uberti quality?

[Peanut Butter Kid]

Hello!
I am looking for advice on what to expect by way of fit and finnish from A.Uberti.
This Christmas my wife bought me an 1860 Army
colt from Uberti, bless her heart, Upon inspection
I discoverd the bore was unacceptable. Sent it back
to person purchased from ,and he sent it back to
Uberti to have a new barrel instaled. Two months
later thay sent me a whole new gun Great! I was
pleased with the service and timley maner it was performed, until I inspected it and found the following; The cylinder and barrel seem to be out of time, the cylinder bolt is not centerd in the cylinder notch, I have to pull to hard on the hammer to make it lock up and it has an extra click
at the end that should'nt be there, the whole action seems to be fighting it's self. As far as the finnish, the screw heads are woarn by misuse with a screwdriver, the barrel has grinder marks on the outside of the forcing cone continuing onto the barrel, the back strap has a chip on the side were it screws onto frame also has a gouge on bottom. Other than that it's great!
Sorry for the sarcasom, but I was expcting a quality firearm that I could injoy, and be proud to own.
So, should I send it back to be replaced or get (my wifes money back)?
The Peanut Butter Kid

[buckskin joe]

I own five Unberti (three are Cimarron) firearms and all have great fit/finish. My two SAA's in 45LC have about 3000 rounds through each of them and never a problem. I don't believe you should accept that gun - it's not up to the quality standards they're capable of.

[The Belgian]

Hi there, I have 2 Uberti's (1 x 1860 Colt Army + 1 x 1851 Colt Navy).

The Army was an old production and was rather cheap, because the gunsmith wanted to get rid of it (laws change all the time in this silly country). When taking a closer look at it, I noticed quite some scratches and decided to polish it completely and had it reblued by a professional gunsmith near Liege (Francotte) and it really looked superb !!

The Navy is another story. By the time I bought it, it was already a new production and I must say that the quality went really down compared to the Uberti products from the sixties. I didn't even think of going through another polishing job. It's just there for decoration now. Note that this was a "Hege-Uberti" revolver. Hege is a German company that used to sell Ubertis at a cheap price, but the result was also "cheapo".

[Chip Whitely]

I own only one Uberti the Buntline I am h with it as a shooter, the operation is wonderful granted I've only put 350 rounds thur the buntline. but still I very much injoy the quality.

[Peanut Butter Kid]

Thanks for all your advise. I held the course and
finaly recived my third pistol, and it was worth the
wait, Great fit and finnish. Although I do have a
problem finding primers that dont blow apart and
interfear with the operation, it seams I rember when I shot cap & ball revolvers 20 some years ago, the primers were heavy enough, that you had to knock them off with your pocket knife. Sofar I have tried ; CCI and Remington # 11 ,any advise or inlghtenment you could bring, wold be apretiated.
thanks.

[Rye Winchester]

PB,

I've shot cap and ball for a few years now. One thing to try, which has worked for me, is to use small plastic tubing (home center source) that will just fit over your caps. Cut the tubing into small "o-rings" and fit over your caps when you place on your nipples. It prevents the caps from falling apart and jamming your pistol. Also, I use fibre wads vice grease - no more "spiderman" at the range. I've even been seen using, hushed tone - "Pyrodex pellets", for quick reloading.

If you want to remain historically accurate, remember to lift your muzzle straight up in the air when you **** your pistol after a shot - hopefully the blown cap will fall out and not remain in the workings.

Good luck, and good shooting.

RW

[Peanut Butter Kid]

R W
Thanks for the advice, I'll try both. Although my experience with the pyrodex pellets was that it fouled the gun too quickly.

PB

[Col. Colt]

I myself, have a renewed interested in cap and ball revolvers and have wondered about the quality of the current batch of revolvers from Uberti and Pietta. Since I live about 400 miles east of Dixie Gun Works, I'll probably order from there since the drive is a bit far for me.

The Navy Arms Co. seem to only have revolvers from Pietta and yet, Dixie has both brands. Years ago (1974) I had a Hammerli .45 Colt that was a great pistol but, the bolt and trigger spring would constantly get weak and wouldn't lock up the cylinder after a few hundred rounds...or less. That's been the biggest problem I've seen with European metallurgy back then. They didn't temper the steel right or something because it got prematurely weak.

