In response to this;
The stamping is cosmetic, while the short arbor is functional (accuracy and how easily the action works). Depends on if you are getting a gun to look at, or a gun to shoot.
That old ‘what just happened’ look as you try to explain how you missed?
Have a recent Uberti Walker that before ‘fixing’ the arbor could be made to shoot over a foot high or low at 50 yards depending on how the wedge was inserted.
The problem with the short arbor is the tendency to drive the wedge in too far, closing the cylinder gap (moving the POI) and jamming the gun. You had to check and make sure the cylinder was moving freely and adjust the wedge before capping. May not seem like a big deal, but when on the clock (SASS for example)…. Not a good deal. Some guns would seem to hang up with just firm thumb pressure. With the arbor the correct length, you could not close up that cylinder gap with a mallet. A quick bump with the pummel of your knife handle and you were good to go.
Checked two different vintage Colts (both with all matching serial numbers) and found both to put .003”/.005” pre-load on the bottom of the frame. To confirm we used shims (.002” to .006”) in the hole in the barrel assembly to find when the barrel and frame made contact. Do not know if that is how the guns left the factory, but that is how the were found 150 plus years later. The most recent Ubertis I have checked had arbors nearly an 1/8” short.
It’s plain untruthful to intimate an Uberti is not a gun to shoot.
Timing and lockwork issues—resulting in peened cylinders, off-center hammer strikes, off-center chamber
ignition caused by insufficient cylinder lock up, and, yes,
endshake variation—along with loose arbor-seats and poor barrel-cylinder diameter tolerances, are
significant to the shootist’s pursuit, some much more so than the arbor issue.
We’ve not even gone into grip shape or ergonomics, and you best count your lucky stars we’re not on that account, too.
Fixing any of these is vastly more of a pain in the rear than dropping in an arbor spacer, no matter how painstakingly and lovingly crafted that spacer may be.
Ubertis, even those made before cnc like mine, are not known to exhibit these problems to anywhere near the degree pre-cnc Piettas had them. I know new Ubertis have only improved upon that.
I lack experience with modern Piettas, so I will refrain to comment, but have heard very good things.
The OP asked about currently manufactured brands, not guns, and used guns are common, competitively priced, and statistically, more likely hand-machined than not.
They also asked which takes the
least adjustment to get shooting well out of the box; I would be so bold as to say for both questions, my answer is any Uberti of any age is up to the task with some tinkering, whereas the lion’s share of Pietta guns, especially older ones, will require
more tinkering and to wit, are aesthetically worse.
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