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Re: Nitro Muzzle Loading Conversion
Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 3:27 pm
by Sim G
Sea Wolf, I wasn't baulking at your Taurus, but the 500 quid Armscor. I'm fully aware of the work that Westlake has to do to them and when asking him to supply the gun as well, then you can see where the money goes. But, when I saw the Armscor at Phoenix, I was led to believe that the guns are manufactured for Westlake as a dedicated UK muzzle loader. As far as I'm aware, he does no work to the Armscor the way he did your Taurus, only makes the loading presses for the Armscor.
Oh, I do have a nitro revolver! It was actually done a long time ago, well before "Nitroing" muzzle loaders was as popular, in 1996 when we could still have cartridges in our pistols!
Re: Nitro Muzzle Loading Conversion
Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 5:24 pm
by SeaWolf
No I wasn't thinking you were having a go at my gun. Each to his own. I'm not thin skinned. 50 years at sea cured me of that a long time ago ! smile2
Didn't realise Alan was bringing them in from Armscor already converted. Mind you, as someone else mentioned before, there's no way he could bring in section 5 guns anyway to later convert them. My first approach to him was to convert one of the six Brocock air cartridge revolvers I am stuck with now they are illegal, and he said he couldn't even take delivery of one from me. Crazy situation ... I can have six of these on my ticket, but I can't sell them to anyone else or even have an RFD do conversion work of repairs to them ! My only option with these is to keep them, or give them to the Police for destruction. At £250 each the second option is a no-no, unless they want to compensate me. I do still use them for practising in my little range in the garage. Same with bringing in unconverted revolvers and converting them. Not allowed.
I suppose it's economics of scale. If Armscor are only doing this on a small scale for us Brits then it is bound to cost more than a standard gun. The Taurus long barrelled guns are the same. They only make them for the UK market I believe, hence the heavy price tag compared to a standard Taurus revolver.
Re: Nitro Muzzle Loading Conversion
Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 5:41 pm
by Dannywayoflife
Well I think they look great fun! I'm going to get one!
Re: Nitro Muzzle Loading Conversion
Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 6:00 pm
by Sim G
SeaWolf wrote:I suppose it's economics of scale. If Armscor are only doing this on a small scale for us Brits then it is bound to cost more than a standard gun. The Taurus long barrelled guns are the same. They only make them for the UK market I believe, hence the heavy price tag compared to a standard Taurus revolver.
No, believe it or not, the long barrelled Taurus' revolvers are, or should I say were a standard Taurus catalog item, obviously without the coat hanger out of the back. They were called Silhouette Revolvers. As for the price in the rest of the free world, about 350 dollars, a third of the UK's price. Scroll down just a little way on here;
http://www.lisc.net/p603.htm
It looks like Taurus have now dropped the Silhouette's so we'll not see any more in the UK....
And, I've got a Taurus as well, I'm not slagging them off!! :lol: :lol:
Re: Nitro Muzzle Loading Conversion
Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2012 8:55 am
by SeaWolf
There's still some room for economics of scale. What you very aptly call "the coathanger"

is not just a screw in extra. To make the gun legal in the UK it has to be "an integral part of the firearm". In other words it must not be easily removable. How it is attached I know not. Sufficient to say that now that Alan has removed it, the stump is still there, so he had to physically cut it off. This must have added to the cost of manufacture specially for this market.
BUT
I agree with you wholeheartedly that someone was making a killing on the job. Again, everything is worth exactly what someone will pay for it, and the negotiations with UK sellers must have taken this into account. Eventually they would have come up with a price where everyone made decent profit and someone made a bit more.
Historically, knowing the hassle Alan Westlake went through with his long arm .22 pistols with the police (And still does in a way ... they didn't like being taken to court and losing !) a lot of dealers here might have taken the view that the possible hassle wasn't worth the risk unless the rewards were great, and so the price went up. I can understand that. I'm retired, but still get offered work. I usually refuse, but last year someone offered me so much that I ended up in the Baltic Sea for six weeks with a big boost to my toy fund (Now depleted a little by the conversion fee for the Taurus ! :lol: ). Everything and everyone has its price !
You're right. Someone probably did make a bit of a killing, but the guns still sold. That's business !
Re: Nitro Muzzle Loading Conversion
Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 10:42 am
by 25Pdr
I must admit, I'm interested, especially the price...
Target Shooter Review...
Seems that spent primers can be ejected similar to 38 cartridges.....Now can anybody suggest a way to combine a suitable powder charge in a consumable package fixed to a Boolit that is sized just enough to enable it to be seated by hand??
That would make PP/SP with a Pistol a practical possibility.
Re: Nitro Muzzle Loading Conversion
Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 10:50 am
by dromia
Paper cartridges?
Re: Nitro Muzzle Loading Conversion
Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 11:10 am
by SeaWolf
Looks like a good magazine. Never seen it in the paper shops. Tried googling it to get a subscription but none of the links work !
Where do I get "Target Shooter" magazine ?
Re: Nitro Muzzle Loading Conversion
Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 11:24 am
by 25Pdr
dromia wrote:Paper cartridges?
Good start.....What about a hollow based Boolit? I wonder if you could get say..2.5/3.0 Grains of Bullseye or Red Dot in one and seal the end with paper.
I was also thinking about something along this line..The propellant is a solid pellet, although they only seem to produce them in Black Powder substitute. Anybody ever used them? Are they as dirty as Black Powder?
Hogdon Black Powder Pellets.
BTW...Maybe Ovenpaa could design a speed loader for the Shotgun Primers.

Re: Nitro Muzzle Loading Conversion
Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 11:26 am
by 25Pdr
SeaWolf wrote:Looks like a good magazine. Never seen it in the paper shops. Tried googling it to get a subscription but none of the links work !
Where do I get "Target Shooter" magazine ?
SeaWolf When you click on the Link, wait a wee while and the Magazine should download.