Lemons can be had by Colt and Smith/Wesson as I have had both. But, in a choice between Uberti and Pietta...I don't know. Anyone have any experience with these two?

[ 08-15-2004, 10:08 AM: Message edited by: Col. Colt ]

[Uncle Jaque]

I've got UBERTI guns going back to the early 1960's when they made for Navy Arms. Have a Zoli barrelled "Zouave" and a flintlock 1803 Harpers Ferry from that era and they are both great shooters.

Picked up a well worn Remington .44 at a gun show and it cleaned up nicely - took a little tinkering though.

Most of the revolvers of any manufacturer require a certain amount of tuning up and "tweaking" out of the box; ask any Cowboy Action Competitor!

If one is not familiar with the workings of these guns or gunsmithing in general, the services of a competent gunsmith are highly reccomended, if for no other reason than to give the new gun a good inspection and tuning up before you even shoot it for the first time.

As the Armorer for my Reenacting Unit, I have found burrs of steel left over from machining left in the barrel (which could become inadvertant projectiles on firing a theatrical blank charge, or damage the bore if fired with a bullet), wood chips and curlings in the lock mortices etc . which could become entagled in the lock work or interfere with proper operation, and such.

This is not just a Uberti problem; I find it with ALL repro guns.

There are a bunch of different Gunmakers in Italy, and I have been told that it is pretty much a "Cottage Industry" over there. Some of the parts are made in little home workshops or contracted out, and only assembled in the main plant.

Needless to say, quality of materials and workmanship are quite variable. I have seen Italian imports that are simply beautiful, and others that are little more than junk, serviceable only as theatrical props, display or conversation pieces perhaps.

Stocks that are supposed to have an "Oil" finish more likely than not are varnished; to be authentic we have to strip and refinish them properly.

Barrels are apt to be rough, and benifit from some polishing or "lapping".

I have not bought a Uberti for years - but that's a function of financial constraints, not any particular issue with quality!

Given the resources, I would love to have a Uberti SAA in .44 Spl with a 5.5" barrel, or one of the tip-up "Schofield" or "Russian" revolvers they make.

What I like to do is pick up a used gun and tinker it up - but those who have .44 Ubertis seem rather inclined to keep them for some reason!

In my experience, quality control of most any gunmaker seems to go up and down over time; what is the primo make - like EuroArms, for example, may be the cat's pajamas for a while, only to be eclipsed by a competitor who gets it's act together, such as ArmiSport.

My AMS M-1842 is a gem, almost approaching the quality of the originals (which I have worked on, and they were built like a Swiss watch), and the year before we were having a lot of trouble with AS muskets. Go figure.

Even at that, I had to refinish the stock and power lap the bore which was pretty rough down by the breech.

It sort of goes with the territory.

This post is the first disparaging remark I've seen about a Uberti gun in about 40 years, so I think it is probably still an exeption to the rule. And it seems to have been resolved to the Customer's satisfaction, so my confidence in Uberti firearms is not significantly eroded.

Whenever I pick up a replica gun, one of the first things I look for is the "UBERTI" trademark.

Have for over 40 years now, and still do!

[Uncle Jaque]

A lot of the old Cowpokes would not only raise the barrel of a cap-n-ball revolver when recocking, but give it a 'flip' with the wrist to the right as they did, almost inverting the gun. This tended to fling a loose cap off of the nippple, from whece they tend to fall into the jucture of the base of the hammer with the frame cutout when you rack the hammer back in an upright position, and will bind the revolver all to hades once they get into the works.

This technique slows your rate of fire down a little, but not nearly as bad as a swallowed cap will!

Have you tried #10 caps?

If a cap is a little loose, you can "pinch" it a little so the skirt is sort of oval in stead of round; this will give it a little "grip" on to the cone.
The hotter caps tend to blow off, while the weaker ones stay on after firing. Given a little fouling, you may have to pry them off with a small screwdriver.

UJ