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Pietta VS Urberti
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In my 35 plus years experience, Uberti is the best quality vs. Traditions and Pietta.
Some years ago saw an article by a metalurgist who tested various replica revolver & genuine civil war era Colt cap & ball revolver parts for hardness.
Civil war era Colt parts tested as about 24 on Rockwell hardness scale. Traditions revolver parts barely registered on scale... soft... so they will wear sooner than properly hardened parts. Do not know how good today's Tradions parts are.
In general, most of the many, many, Ubertis I have owned have had better fit, timing and finish than many Traditions or Piettas owned.
That said, the Cabelas Piettas are serviceable guns and I prefer them over Traditions.
Some years ago saw an article by a metalurgist who tested various replica revolver & genuine civil war era Colt cap & ball revolver parts for hardness.
Civil war era Colt parts tested as about 24 on Rockwell hardness scale. Traditions revolver parts barely registered on scale... soft... so they will wear sooner than properly hardened parts. Do not know how good today's Tradions parts are.
In general, most of the many, many, Ubertis I have owned have had better fit, timing and finish than many Traditions or Piettas owned.
That said, the Cabelas Piettas are serviceable guns and I prefer them over Traditions.
Traditions is an importer, not a manufacturer (they mainly import Piettas). As far as which is better, Pietta or Uberti - at one time, Uberti was ahead of Pietta, but from what I've seen and heard, Pietta has come along way with their quality. I have several of each, and each particular gun has it's good and bad points (aside from manufacturer traits). I think that some Uberti models (1862 .36 Pocket Police for example) are more close to the originals than Piettas. Pietta makes some models that never existed in history (1851 Navy in .44 caliber). Piettas are less expensive...
To save a few bucks on an 1860 .44 (for example) I'd go with the Pietta (I have one). I also have an 1851 .36 Navy (Pietta) made in 1986 and it's a good shooter.
Can't really go wrong with either. Remember, if you have a problem with a gun, call the importer (Traditions for Piettas, Taylors for Uberti) and deal with them, not the place where you bought it.
To save a few bucks on an 1860 .44 (for example) I'd go with the Pietta (I have one). I also have an 1851 .36 Navy (Pietta) made in 1986 and it's a good shooter.
Can't really go wrong with either. Remember, if you have a problem with a gun, call the importer (Traditions for Piettas, Taylors for Uberti) and deal with them, not the place where you bought it.
Both are good. Uberti's are closer to original specs; Pietta's are slightly larger overall, at least as far as the Colt clones are concerned. Piettas are also not very P.C. in that they tend to stamp things like "Made in Italy" all over the gun in obvious places... kind of spoils the illusion, if you know what I mean.
More thoughts/opinions: Many Italian replica manufacturers will build the quality the importer/dealer specifies within reason/safety if large enough quantities are bought.
I think Traditions in the past were quite low end. The recent Traditions revolvers I have owned/handled made by Pietta were better quality.
Re Cabelas: Three years ago bought a new Cabelas/Uberti Walker with the charcoal blue.
It was good looking but saw several with better quality polish/charcoal blue finish in gunshops... so think (?) Cabelas lowers a bit on quality to keep the price as low as possible. The gunshop Uberti Walkers were both about $100 more than Cabelas Uberti Walker.
As previously noted prefer Cabelas to Traditions but that could just be past prejudice, have not directly compared very recent guns in person or online.
Taylors & Co. imports lots of nice guns. Have seen Taylor's display several times at NRA Annual Meetings.
However, if highest attention to detail and quality are paramount, would prefer Cimarron Firearms made by Uberti. Have seen some ASM made Cimarrons in past, these were cartridge Colt clones, but they may have also had cap & ball.
[url] http://www.cimarron-firearms.com/[/url]
The newer Cimarrons I have had have both Cimarron and Uberti markings on them. If used is o.k and if you can find a good used Cimarron/Uberti at a good price, jump on it.
JMO based on 35 + years cap & ball revolver shooting.
:hatsoff:
I think Traditions in the past were quite low end. The recent Traditions revolvers I have owned/handled made by Pietta were better quality.
Re Cabelas: Three years ago bought a new Cabelas/Uberti Walker with the charcoal blue.
It was good looking but saw several with better quality polish/charcoal blue finish in gunshops... so think (?) Cabelas lowers a bit on quality to keep the price as low as possible. The gunshop Uberti Walkers were both about $100 more than Cabelas Uberti Walker.
As previously noted prefer Cabelas to Traditions but that could just be past prejudice, have not directly compared very recent guns in person or online.
Taylors & Co. imports lots of nice guns. Have seen Taylor's display several times at NRA Annual Meetings.
However, if highest attention to detail and quality are paramount, would prefer Cimarron Firearms made by Uberti. Have seen some ASM made Cimarrons in past, these were cartridge Colt clones, but they may have also had cap & ball.
