Howell Old West Conversions Shop

In 1969, Kenny Howell, a tool and die maker by trade, began restoring original Colt Cartridge conversions and other antique firearms for collectors. After many years of restoring antique firearms, Kenny built his first Richards style 1851 Navy replica revolver. He then began building molds for castings needed to build a Richards/Richard-Mason style conversion. These custom made guns required a tremendous amount of hand labor. In 2000, Kenny purchased CNC machines to help improve the manufacturing of the conversion cylinders. Chris King, Ken's longtime neighbor, began working part time for Kenny. Chris' extensive background in manufacturing, CNC programming, training, and quality control brought new processes to the business. In 2007, Chris received a job offer to start a new machine shop and left R&D Gun shop. In 2011, Chris returned to Howell Old West Conversions as a partner and assumed the daily operations. We now offer products to serve the WWII living history community!