Do not buy an 1862 Police from Midway

[dmertz99]

Support your local gunsmith. To run well, most Italian replicas could use a good tuning. The smith I use does a fine job on my Ubertis. For less than the cost of a good holster rig. For retail price, you can also buy new well-tuned guns. Italian factories were devastated by the pandemic. A good smith knows how to handle the typical issues these guns have from the factory. I'm happy with all five BP revolvers I've purchased from Midway. I also saved at least $1000. My 2cents.

Donnie

 

[smoothshooter]

I don't know if they get factory seconds or if they are all junk. It took me 4 hrs to get it to even cycle. The cylinder was hitting the frame and the barrel and rough machine work throughout. Buy a used one made before 2020!

For some the pocket revolvers are almost universally bad. The smaller parts with their smaller angles that must fit into tinier recesses must me much more difficult to shape and assemble properly.
I have 4 of them. Bought in different years. All Uberti’s. I hear the Pietta’s are no beter.
45 D (Goon) should weigh in on this subject.

 

[PastorB]

Did you contact Midway first about this problem? They may not know of any problems with that product. If you don't contact them first to talk to them they will never know of anything is wrong with any products they sell. I would doubt that have any way to test all their products, only relay on feed back from customers.

They know, and have known for years, hence their "no return" policy. Maybe at one time Midway was a reputable company, however that time is long past. Just another cash grab, once you pay your money, it is no longer their problem. My issues with them were 8 years ago, took nearly 10 months total to get reimbursed. I spent more time on the phone with them than it was worth, $273. I never was vulgar, abusive, nor did I even raise my voice. even though I was clearly upset, and they would actually hang up on me. I bought a lot of stuff from them in years past, but they will never again has access to one red cent of my money. Midway actually stole money from my bank account, as they had my debit card number on file from being a regular customer. I wish "Good Old Larry" would reimburse me for my time and publicly apologize for his employees being jack-wagons.

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

No merchant I ever dealt with will warranty new guns. The warranty is by the manufacturer. Biggest problem here is that the Italians kind of hold a monopoly on C&B guns. Midway can either stock them or just get out of that market. Taylor's, I think, do a better job of it and will actually market Uberti guns that have been reworked by their own gunsmith(s) 'course you gotta pay for that service.

Would love to see an American manufacturer step up to the plate and bring those guns back to the market in quantity with quality, but I don't really think the market would support it. Would be nice to see somebody bring out an 1860 Army in stainless steel. If I were younger and had the resources, I would make one myself. I can read blueprints and I know how to work a lathe, drill press and milling machine. How hard could it be? People here make long guns all the time.

 

[TrophyGuy]

Just got my Uberti 1862 Police from Midway after a moderate time on the Notify list. Of all the Uberti's, Pietta's and ASM C&B revolvers I own, I have to say this 1862 is the best finished and functional. Perhaps I got lucky, but there is little on any of these revolvers that cannot be tuned up by a hobbyist, and there is a perverse pleasure in correcting their well known inherent faults. These are hobby gun replicas of 150+ year old designs, not life-safety defense tools for law enforcement.

I shop Midway regularly for convenience. It's hard to beat their modern customer interface, almost as robust as Amazon. One could quibble with their no-return policy. They could easily change it with a small adjustment to purchase prices. Nothing is free, including handling defective merchandise returns.

 

[B P Arn]

For what it's worth, I have never had the least bit of trouble with Midway, and I have bought a lot from them over the years.

 

[TrapperDude]

For what it's worth, I have never had the least bit of trouble with Midway, and I have bought a lot from them over the years.

Same here. Thousands and thousands of my dollars have gone to them over the years.

 

[GBG]

Bought an Uberti Colt 3rd Model Dragoon from Midway a couple of months ago. Like others I expected to do some work on the pistol, but as a former machinist I'd say this mismatched collection of roughly machined "parts" beaten together with a claw hammer doesn't even qualify as a decent "revolver kit". I'll keep doing business with Midway, but not with Italian manufacturers.

