NMA 45 Colt conversion Frank L. Osgood

[Eskilgh]

Hi
I purchased this gun the other day.
It was listed as a 5 shot 45 Colt conversion by Frank L. Osgood.
It was said that this information was fetched from the book Remington Large Bore Conversions by R. Phillips.
I do unfortunately not owe a copy of this book. Guess I need to bay one soon (as I already own a few factory/arsenal conversions).

Is there someone here that can help with any additional information about this revolver.
I'm especially interrested in which year mr. Osgood did these conversions and any information about mr. Osgood himself.

Thanks
Best regards
Eskil

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[billt]

Hello Eskil, I have an Osgood conversion in 45 caliber like yours. Mine has a modified hammer and long firing pin similar to yours. The information below is from Roger Phillips’ book (pg 85) where he writes about the Osgood conversions.
"The Fig. 93 five shot revolver is noteworthy for several reasons: the maker is known, the caliber is 45 center-fire, a hinged loading gate (inset right) was provided and the hammer striker was unusually long. Like a specimen once in the Karl Moldenhauer collection, this conversion was one of an unknown number "Re-modeled by Frank L. Osgood, Bangor, Maine, May 28, 1903" according to Mr. Molderhauer. The revolver, one of three known, had a loading gate hinged to a 1/4-inch thick conversion ring-like plate attached by two screws to the recoil shield.
An eyebrow-raising feature observed in one Osgood conversion was a double-pointed hammer nose (Fig 94) much like that seen in Otis Smith's early 1870's No.44 New Army Revolver with "Patent Duplex Hammer" firing both center-fire and rimfire ammunition. Assuming the intent here was the same, the Osgood revolver would have chambered and probably fired both .46 rimfire and .45 Colt center-fire cartridges.
Surprisingly, this well-made conversion lacked an ejector. Before moving to Maine, Osgood operated Osgood's Gun works in Norwich, Connecticut. Besides the Lowell Arms Company, the Springfield Armory and Lt. Henry Romeyn, known to have altered large-bore Remington revolvers, Osgood is so far the only other identified maker of n-Rf A-s conversions".

Your revolver is 45 CF caliber like mine, the Moldenhauer revolver is 44 CF and the one shown in fig. 94 below is for either RF or CF. I have four Osgood conversions listed in my files by serial number and conversion number. They are SN/CN-34071/340, 54392/543, 84257/842 and 84632/846. You may have noticed the conversion numbers are the first three numbers of the serial number. They are located on the back of the loading gate, the cylinder and the conversion ring on the left side of the revolver.
If your numbers are different from the ones on my list I would like to add yours to my list.

Thanks,

Bill

[Eskilgh]

Hi Bill
Thanks a lot for your answer. Very interesting reading. I really liked the "Patented deluxe hammer".
I also thought it was quite strange that a conversion of this quality did not have an ejector rod.

My specimen lacks the conversion number on the loading gate and on the backplate, but it is stamped on the cylinder.

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The numbers on the revolver is 103692(barrel)/104716/104.
Feel free to add it to your list.

Thanks again for a very good reply to my post.