Gun shows aren’t always bad. Most of the time, the modern gun show is terrible. It’s a waste of time, and it’s occupied by overpriced guns trying to draw in impulse purchasers. Not to mention piles of Chinesium, crappy knives and the sound of a stun gun every 45 seconds. Beef jerky tends to be the redeeming factor of the modern gun show. However, there are gems amongst the rabble, and one gem I found was the Cimarron 1862 Pocket Navy Conversion.
When I say gem, I’m applying that purely to my opinions. I like weirdish guns. I’m also partial to open-top revolvers. Open-top revolvers have lots of limitations due to the lack of a top strap and the modern pressures of smokeless cartridges. Open-top revolvers are extinct in modern gun design, but replicas of those old Colt’s exist. Mostly in cap and ball formats, but Cimarron has brought us an open top 1862 Pocket Navy conversion.
Cimarron went with the .380 ACP to keep things small and ensure the pressure isn’t an issue with an open-top design. This is what drew me to the Cimarron 1862 Pocket Navy conversion. It’s kind of weird—an 1862 conversion in a caliber designed in 1908—perfectly weird in an open-top revolver design. I had to have it. I even got a good deal on it because I don’t see many people being fans.
If you want a .380, it’s likely not a five-shot single-action-only gun with a 6-inch barrel. If you want a Western revolver, it won’t be a .380. If you like weird and odd, then this gun is for you. Most people don’t like weird and odd.
The Cimarron 1862 Pocket Navy Conversion
A 6-inch barrel doesn’t exactly scream pocket pistol. If you look at original Colts in the pocket Navy configuration, the barrel is often trimmed. It’s never a snub nose, but it gets close. Uberti even makes a 3.5-inch version, but importing it is difficult, if not impossible. A little thing called the Gun Control Act makes importing small caliber pistols difficult due to a ridiculous sporting purpose point system.
To have enough points to be imported, it seems like the Cimarron 1862 Pocket Navy Conversion has to have that absurdly long barrel. It kinda sucks. I would love a 3.5-inch version, but it’s fine. It’s not like I’m going to carry it. (But it would be cool if I could.)
The Pocket Navy Conversion looks fantastic. The barrel, trigger and cylinder are blued. The cylinder has a beautiful engraving that looks nice. The frame and hammer are steel and color case-hardened. The grip frame and trigger guard are made of brass. Finally, it’s topped with smooth wood grips.
There is no ejection rod and no cylinder door. However, with the hammer down or fully cocked, the rounds sit offset enough to avoid falling out. At half cock, the rounds align with the loading gate and fall right out. You’ll need a punch rod of some sort to eject empty cases, but it’s easy to deal with.
The sights are as simple as they get. The front sight is a brass bead and the rear sight is a small notch on the hammer. When cocked, the rear sight aligns with the front sight. There isn’t much more to the gun; it’s simple and sweet.
Blasting Away With the Pocket Navy Conversion
The Cimarron delivers an excellent tactile feeling when you cock the hammer. You get three distinct clicks as the hammer locks to the rear. The hammer’s rear serration makes it easy to thumb to the rear, even when your hands are drenched in sweat. Speaking of sweat, the smooth grips don’t offer a great grip with wet hands, but it’s mostly fine.
The trigger delivers a short and light trigger pull that breaks at well under 5 pounds. The little .380 offers mild recoil and is plenty of fun to shoot. From a 6-inch barrel, there is very little concussion, muzzle rise or recoil. It’s mild shooting, and that’s nice for a cowboy gun. The Pocket Navy Conversion won’t be confused with a target pistol.
This was the first time I ever used a front sight combined with a hammer as the rear sight. The small notch is easy enough to align with the front sight. When the hammer drops, the rounds tend to hit high, like 3 to 4 inches high. At 15 yards, the groups aren’t impressive, and a five-round group fired nice and slow results in a roughly 4-inch group.
That’s not super impressive. I can typically create a decent ragged hole with a similar-sized gun. Luckily, it’s still accurate enough to have fun. I like having fun, and to me, hitting poppers and gongs is fun, and this gun is accurate enough to do that.
Quick Draw
The Cimarron 1862 Pocket Navy Conversion handles well. It’s fun to shoot and quite reliable. That hammer goes hard, and I never had any failures to fire with the Pocket Navy Conversion. The little gun runs nicely and is still quite fun to shoot. I wish the 3.5-inch barrel was available, but maybe I can find a competent smith to do that.
While it might not be capable of making Wild Bill’s famous shot to the heart, it’s still fun, reliable and weird enough for those gun owners or collectors who like something a little different.
Specifications
Barrel Length – 6 inches
Overall Length – 11 inches
Weight – 30 ounces
Caliber – .380 ACP
Capacity – 5
MSRP – $647.39
Where To Buy
Accuracy – ***
The Cimarron 1862 Pocket Navy has a long barrel and sight radius but is not impressive in its accuracy. I can fire my S&W DAO J frames and achieve better accuracy.
Ergonomics – ****
The Pocket Navy Conversion handles like any other six gun but feels a bit unbalanced with the longer barrel and small frame. The lack of an ejection rod also makes it tricky to unload and reload.
Looks – *****
Look at this thing! It looks fantastic. Uberti/Cimarron did a great job making the little gun look brilliant.
Reliability – *****
The gun always went bang. The hefty hammer strike does its job well. Even some hard-primered cheap stuff goes bang when the trigger’s pulled.
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