Uberti revolver quality?

[JKVirginia]

Saw these at my local gunstore, the proprietor just started carrying them. How is the quality from Uberti as compared to other producers? I confess, I like the price point ($260 for a New Army replica is right in my budget) but I dunno how well made the guns are.

Damn, these smoke-blowers are addictive!

Jon.

 

[Rat]

The Uberti's are very good pistols. I have a Uberti .36 Navy, and a Euroarms 1860 Colt, and the Uberti is the better of the two pistols...and there is NOTHING wrong with the 1860. !!!

I am also getting 1.5" groups at 20 yards with the Uberti, with roundball, wonder wads, and 26 grains of ffg Swiss. Another thing I like about the Uberti, or my Uberti is that the rifling is cut much deeper than any other replica I've seen.

Don't think you can go wrong with the Uberti.

Rat

 

[mec]

These are this year's, Uberti Remington and Colt Army copies:

They are much better revolvers than we've seen in the history of Italian imports. Parts seem to be correctly heat treated, the triggers are light and the timing is perfect. They still hold a few surprises in store- I had to tighten the dovetail that holds the loading lever seat in place and all percussion revolvers require more fiddling and maintenance than modern ones. The good news is that you can get spare springs and lock parts from Uberti USA, VTI gunparts or Cimarron.

Both of these have chamber mouth and forcing cone measurements of .450 and are just about optimum for accurate shooting

Major components are now produced on computer numeric controlled machinery. The Uberti concern was purchased by the same company that owns Beretta a couple of years ago and this may account for some of the present quality.

 

I just measured the chamber-mouths on my Uberti 1851 Navy and they were 5 x .375 and 1 x .376.

In their new users manual, they advice to use .380 balls, not .375! This puts Speer and Hornady out of business because they only offer .375 balls.

 

[Gatofeo]

Warren Muzzleloading in Arkansas offers .380 balls without the sprue. They appear to be swaged, like Speer or Hornady, but I've heard that they're cast and the sprue magically removed with Blackpowder Fairy Dust.
Anyway, they're very good balls. I bought 1,000 of them (10 boxes)for less than $70 a couple of years ago. I've found them very accurate and of high quality.
Send Speer and Hornady an email requesting that they bring out .380 inch balls. I've done so for some time. Perhaps if enough of us make the request, it will be done.

Your Uberti generally has deeper rifling than the other makes. However, I just got a little surprise today: When it comes to the 1860 Colt, Uberti and Pietta have identical groove depths of .006.
This is according to the 2003 Dixie Gun Works catalogue. I'm at work and can't check the 2004 catalogue at home.
Now, that's odd, especially since the Ubertis elsewhere in the catalogue generally have groove depths of .011 inch.
Why Uberti would make the 1860 Colt with shallower rifling is anyone's guess.
My Colt 2nd generation 1851 Navy, whose frame, barrel assembly and cylinder were roughly produced by Uberti for Colt, has rather deep rifling. Not sure what it measures but it's obviously deeper than most. It's a good shooter too, probably partly for that reason.
Uberti makes very good revolvers. In the past two or three years, Pietta has raised its quality as well and is on the tail of Uberti.
The Colt Signature Series should be avoided. Quality problems there. The earlier Colt 2nd generation (1970s to mid 1980s) is extremely well made and finished.
I'm told that Cimmaron Arms orders Ubertis, but has them finished to a higher quality than regular Ubertis. Not sure about that, perhaps someone else can attest or dispute that claim.
Armi San Marcos is poorly made. Don't bother.
The revolvers sold by Pietta are generally Pietta, but of a lower quality than the Piettas I've seen sold under the Traditions label.
Conversely, I've known people to get very good Piettas through Cabela's.
You pays your money and you takes your chances.

 

[pepperbelly]

MEC, those 2 are the revolvers I want. Want a Mauser?
Uberti has good quality? How about Pietta? On the Midway site the Pietta are about $20.00 cheaper, but if Uberti quality is a lot better saving $20.00 ain't worth it.
Jim

 

[Musketeer]

Uberti makes a great gun! I have their 1860 Army and 2nd Model Dragoon models and they are fantastic! Good finish, good fit, and surprisingly accurate. The Piettas I've handled have seemed a bit rougher in both finish and action.
My Ubertis (especially the 1860) have very smooth actions. Also, I believe (I could be wrong) that most if not all Piettas use cast frames (receivers?), whereas most if not all Ubertis are forged. I don't know how much difference this makes, but when it comes to metal pieces that are under frequent stress/use, I like forging better. :thumbsup:

 

[pepperbelly]

Thanks Muskateer, hat makes a choice easier.
Jim

 

[Zonie]

As my memory serves me, Uberti was the company chosen by Colt to make the "new" Colt black powder reproductions a few years ago.
That in itself speaks well of their quality.
I own several older C&B reproductions made by Uberti and they are top quality.