[url] http://www.cimarron-firearms.com/[/url]
The newer Cimarrons I have had have both Cimarron and Uberti markings on them. If used is o.k and if you can find a good used Cimarron/Uberti at a good price, jump on it.
JMO based on 35 + years cap & ball revolver shooting.
:hatsoff:
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My only experiences with "new" Piettas was a few years back. At the time they were not anywhere near the quality of Uberti. They've improved the quality since then and Uberti has stayed about the same. I'm sure Piettas are a good deal now, but I still buy Uberti because of my previous experiences.
I have fooled with 2 Pietta Brothers revolvers. One was an 1851 Colt Navy clone, the other was an 1858 Remington clone. The Rem was good to go, right out of the box. The Colt needed a lot of stoning on the hammer & nipples in order to work at all. Both shot very well.
Pietta has made great advanced in quality in the last 2 yrs after going to CNC machining. I bought a 1860 sheriffs model last year & am very pleased with it overall.
Before that the last Pietta I owned was an 1860 that I bough some 20 or so years ago & was less than pleased with it. I do not like Pietta's penchant for marking up the barrel with various warning.
I do strongly support Uberti though. I own every model they have made now & while each & every one of them had something minor about it I needed to correct (I am a very picky person when it comes to my firearms) by & large the quality has been excellent.
Generally speaking Uberti is $20-50 more then Pietta's. IMO not a big enough difference to warrant their exclusion.
In so far as traditions goes I have never owned one because the best compliment I have heard yet is "they aren't bad for the money".
Before that the last Pietta I owned was an 1860 that I bough some 20 or so years ago & was less than pleased with it. I do not like Pietta's penchant for marking up the barrel with various warning.
I do strongly support Uberti though. I own every model they have made now & while each & every one of them had something minor about it I needed to correct (I am a very picky person when it comes to my firearms) by & large the quality has been excellent.
Generally speaking Uberti is $20-50 more then Pietta's. IMO not a big enough difference to warrant their exclusion.
In so far as traditions goes I have never owned one because the best compliment I have heard yet is "they aren't bad for the money".
I've always sworn by Ubertis, based upon the older Dragoon model and newer 1860 Army I own from them. Very nice quality and the only ugly "Made in Italy" markings on them are on the bottoms of the barrels, covered by the loading rods. That being said, I just recently handled a couple of Piettas at Cabela's, and they looked and felt very nice. Given the choice, I'd probably still prefer Uberti, but I think the Piettas have, indeed, improved, and I wouldn't hesitate to buy one, at this point. :thumbsup:
Don't guess i've seen a real original or exact replica yet. Living in the belly of corporate America we're bombarded with the concept of "Buy a truck load, so you can sell to the masses, maximizing profits" mentalilty.
I should'nt be so cynical about the mass producers, but, why do we have to have all those warnings and stampings on the barrells of the gun....?
But, then again, it's not the producer's requirements, it's the seller's liability is'nt it?
I truly appreciate all the feedback on this post, can't wait to make blue smoke and hear the sound of "BOOM"!!!
I should'nt be so cynical about the mass producers, but, why do we have to have all those warnings and stampings on the barrells of the gun....?
But, then again, it's not the producer's requirements, it's the seller's liability is'nt it?
I truly appreciate all the feedback on this post, can't wait to make blue smoke and hear the sound of "BOOM"!!!
:v I totally agree with choosing Uberti over Pietta. The difference in quality becomes obvious IMHO when you compare side by side. I found several Pietta pistols had tool marks and scratches---specially around screws; screw heads were, often as not, turned or "spread" due to over tightening, or wrong size screw drivers. Functioning and timing on two revolvers, that I purchased and returned, were totally impossible as the parts obviously were not fitted just jammed together. I do not own a gun made by Pietta, I just purchase Uberti. :thumbsup:
Blizzard of '93
Cannon
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I have owned 3 '58 Rem. 'buffalo' 12" barrel Pietta's, 2 brass frames and the 1 I have now, a steel frame. I sold off the brass frames but wish I hadn't, they shot good and I shot full charges in them at times but usually 24 grs. Never had any problem with either. The steel frame I have now is also good shooter, but the hand broke after about 200 shots, I replaced and bought a spare, no problem since. I have shot 100's of full-tilt boogie charges in it and took a small wild hog with it. A complete pass-thru head shot using a Lee mold conical and the slug buryed into the ground about 3" after passing thru. They are the only Pietta's I've shot. I did shoot a friends Uberti Navy '51, it was nice, like it. But the sights, I was not used to them and I didn't get too good accuracy. My '58 Pietta's will sock 'em in there. All shots on 6" paper plate easy at 25 yards offhand.
