New Uberti 1860 Army Review

[CKeshen]

I own two 1858 Remys. A Pieta Army with a target sight, and an Uberti Navy. But I figured you just have to have at least one Colt style pistol to call yourself a BP pistol shooter, so I bought an 1860 Army in Uberti flavor from Midway.

The fit and finish on the gun are excellent. I am "picky", so if I say it nice, it's nice. Good even bluing, nice case hardening on the frame and loading lever, and everything fits together just right with no nicks, no scratches and no errors.

It is a very nice gun with graceful lines, easy to breakdown, but I think the Remy just seems more robust, and is easier to aim (even with their conventional sights).

It shot high (as expected), but it also shot to the right which I did not expect, but it groups well, so after applying the correct Kentucky windage to the sight picture I was actually shooting some decent targets.

Load was 20 grns. 777 with 8 grns. COW, a Wonder Wad, a .454 Hornady RB, topped off with some Borebutter.

I was being careful about not allowing cap debris to gum up the works, but after taking my last of 36 shots for the day the cylinder locked up hard as a rock and would not budge. At least I was finished shooting for the day and would deal with it when I got home.

I have Ampco nipples on my 2 Remys which I use #11's with, but #10 caps worked just perfect on those factory Uberti nipples.

I understand the "shooting high" thing, because that's the way they were designed to shoot, but I just wish there was something I could do about the windage problem.

All in all, a beautiful and fun gun to shoot.

 

[Pete G]

You can use a screw slotting file to widen the hammer notch on the side you need to move the group towards. You can also file some off of the hammer nose to help lower the POI. Don't get too carried away and just do a little at a time with multiple test firings in between.

 

[wayne terry]

And shoot it a few hundred times before you do anything to it sounds like a nice shooter enjoy

 

[D. Buck Stopshere]

"Load was 20 grns. 777 with 8 grns. COW, a Wonder Wad, a .454 Hornady RB, topped off with some Borebutter."

Meaning no disrespect, but why is the Wonder Wad included in your load?

I use about the same combination load in my Reminton .44, using more Cream of Wheat, but no Wonder Wad.

Usually, shooters will use either the Wonder Wad or the T/C Borebutter, but not both, since they do the same job of softening the powder residue in the barrel.

Just curious.

 

[D. Buck Stopshere]

Some shooters after two or three cylinder loads fired (12 to 18 shots fired) will, after the cylinder is fully loaded without caps, hold the pistol vertically, with it on half-cock (first position to rotate cylinder).

The other hand holds a eye dropper plastic squeeze bottle filled with water or water-based solvent like Hoppes #9+, and carefully drips it on the cylinder pin and rotates the cylinder to cut the fouling on the cylinder pin.

The alternative to all of the above would be to tap the wedge out, slide the barrel off, slide cylinder off and clean cylinder pin with spray water bottle & rag. Then, apply oil to the cylinder pin and reinstall cylinder, and barrel and wedge.

I use a bronze "toothbrush" (from Brownells) to remove cap fragments off the nipples after firing five (or six) target loads.

Doesn't do much for shot placement, but will assist to reduce lockup of the pistol.

 

[CKeshen]

D. Buck - yes, my load chain is perhaps a bit over complicated, but I bought the Wonder Wads when I bought my first Remy (Dixie recommended their use, and it was before I knew about using COW).

I have about 100 of them left that I am trying to use up. After they are finished I will probably dispense with their use and just double-up on the COW.

Also, I misspoke when I said I was using Bore Butter. It was Wonder Lube that I used that particular day.

The one thing I will say is that when I cleaned the gun that day the bore had practically no fouling in it after shooting 36 shots. The combination of the Wonder Wad and the Wonder Lube did make for an easy clean up.

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

Did you shoot those targets strong-hand only? Or did you use both hands to hold the revolver? Might be getting used to the grip pressure required to keep 'em where ya want 'em.

I earned my Distinguished Expert in ML Pistol with an Uberti 1860 Army (the Charcoal Blue special w/ fluted cylinder). 27 grains of real Black Powder, a wonder-wad (over-greased by me to soften fouling) & a .454 Hornady Ball. B-6 target at 50 yards scores 82-88 if I do my part.

Experiment with some real powder & you'll be glad you did!

Dave

 

[CKeshen]

I was shooting 2 handed. I will try using some Swiss 3F and increasing the powder quantity a bit. Not sure if that would have any effect on windage. It is certainly worth a try though.

Trying to file the notch in the hammer sight is a little beyond the scope of what I am willing to do.

By the way, that is a good score shooting a B6 at 50 yards.

 

[curator]

Colt-type open-top revolvers often shoot left or right of the sights due to the alignment of the barrel. The combination of the cylinder arbor and wedge can push it off center. There is a lot of material written on tuning up the Colt open top revolvers on the web. The best "fix" is to fit the arbor to the arbor mortise with a brass spacer so that it bottoms out when the wedge is inserted into place. That will help prevent the barrel from being "wedged" to one side or the other. There are gunsmiths who specialize in this kind of work--some of them occasionally post here.

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

One more thought about the windage situation....was the sun at an angle to you during your shooting? Those Colt style sights take some getting used to and if the sun is at an angle instead of over your shoulder, it's very easy to group to the left or right due to how the rear sight is lit. So what I'm really trying to say is I'd take the gun back out under ideal conditions PRIOR to making any adjustments in the hammer. I own several Uberti Colts, including my Walker that I use 52 grains of 3Fg real black powder to hunt & win matches with. Every Colt I own shoots high but is FANTASTIC left-to-right.

Sometimes it's all about how ya grip the gun & how ya work the support hand. If you can go to the range with a fellow revolver shooter to watch you, you might find that useful as well. Good luck in your endeavors & enjoy that piece of living history!

Dave