This doesn't say some of the Piettas are not well made. I own some of these too and they are good servaceable guns.
It does say the Uberti guns are IMO the best reproduction Black Powder Cap and Ball pistols out there.

 

[Rat]

I shoot .375"s in my Uberti, and they shoot into 1.5" at 20, and load tight...I wouldn't switch to a .380 as I believe all I would get out of it is a harder loading pistol. Often the larger recomended size will be really hard to load when the gun is dirty.

With my Euro-Arms 1860 I keep both .451's and .454's on hand, I load the .454's into the pistol when it is clean, but then switch to the .451's for shooting when the gun is dirty.

Rat

 

I have an 1860 Uberti that I use .457 balls in. With 25 gr FFFg and a greased wad under the ball, it will shoot cloverleafs at 25 yds, albeit 10" high. I have learned the aiming point and can hit pretty well with it.

 

[mec]

Sorry, I don't need a Mauser. These guns are remarkably cheap at well under $300 though. I've also noticed that the Uberti navies really need .380 balls. In this respect my old Pietta is better.

Recently Pietta has announced that they have gone to CNC machinery like Uberti. They even have a picture of one of the machines on their web page. I find that Cimarron (who will not tell me if their guns are finished differently than Uberti USA), Uberti USA under the Beretta Ownership are all deeply invested in producing a high quality product and delivering customer service.

The evidence of this is not yet forthcoming from Pietta, They fail to answer questions about customer service and fail to respond to requests for their list of gunsmiths who have worked on Pietta. This is a window on their web page but applying elicits no answer. VTI gunparts has recently been handling a supply of Pietta Parts but historically, finding parts has been hit or miss.

Pietta continues to make and sell brass framed colt repros. this is a sign of making guns to sell but not to shoot.
Most reports of people trying to get spare parts for the Pietta Made LeMats detail much frustration and no success. I recently managed to get a selection of parts through VTI and they were or are planning to stock them in the United States. The successfully got my parts by ordering them from Italy.

 

[Rat]

Not sure why a Uberti Navy needs a .380" ball if it will shoot into 1.5" at 20 yards, to point of aim with a .375".

On my 1860 I have a taller front sight, and she shoots dead on at 25 yards. It's kind of nice. My Remington Navy does too, but with no modification to the sights.

Rat

 

Uberti's are the highest quality repros made PERIOD!
: When Colt re-sumed producing the 1851's they had UBERTI make then for the North American trade. That, in it-self, speaks volumes for Uberti.

 

[mec]

"...Not sure why a Uberti Navy needs a .380" ball if it will shoot into 1.5" at 20 yards, to point of aim with a .375".

You don't.

Unless the ball is loose and creeps forward in the chamber.

 

[Zonie]

Em Brass Framed .36 cal 1851s, especially tha ones with tha round barrels are good fer em folks who are wantin ta be PC on the Confederate side.

Ya, thay will shoot loose after a while, but they do represent a part of our history an they are fun to shoot.
Don't cost much either. ::

 

[Rat]

Creeping ball would be a problem.



Creeping ball....isn't that Falling Rock's brother??

Rat

 

[JKVirginia]

WHAT?! I thought my folks invented the old "Falling Rock" gag....

For those who aren't in the know... "Falling Rock" is a very sneaky indian brave who dwells along certain stretches of interstate highway... There are signs posted to keep an eye out for him, or so my parents told me.... Kept me occupied for hours when I was a li'l twerp.

Jon. :crackup:

 

Uberti is now owned by Beretta. I think this is why things are getting better at Uberti. I have owned a few of these revolvers as BP target shooting is very strong down under. The quality is quite variable. For example even the types of nipples vary from one batch to another. On one of my 1858 Remingtons the nipples were so undersize that even number 10s would fall off. A friend bought a new one a few weeks ago and was finding it was unreliable. We found the hammer was only just hitting the caps as the nipples were too short. I offered him the ones out of mine, which are Uncle Mikes, but the threads were different. Another bloke had had the same problem and he had shimmed his nipples so we tried shims and the gun has not failed since.

Italians generally make poor springs so always have spare leaf springs although the mainspring normally hangs in ok. Would I buy Uberti again? Yes as I think they are good value for money and you should expect to get good service from Beretta.

Cheers from down under
Aussie Bob