambering an 1877 Colt

tactical870

tactical870

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I'm in the process of buying an 1877 Colt thunderer in 38 LC. It is restricted and I intend to rechamber it to an antique status caliber. Any tips? What is the gun capable of handling? I've thought of .40 S&W and headspacing on the case mouth or maybe 41 mag? Either way I intend to rebarrel or resleeve as well as rechambering. Thanks
 
the " lightning " is the .38 version.
the "thunderer" is the .41 version.

ht tp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_Model_1877

so double check as to what your are buying .

remember that these are blackpowder rounds , and while they aren't fragile , they are over 100 years old .
when your rechamber it , you have to think in terms of not going past the max pressure of the original blackpowder round
 
Assuming the cylinder is thick enough to permit rechambering, chose a cartridge that is not only not on the no go list but also uses and inside lubed bullet. The 41 colt is a heeled bullet.

cheers mooncoon
 
Altering it will destroy any antique value it might have.
If you want an antique shooter, it would be better to just get a revolver that already has antique status.
Mechanically, there are better shooters than the '77 & '78 Colts. These do not have a good reputation for mechaincal reliability, and are very tricky to repair.
If you are dead set on altering it, I would suggest sleeving down, rather than opening it up. This would increase cylinder wall thickness, rather than decreasing it.
I would suggest 8mm Lebel. The ammunition is quite easy to duplicate.
A reamer would have to be special ordered; this would not be an insignificant cost. Pieces of 8mm barrel could be used for sleeving the bore and the chambers.
 
Thanks for the tips. I'm leaning towards going to a downloaded .41 mag as the bullets and brass are readily available unlike 41 colt with heeled bullets. 8mm wouldn't be a bad option though as I already have an 1892 in 8mm......
 
If you re-chamber to anything large then 38 you will potentially have a live hand grenade in your paw. The gun is capable of handling the cartridge it was designed for, be it a 38 LC or 41 LC..., remember these were originally black powder rounds and did generate the pressures of modern rounds.
If you want something bigger buy something modern, it will not rip your hand apart or otherwise severely injure you or those around you.
Be careful my friend!!!!
 
41 magnum is bigger than a 41 colt, and the 1877 41 colt cylinder already has very thin walls so I would shy away from that. You could chamber it to use 41 colt brass with an inside lubed bullet and use a 38-40 barrel.
 
It's a tough decision to decide what to do. I don't think I could rechamber it to .32 h&R magnum and stay antique as it would probably still chamber .32 colt. Anyone thought about 7.62x25? It would make a cheap shooter with factory ammo and should be an easy rechamber.....
 
7.62 x 25 is a very high pressure round, I cannot imagine that the gun could handle a factory round without blowing up.
 
After all the colts I've seen capable of firing factory .45 acp, 455 and 44 special loads I just figured a sleeved down 38 would be more than strong enough for pretty much anything I could throw at it.....
 
the 1877 frame is smaller and weeker than other 45 and 455 caliber colts eh.
i think its a piss poor platform for rechambering to anything other than 41 LC.
Maby get a 41 LC cylinder and barrel for it at least it will be antique then and safe with BP loads.
 
Here is a size comparison of a SAA & Thunderer. SAA are about the size of a K-frame S&W, the Thunderer I'd say was like a J-frame.

The chamber walls are so thin on these when chambered for .41 Colt, you will not be able to go any bigger than that. If I still had mine I don't know that I'd even fire my .41 Colt BP reloads in it because it was so fragile looking.

ieid4y.jpg
 
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