 

[SPQR70AD]

For what it's worth, I have never had the least bit of trouble with Midway, and I have bought a lot from them over the years.

some guys impossible to please (for 300 bucks) so they should just buy 3rd Gen Colts for a couple of thousand. I got a 1858 Pietta with a shorter barrel and it is the best finished BP I have seen from Italy also when it is cocked it is smooth as glass

 

[SPQR70AD]

Bought an Uberti Colt 3rd Model Dragoon from Midway a couple of months ago. Like others I expected to do some work on the pistol, but as a former machinist I'd say this mismatched collection of roughly machined "parts" beaten together with a claw hammer doesn't even qualify as a decent "revolver kit". I'll keep doing business with Midway, but not with Italian manufacturers.

on GB they got 2 original colt dragoons. one for 7.7K the other 9.9K. the hell with the Italian guns get a real american made one

 

[French Colonial]

I bought and retardedly sold a first generation Vaquero in polished stainless steel that was built on the Blackhawk frame. Beefy gun.

Every time I open the safe and look where it once sat, I kick myself.

But then I drag out my Colt sized Vaquero in .45 Colt and feel better about life.

My hunting revolver is a Ruger Blackhawk with 7.5 inch barrel in .45 Colt. She wears a zinc parkerized finish and red dot scope.

I also have a Ruger Blackhawk 7.5 in 45 LC, like most 45's the cylinders needed reamed as no two were the same diameter. 250 grain jacketed flat point with a healthy dose of H110 and she is a tack driving hog killer.

I do like my 1851 Navy Uberti 7.5" that was a great shooter right out of the box, not really my time frame of historical interest but it is a very nice gun, a little muzzle heavy.

If I ever buy another BP revolver it will still be a .36 but smaller and lighter.

 

[Blackpowderwarrior]

I'll weigh in, my last two ubertis from Midway were pretty rough. My 1860 army didnt have a staking pin in the arbor and when I pulled the barrel off the arbor spun freely and fekl right out. How this got by the proof house I have no clue. Im assuming they just proofed it assembled and never pulled it apart After the proofing rounds were shot through it.
I ended up using a little red loctite on the threads of the arbor and spinning it back into its place. I then purchased a staking pin off eBay and hammered it into the arbor then filed the excess smoothe.

My 1861 navy was scratched up very badly on the color case hardening and the cylinder face looked like it had been dropped on metal or gravel repeatedly.

My pocket police also required a good bit of slicking up but I expected that.

Prior to these two I had never gotten a midway lemon and ive spent thousands with them.

Ive never gotten a lemon pietta from Midway or Dixie or Taylor's or bud k.

That being said the Uberti is superior in Fit and Finish of the metal and bluing. I also respect Uberti now using a 1 in 18 left hand twist rifling vs pietta 1 in 30.

Pietta has posed less problems out of the box for me.

 

[64Springer]

I also have a Ruger Blackhawk 7.5 in 45 LC, like most 45's the cylinders needed reamed as no two were the same diameter. 250 grain jacketed flat point with a healthy dose of H110 and she is a tack driving hog killer.

I do like my 1851 Navy Uberti 7.5" that was a great shooter right out of the box, not really my time frame of historical interest but it is a very nice gun, a little muzzle heavy.

If I ever buy another BP revolver it will still be a .36 but smaller and lighter.

Love me some H110

26 grains under a 250 grain XTP HP.

Approximately 29,000 PSI

Fire breathing hand cannon.

 

[GYJ]

NO RETAILERS accept returns on guns. If you're taking a faulty gun back to your dealer, they're just returning it to the manufacturer, for you. Online retailers can't do that. I get that folks get upset when they think they've been done wrong but this is getting ridiculous. I've been dealing with Midway for 25yrs. Here's a copy and paste of one of my posts last August.

"I love it when people take an isolated incident and made it into something grand. I've ordered more stuff from Midway in the last 3yrs than I care to think about. I'm talking dozens of orders and thousands of dollars worth of stuff. Can't remember the last time I had an issue that wasn't the shipper's fault. Historically, I've been ordering from them well over 20yrs and my biggest complaint has been the way they package rimfire ammo. That's it.

