Taurus conversion

[tim56]

Anyone shooting a Westlake Taurus conversion yet ? Have seen one on this forum but heard nothing yet as to how it shoots. I have a .357 lbr just begging to be converted but not till iv finished this years Hendon postal leage comp and a few other folks are shooting them successfully.

a, are the wad cutters readily available or do you have to get em from Westlakes ?
b, what powder do they recommend and how much ?
c, How do you get on with the authorities ? Is it classed as a muzzle loader.?
e, Does it come with a loading press. ?

Tim)

[Wobbly 2]

Ive been meaning to get around to letting people know how mine shoots, but Ive been really busy.

The revolver feels nice and light compared to a lbr, and sits nice in my hand. And the shortened barrel dosnt seem to effect accuracy, and no tumbled bullets. Because of the shortened length, the foresight has no gaps to the side, when viewed through the rear sight, this may need to be changed.

Ive been messing about with bullets, at first I bought some flat ended wadcutters, these proved difficult to load into the cylinder, and were not accurate. A friend of mine cast some profiled wadcutters, some semi wadcutters, and some round nosed flat points in soft lead. the wadcutters and semi wadcutters, even when coated in alox, appear fairly loose in the cylinder, so for now Im using round nosed flat points, which seem to group quite well. Westlake do not supply wadcutters.

Powder is Herco Im using 3.1 grns

Its classed as a .38 muzzle loader, I had no problems with the authorities, even ordering a spare cylinder. (still waiting for this to be delivered)

It does come with a steel loading press, Ive mounted mine on a piece of wood, to make it more stable.

I have only shot this four times, and everyone wants to try it, so when I get some time on my own, I will try some different bullets, and loads, to see how it gets on.

[DanTheMan]

Here is a pic of Wobbly's pistol - I can't wait to have a crack, I wonder if Westlake's will do a .44 ??
Have you shot it lately ? how are you getting on with loads etc ?

[urx]

hmmmm wonder if they could fit a new .38 barrel as well
it might give some of the air cart taurus pistols a new lease of life

[snock]

My mate is having his conversion done by Alan at the moment. I can't wait to have a go of it once it arrives back.

[GAZZAR15]

How much does it cost?
How much is a spare cylinder?
Thanks
Gary

[Wobbly 2]

If you supply a LBR, the cost is 275 pounds for the conversion, including a loading press. Or Alan can supply a LBR at cost.

An extra cylinder is 150.

You will need a slot for a .38 muzzle loading revolver, and a slot for a spare .38 cylinder.

Mine took 4 months to arrive after ordering.

[Wobbly 2]

Here is a pic of Wobbly's pistol - I can't wait to have a crack, I wonder if Westlake's will do a .44 ??
Have you shot it lately ? how are you getting on with loads etc ?

Dan, when you coming to give it a try ?

[Jim McArthur]

...is there a reason why this conversion, and the LBR's. are always Taurus? Never Smiths, Rugers, etc?

Jim

[GAZZAR15]

Jim
Taurus manufacture the lbr as a section 1 firearm in that the long barrel and Tv aerial on the back are part of the initial manufacturing deal. By changing it to be a muzzle loader you are merely changing it form one form of section 1 to another, which is ok.Smith, Ruger etc do not make section 1 firearms for our market only standard stuff which is section 5 here,(hence largely prohibited) .You are not allowed to convert a prohibited weapon into a section 1 on the premise you could always convert it back to the original spec.
Hope that helps
Gary

[Jim McArthur]

Yes, that explains it perfectly, Gary, thank you!

I figured there had to be some such reason - that for some reason, Taurus was the only manufacturer WILLING to do so.

I own a Taurus revolver and really love it, but I also know that many pistol owners don't regard their build quality as being as good as Smith & Wesson, or Ruger: so I didn't think that "Taurus is just a better gun for the job" was the correct answer.

Jim

[Boom-stick]

...is there a reason why this conversion, and the LBR's. are always Taurus? Never Smiths, Rugers, etc?

Jim

Yes, Cost.

Aside from what GAZZAR15 said being mainly correct, Taurus are only only affordable show in town now, Ruger did play for a while, but they fetch strong money even used you're looking between £700-1000, you can get UK legal Smiths from The PC in Germany but at £1500 would you want to chop one up into a muzzloader?

Same with Freedom Arms, they will produce a run of UK legal pistols if the demand is there but with the minimum order requirements and £2000 a pop, some dealers have had FA pistol's on their shelves for 2 years now.

Same for the JTL thing or whatever it was for 16 million pounds or however much it was.....

You've still got the .357 Alfa's but given the choice and availbility of spares for the Taurus, it's the sensible option.

If Taurus did a run of Westlake based ML revolvers at a good price they would sell like hot cakes IMO.

[Jim McArthur]

Yes, Cost.

Aside from what GAZZAR15 said being mainly correct, Taurus are only only affordable show in town now, Ruger did play for a while, but they fetch strong money even used you're looking between £700-1000, you can get UK legal Smiths from The PC in Germany but at £1500 would you want to chop one up into a muzzloader?

Same with Freedom Arms, they will produce a run of UK legal pistols if the demand is there but with the minimum order requirements and £2000 a pop, some dealers have had FA pistol's on their shelves for 2 years now.

Same for the JTL thing or whatever it was for 16 million pounds or however much it was.....

You've still got the .357 Alfa's but given the choice and availbility of spares for the Taurus, it's the sensible option.

If Taurus did a run of Westlake based ML revolvers at a good price they would sell like hot cakes IMO.

Good points, Boom-Stick!

Jim

[mr smith]

If Taurus did a run of Westlake based ML revolvers at a good price they would sell like hot cakes IMO.

I'd go along with that,never fancied the long barrelled jobbies but Westlake style ones would be hard to resist.

[DanTheMan]

Here is a pic of Wobbly's pistol - I can't wait to have a crack

Finally shot Wobbly's pistol last week, it feels great and was surprisingly accurate but it was shooting with a light charge. The conversion is a work of art as the end result looks and shoots really nice, loading was a simple affair and easier/cleaner than loading a conventional ML pistol. I guess just the price is hard to swallow, but if you want the real pistol feel......

Don't think I could chop my Taurus in though