Range Report 01JAN2026: .45 Colt in a Reworked Remington Conversion

My 5-in. Remington New Model Army with reproduction ammo.  Note the reshaped web on the loading lever.

Introduction
I posted an article in May of 2025 discussing black powder conversion revolvers in which I compared my 8-in. Remington New Model Army to my 5-in. Remington (both Piettas, fortunately) when using a Howell conversion cylinder loaded with .45 Colt ammunition.  You can read that article HERE.  Unsurprisingly, the 8-in. Remington significantly outshot its shorter-barreled cousin--the longer barrel makes a real difference in both accuracy and muzzle energy; a more subtle difference, however, lay in the fact that the 8-in. Remington had been reworked by Gary Barnes (https://cartridgeconversion.com/home-page) to make it more accurate, while the 5-in. revolver was shot directly out of the box for that trial.

I have since had the short-barreled NMA reworked by Mr. Barnes (see the photograph above).  He did a trigger and action job, corrected the angle of the forcing cone to 11 degrees, refinished he grips, and ground out the web of the loading lever to make it look more like Remingtons of the period.  See the example below taken from A Study of Colt Conversions and Other Percussion Revolvers by R. Bruce McDowell.  This article will discuss my testing of the reworked revolver.

A Remington police model conversion revolver, shown with both the conversion cylinder and the percussion cylinder.

Ammunition
The ammunition used for this test was my hand-loaded recreation of the M-1873 government load, with a hand-cast bullet from a custom mold designed to replicate the original over 30 grains of Swiss 3F powder; the biggest differences are that I am using Boxer-primed cartridges rather than the government's Benét-primed copper cartridges and that I am using 3F rather than 2F, as the originals did (I plan to do more comparisons of performance using the 2F powder another time).  When fired from the 5-in. barrel these cartridges produce a Muzzle Velocity of 822 feet/second, for a Muzzle Energy of 383 foot-pounds (23 ft.-lbs. higher than a modern M1911A1 shooting .45 ACP FMJ government issue!).  To learn more about the historical ammunition and how I recreate it, read the article I posted HERE.

My recreation of the original ammunition and Franklin Arsenal cartridge packet.

Shooting Methods and Conditions
Most of today's shooting was done at 15 yards shooting offhand (one handed, of course) according to the revolver Manual of Arms from CPT Stanhope Blunt's 1889 Instructions in Rifle and Carbine Firing for the United States Army.  I shot one table of fire, however, using Blunt's instructions for "snap shooting," in which the sights are not used.  This more closely replicates real combat shooting with a revolver:

    832. Owing to the unsteady support that the hand gives to the weapon the methods of aiming previously prescribed for the rifle and carbine cannot be advantageously followed; this is especially true of the practice mounted, where the motion of the horse and the very limited time available for the delivery of the fire permit neither the steadiness nor deliberation so requisite for success with the other arms.

    833. The best results will then be obtained by following the method of snap shooting; for which the pistol should be held raised and then quickly projected at the mark and fired without pause or any effort to align it upon the object, the action being somewhat similar to that employed in throwing a missile from the hand and from the same raised position of the arm. (Blunt 1889 p. 309.)

He then gives the specifics of practicing this skill, recommending that troopers start by aiming at small black circles painted on their barracks walls (id. p. 310), and goes on to say:

    838. The clasp of the thumb and second and third fingers should be firm, the first finger being on the trigger and the little finger underneath the end of the handle. If the clasp is too high up on the handle the muzzle will be elevated; if too low, the muzzle will be depressed. The clasp should not be so tight as to communicate tremor to the pistol, yet sufficiently firm to sustain, when firing with ball cartridges, the force of the recoil. After the discharge the position of raise pistol will be resumed.

    839. These motions will at first be executed rather slowly, the instructor correcting the positions if necessary, and the motions quickened as the soldier acquires the habit of leveling or projecting instinctively the pistol in the same manner that the forefinger would be pointed at an object. (id. p. 311.)

All aimed shots were taken using a full sight and a 6:00 hold (not the snap shooting, obviously) without attempting to aim off.  For reference, the black disks on the targets are 3 inches in diameter.

For the purpose of comparing accuracy in today's testing I used the String Test, a method dating to before the Civil War which takes into account both group size and the distance of the group from the center of the group to the point of aim in a single measurement.  All historical shooters should be using this process to gauge their accuracy--please, no more "group size" numbers!  To learn more about the String Test and how to use it, along with a video link, see HERE.

Results
I shot 5 Tables of Fire consisting of 12 rounds each, 4 with aimed fire and 1 with Snap Shooting.

Table One, aimed fire.

Table of Fire One: Aimed Fire
Rounds: 12
String: 28.25 in.
String Test: 2.35 in./rd.

Table Two, snap shooting.

Table of Fire Two: Snap Shooting
Rounds: 12
String: 51.5 in.
String Test: 4.29 in./rd.

Table Three, aimed fire.

Table of Fire Three: Aimed Fire
Rounds: 12
String: 30.0 in.
String Test: 2.5 in./rd.

Table Four, aimed fire.

Table of Fire Four: Aimed Fire
Rounds: 12
String: 33.5 in.
String Test: 2.79 in./rd.

Table Five, aimed fire.  Note that the holes on the right side were from a neighbor with poor aiming control, and not part of this string.

Table of Fire Five: Aimed Fire
Rounds: 12
String: 34.0 in.
String Test: 2.83 in./rd.

Conclusions
When I shot this revolver before it was modified I achieved a string test of between 3-5 inches/round; today I achieved results between 2 to 3 in./rd., which is a significant improvement.  Note that I consider my own personal standard to be that I should be able to shoot a string test of less than 3 in./rd., and that all aimed tables of fire achieved that result today; even the snap shooting went well, with all the hits in an area less than the size of a man's torso, so this represents a perfectly acceptable combat shooting result.  I would say that Mr. Barnes' work has made a significant improvement and that this revolver is capable of excellent accuracy.

The 30 grains of 3F was perfectly controllable, much more so than the up to 40 grains I have tried previously.  In addition, the revolver held up very well and suffered none of the damage the heavy loads I have previously used caused.  I didn't clean the revolver at all during testing except to wipe off the base pin after each cylinder of fire.