The Last Clements 50s

[brucebuilds]

The story begins over 10 years ago, when I first became aware of Dave Clements, and his .50 caliber Ruger Old Army conversions. I remember thinking it was an intriguing idea, and someday I might be interested in building one. Sometime during that period I became more interested in the ROA, and after production ceased I began to collect them. As far as I can tell from my research I now have at least one of every factory variant produced, and that left me thinking that non-factory variants would be the next logical step. About 16 months ago I decided to add a Clements .50 to the collection, and when I visited his website discovered, to my horror, that he had stopped making them some time ago. To make matters worse, Dave had announced that 2020 was pretty much booked up for work, and he was going to take on just a few custom projects for 2021, before retiring for good.
I emailed him through his website and asked if it might be possible to book a 50 conversion as one of his limited projects for 2021. He called me a few hours later and we had a great conversation, during which he told me he had enough barrel material left for one blued and one stainless conversion, and if I wanted one he would do it in 2020. After about 3 seconds of thought I asked him if I could have both barrels and he said yes, that would make it easier for him to finish out the parts. So, off went two ROA pistols, and then the long wait began. Dave called just before Christmas and said both guns were done. We agreed that shipping during the Christmas season invited problems so I asked him to wait until the first week of January the send the guns home.
They arrived a couple days ago, and they're every bit as good as I had hoped them to be. I opted to leave the barrels in their original contour, thinking a little extra weight would be helpful. The stainless is a beautiful bead blasted finish and the blued model wears a Clements bright blue. Dave didn't keep records on how many conversions he produced, but he estimates it was less than 200. These are the last two he will ever make. The barrels are no longer available, he is retiring soon. I'm so glad I sent that email!!!

 

[MrTom]

Wow. I like that pair. Damn I like that black one.
What sort of load/bullet are you going to use and what current handguns will these be comparable to?

 

[brucebuilds]

The bullets have to be custom cast. At .488 diameter they're an oddball, and I bought molds a year ago in anticipation of delivery. The starting load is 48-50 grains of Triple 7. Behind a 190 gr. round ball that gives you 1250 fps, and behind a 250 gr. cast semiwadcutter you get 1150. That puts it at a very hot .44 special level, or very low .44 magnum. The few guys who published reports on this conversion say it's relatively easy to achieve .41 magnum power levels. I'm really interested in heavier bullets vs higher velocities. Regular ROA revolvers do best with pure lead projectiles but this one requires some tin to harden up the bullet a little so it can handle the higher velocities. I'm looking forward to a fun year with these two, getting them dialed in just right.

 

[michiganmuzzy]

Those are beauties. Cant wait hear your range reports.

 

[texasscott]

The story begins over 10 years ago, when I first became aware of Dave Clements, and his .50 caliber Ruger Old Army conversions. I remember thinking it was an intriguing idea, and someday I might be interested in building one. Sometime during that period I became more interested in the ROA, and after production ceased I began to collect them. As far as I can tell from my research I now have at least one of every factory variant produced, and that left me thinking that non-factory variants would be the next logical step. About 16 months ago I decided to add a Clements .50 to the collection, and when I visited his website discovered, to my horror, that he had stopped making them some time ago. To make matters worse, Dave had announced that 2020 was pretty much booked up for work, and he was going to take on just a few custom projects for 2021, before retiring for good.
I emailed him through his website and asked if it might be possible to book a 50 conversion as one of his limited projects for 2021. He called me a few hours later and we had a great conversation, during which he told me he had enough barrel material left for one blued and one stainless conversion, and if I wanted one he would do it in 2020. After about 3 seconds of thought I asked him if I could have both barrels and he said yes, that would make it easier for him to finish out the parts. So, off went two ROA pistols, and then the long wait began. Dave called just before Christmas and said both guns were done. We agreed that shipping during the Christmas season invited problems so I asked him to wait until the first week of January the send the guns home.
They arrived a couple days ago, and they're every bit as good as I had hoped them to be. I opted to leave the barrels in their original contour, thinking a little extra weight would be helpful. The stainless is a beautiful bead blasted finish and the blued model wears a Clements bright blue. Dave didn't keep records on how many conversions he produced, but he estimates it was less than 200. These are the last two he will ever make. The barrels are no longer available, he is retiring soon. I'm so glad I sent that email!!!

Those are absolutely beautiful guns. I once had an Old Army and was going to do the conversion. I never did and eventually sold it. I truly regret it after looking at ur two works of art.

 

[Hanshi]

Those are indeed good looking revolvers, and they have something of a "pugnacious" appearance with those stout barrels. With a larger, heavier ball or bullet I'd bet they pack a whollop!

 

[trickyricky]

Thise qualify as "gun porn". Kudos for making plans to shoot them.
Would love to hear the results.