EDIT: I went and looked at my order history. Six orders this year (slow year), 20 orders last year, 27 in 2020 and handful each in 2019 and 2018, 27 orders in 2017. A whopping 33 orders in 2016."

 

[Stantheman86]

No merchant I ever dealt with will warranty new guns. The warranty is by the manufacturer. Biggest problem here is that the Italians kind of hold a monopoly on C&B guns. Midway can either stock them or just get out of that market. Taylor's, I think, do a better job of it and will actually market Uberti guns that have been reworked by their own gunsmith(s) 'course you gotta pay for that service.

Would love to see an American manufacturer step up to the plate and bring those guns back to the market in quantity with quality, but I don't really think the market would support it. Would be nice to see somebody bring out an 1860 Army in stainless steel. If I were younger and had the resources, I would make one myself. I can read blueprints and I know how to work a lathe, drill press and milling machine. How hard could it be? People here make long guns all the time.

We won't see American made cap and ballers or even Ruger to crank out more Old Armies unfortunately, unless there's some kind of ban or strangle hold on cartridge ammunition. And "mainstream shooters" are left with no choice

It's a double edged sword

If we have to choose we all would obviously rather keep our right to own cartridge guns and work with the Italian repros that are available

 

[hunter thompson]

Uberti.

junk

 

[Stantheman86]

Here's my opinion and maybe the silent opinion of others who are "lurking "

I'll try to keep this brief but that might not be possible

Part of the GCA of 1968 covers "Saturday Night Specials" and some states have provisions on metallurgy of guns, restrictions on cheap, low quality guns etc. Etc etc so all the c rap guns like Rohm .22's couldn't be imported

Thus far, except for a few states that have their own laws, the ATF has let us just freely buy , own and shoot Italian import and other percussion revolvers with complete and unrestricted freedom. Front stuffers are the last hold out of the mail order, over the counter, no paperwork, no registration revolvers and rifles.

We can party like it's 1863 and pop caps all day at ranges, backyards, etc with hog legs and rifle-muskets, with black powder and caps we can order over the mail. Again, the ATF has largely left Black Powder and percussion cap sales alone. There is all this talk about ending mail order ammunition and "components " but again, black powder enthusiasts have been kinda left to our own devices and hopefully that never changes

If people start filing cases against Italian gun makers, attacking distributors, publicly bashing Pietta, Uberti , Pedersoli, etc for "ripping people off" and making a huge stink about "quality " of Italian guns the ATF may slowly turn it's head toward an area of the gun market it previously didn't really waste it's time with. Given that very, very few crimes are committed with blackpowder guns, the ATF doesn't invest much energy and man hours worrying about them. Until they start hearing a dull roar of discontent and have to look into what's going on. Instead of discontent , let's be happy with what we have. Nothing is perfect

Sometimes it's better to hide in plain view, accept the occasional lemon from the Italian manufacturers, try to buy from retailers with return policies and if the item is lower priced at a "no return " retailer, you rolls the dice and takes your chances. Rather than force Big Brother to intervene in the percussion revolver imports from Italy and start doing metallurgy tests, proofing in the US, meet "drop standards " and then the whole market is nuked .

Kind of like C&R FFLs, it's something really really good that people seem to try their best to screw up. Sometimes gun enthusiasts eat our own.

 

[Bushfire]

To play devils advocate on this, it could also be read from the perspective "I bought a cheap gun that is known to have issues and am disgusted to find it has issues".

Either buy a cheap gun and accept you've bought a cheap gun, or save up and buy a quality one. You can't eat your cake and have it too.

I've sacked up and ordered a full custom flintlock rifle, selling two other guns to fund it. I want the highest of quality and accept I'll be paying for that privilege.

 

[French Colonial]

Love me some H110

26 grains under a 250 grain XTP HP.

Approximately 29,000 PSI

Fire breathing hand cannon.

That is my exact load as well, great minds.

 

[1861 Springfield]

For the price of two Italian revolvers a person can buy a Ruger Old Army and have a highly reliable revolver that will perform for generations.

only problem is ruger is a fantasy gun....