Pietta vs Uberti

[smoothshooter]

I've found Pietta C&B revolvers to be fine, sometimes excellent, for the last 10 or 12 years. Certainly better than they were from further back. Their Remington 1858s gets high praise at Cabelas and MidwayUSA. Also, at least until recently, Piettas had better sale prices than Uberti.

Jeff

There do not seem to be ANY percussion revolvers a available anywhere, ant not likely to be for a long time.

 

[B P Arn]

I agree. There is more than one Pietta grip profile.

 

[Half-Cocked]

I know this likely has been asked three hundred thousand times but.....

Which is currently better in terms of #1 mechanical function and #2 cosmetics? I have heard in the past Uberti's were better built than the Pietta's but I also have been hearing lately that Pietta may now be better mechanically than the current Uberti's. I'm mostly interested in steel frame 1851's but would consider an 1858 steel frame.

edit- this will be shooter not a 'display' piece.

If you look on YouTube you can find videos of factory tours of both facilities.

It says a lot you can also see an interview with Mr pieta. For me that spoke volumes about the company in the quality of work that's put into each one of his creations.

If you can gather by my comments above I support pieta 100%.

 

[jdesro]

There do not seem to be ANY percussion revolvers a available anywhere, ant not likely to be for a long time.

Dixie Gun Works seems to have gotten a pretty good shipment in this week of both Pietta and Uberti revolvers. They have many listed "in Stock" that have been previously unavailable for quite some time now.

 

[arcticap]

There do not seem to be ANY percussion revolvers a available anywhere, ant not likely to be for a long time.

Some places may not be getting much new stock while other places seem to have a lot of stock.
The online sellers that are well stocked generally seem to have higher prices.
My local Cabela's has some guns in stock, but each store is different, and they're not shipping.

 

[Billy Boy]

I know this likely has been asked three hundred thousand times but.....

Which is currently better in terms of #1 mechanical function and #2 cosmetics? I have heard in the past Uberti's were better built than the Pietta's but I also have been hearing lately that Pietta may now be better mechanically than the current Uberti's. I'm mostly interested in steel frame 1851's but would consider an 1858 steel frame.

edit- this will be shooter not a 'display' piece.

I have seen less detail/setup time on the Piettas in the last 3 years.

 

[DeeTV]

luck of the draw, I guess. I have 3 Piettas two of which had serious issues which I was able to fix with modifications and replacement of parts. Got my first Uberti 6 weeks ago and it was a huge disappointment - that one is still a work-in-progress

 

[sourdough]

Luck of the draw, I guess. I have 3 Piettas two of which had serious issues which I was able to fix with modifications and replacement of parts. Got my first Uberti 6 weeks ago and it was a huge disappointment - that one is still a work-in-progress

I would just like to add that any Pietta and Uberti revolvers manufactured prior to ~2002 CNC machining are going to give problems with internal parts as the newer CNC revolver parts (bolt, hand, bolt/trigger spring, hammer with a different bolt cam, trigger) do not align well with the older revolvers. Don't ask me how I know that. If you need replacement parts for these you will most likely have to scour Ebay and ask questions about the date code of the revolver they were scavenged from. Good luck with that as it is a long shot.

I have several Pietta 1851 Navy .36 revolvers (1990, 1996, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018) and even with the newer ones there are differences with the parts. The only Uberti revolver I have is a Whitneyville Hartford Dragoon (CU/2019) that is almost flawless and just needed some shims in the barrel arbor to make it mechanically correct. No gritty action with this one.

Regards,

Jim

 

[Griz44Mag]

Hmmmm....
I have a newer Pietta 1858 and it runs smooth and has given me no issues at all. It is pretty darn accurate (better than I am at least).
The spare cylinder than came with it (third party) was not factory and is not a great piece having machining errors and poor fit.
But the gun itself has perfect timing and is nice and tight on all the tolerances that need to be tight.

 

[Cattman]

i own several uberti colts and one remington. no piettas, thats what i feel about both of them. one the new type saa with that floating firing pin, i took it out and put a standard one back in, hammer and trigger. no problem with the gun since. that new floating firing pin works and then lots of times it does not. big mistake by uberti. however the old parts are available to make it back to something simple and reliable.

 

[Griz44Mag]

i own several uberti colts and one remington. no piettas, thats what i feel about both of them. one the new type saa with that floating firing pin, i took it out and put a standard one back in, hammer and trigger. no problem with the gun since. that new floating firing pin works and then lots of times it does not. big mistake by uberti. however the old parts are available to make it back to something simple and reliable.

A percussion pistol with a firing pin???? Have not seen that - how about a picture? Or are you talking about a BPCR gun?

 

[stevie]

New to muzzle loading, purchased 4 piettas in the last 3 months. All were good, smooth action, correctly timed, no burrs on internal parts. Only Uberti I have was purchased used so no real experience on new ones.

 

[smoothshooter]

luck of the draw, I guess. I have 3 Piettas two of which had serious issues which I was able to fix with modifications and replacement of parts. Got my first Uberti 6 weeks ago and it was a huge disappointment - that one is still a work-in-progress

The Italians may be having to train a bunch of new workers who have died or had to retire prematurely due to the China Virus.

 

[smoothshooter]

Dixie Gun Works seems to have gotten a pretty good shipment in this week of both Pietta and Uberti revolvers. They have many listed "in Stock" that have been previously unavailable for quite some time now.

Dixie does not seem to be too discriminating on what the Italians send them.

 

[B P Arn]

The Italians may be having to train a bunch of new workers who have died or had to retire prematurely due to the China Virus.

What is your source for this information? Link, please.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Last two new Ubertis I bought have been so bad internally that I’ve sworn off them.

Piettas are just the opposite. They’ve REALLY come up ahead in the past couple years.

Ubertis are no doubt cosmetically superior and have slightly better barrel quality, but the heart of the gun that being the action and mechanism is far superior on the Piettas now.

 

[NorthFork]

See this is why this forum is just fantastic. Chock full of experience and expertise. Thanks guys.

 

[M. De Land]

Last two new Ubertis I bought have been so bad internally that I’ve sworn off them.

Piettas are just the opposite. They’ve REALLY come up ahead in the past couple years.

Ubertis are no doubt cosmetically superior and have slightly better barrel quality, but the heart of the gun that being the action and mechanism is far superior on the Piettas now.

The steel alloy used in Uberti and Pietta shooting reproduction guns of today is far superior to the metallurgy use in the originals although the fit and finish is not.

 

[ZUG]

My buddy just got a Uberti Walker from Midway USA (October 2020) and it is PERFECT inside and out. You can get a reject in either company's guns especially now with talented workers and the COVID-19 issues. Pietta has improved their pistols since they went to new CNC machines but their parts still require a talented worker to assemble and do minor fitting and polishing. Same with Uberti, I've seen more Uberti guns with better fit, finish and smooth internals than Pietta's --- my observation and 2 cents worth.

 

[smoothshooter]

What is your source for this information? Link, please.

No link.
Multiple news reports. Italy has been among the hardest hit by the China Virus predominately because tens of thousands of Chinese investors and businessmen have quietly been buying out old and new brand name leather product companies ( shoes, coats, gloves ) and importing cheap Chinese labor to displace the historically Italian workers. That way they can still label the goods as made in Italy, but use cheap Chinese labor to produce them.
To wrap this story up, there was heavy family and business airline travel between Italy and China that was not halted for several weeks after the virus got out of control, and may not be to this day.
Hence the unusually high mortality rate.