Thinking about how to cartridge convert a LeMat

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

 

I was looking at a photograph of a reproduction LeMat revolver the other day, and I found myself thinking, "Ah, I can see how to convert it to fire cartridges!"

 

First off, forget the shotgun barrel.   Just leave that alone and make no attempt to convert it.  This keeps it simpler.   
 

Then, you take the existing cap and ball cylinder, shave off the nipples, add a Kirst style ring to have the firing pin, and wahlah! you can load cartridges in through the back.   No other modifications needed.   Yeah, it would be cumbersome to load and unload, you'd have to take off the barrel ever time, but it would still be doable.   Based on the photos, I have no idea which cartridge you could use.   It looks like it would have to be a really short one.   Assuming the .44 caliber ones are the same .44 caliber as the various Colt reproductions on the market, the cylinders are not fat enough for a .44 Russian, and from the photos, the OAL of the cartridge would be kinda short.  You'd probably have to use either hollow base or heeled bullets too.

So, does this sound at least plausible?  If anyone's got a repro LeMat, got a rough guess on what cartridge would actually fit?

Purely a thought experiment at the moment, but perhaps an interesting one.

 

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

Look up information on the LeMat used in Westworld.  It was converted for Ed Harris's character.

 

https://westworld.fandom.com/wiki/Custom_LeMat

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

7 minutes ago, Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933 said:

Look up information on the LeMat used in Westworld.  It was converted for Ed Harris's character.

 

https://westworld.fandom.com/wiki/Custom_LeMat

 

Yeah, I would not mind one in .38 Short Colt.  But aren't all the reproductions on the market .44's?

[WOLFY]

39 minutes ago, H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 said:

 

Yeah, I would not mind one in .38 Short Colt.  But aren't all the reproductions on the market .44's?

 

sleeve the barrel and cylinder down to 38 S&W

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

1 hour ago, WOLFY said:

 

sleeve the barrel and cylinder down to 38 S&W

Yeah...   But now we're getting complicated again. 

 

[irish ike, SASS #43615]

But you can only use 5 of the cylinders. And how would you handle re-loads if needed?

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

14 minutes ago, irish ike, SASS #43615 said:

But you can only use 5 of the cylinders. And how would you handle re-loads if needed?

 

My other pistol will be a Colt.   Or maybe a S&W.

[Injun Ryder, SASS #36201L]

3 hours ago, Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933 said:

Look up information on the LeMat used in Westworld.  It was converted for Ed Harris's character.

 

https://westworld.fandom.com/wiki/Custom_LeMat

 

If you haven't found it buried in Larsen's link, there is an actual cartridge fining LeMat:

 

 

[Blackhawk Kid]

Don't know if you can ever find one but John Gren used to convert the lemat to 38 S&W. He even offered the shotgun barrel conversion to 38 also. I think the one in Westworld is one of his or maybe a copy by another smith. Always kick myself for not having him do one. I think most of the cylinders were done like a R&D type with the firing pins,the shotgun barrel was done by cutting it and making a split barrel system that sits inside the cylinder and making a Sharps style firing pin arrangement (hard to explain but it used a angled firing pin, If you watch one of the westworld episodes where he loads it you'll see what I mean). They only did 38 S&W so they were pretty low pressure and the cut barrel design didn't seem to affect the guns. Be very careful with the shotgun barrel rifling (atf). Hope this helps I'd like to see kirst or R &D  offer a conversion cylinder for the Lemat. 

[WOLFY]

forgotten weqpons has a youtube video about the cartridge lemats

[Pee Wee #15785]

A gunsmith by the name of John Glen converted several around the 70's or 80's.  Guns and Ammo at the time did a wright-up about him.  He over sold his service and ended up going out of business.

[Cholla]

Watch the TV series Johnny Ringo and see if you can see how they did it in the first show.