Stampede Woes

[JCSmith]

I bought a used Berreta Stampede (made by Uberti for Berreta) at a gun show back in December and have had several problems with it. The first time at the range after buying it the front sight fell out. A local gunsmith who has been at the gunsmithing profession for over sixty years (yes, he is on the older side and has seen it all) said that the blade front sight was barely soldered and that is why it came out. Many major gun makers back up their products with a good warranty (Taurus, for example, has a transferable lifetime warranty). I was quite disappointed to find Berreta extremely deficient in their warranty and will bear this in mind when making future firearms purchases. As the second owner and therefore not the original purchaser of this gun, no manufacturing defects are covered. So, $50 dollars and two and a half months later I took it to the range again over the weekend. After nearly two boxes of ammo something in the transfer safety bar mechanism broke! I took the Stampede in to the gunsmith today and hopefully will get word soon as to what is wrong now and the cost of repair. The one thought in my mind is this: Is the Stampede a poorly designed or sloppily crafted revolver that has given many others the same kind of grief? Am I better served to trade it off (definately not to a friend) and take the loss or is this truly an anomally and not representative of Berreta, Uberti and most especially, the Stampede?!!! My Stampede actually shoots better than my third generation Colt Single Action Army, but the Colt has never broke or let me down, even after nearly a thousand rounds throught it. It is really a shame that such a great shooting gun has turned into the ultimate "shop queen."

[Treegunner]

I am not overjoyed with Uberti's products or service. I spent $900.00 on an 1885 High Wall which broke after 9 shots and is now in for repairs. They stated it will take 5-7 weeks for the repair. Their attitude was- Sorry 'Bout Your Bad Luck!!!

I will never buy or recommend any Benelli/Uberti product to anyone again. Products and service are sub-par.

If I would have known I would have to wait 6 weeks to buy a repaired rifle for $900.00 that is now going to be worth about $650.00 I would have saved for an American made quality Sharps...

Jim

[clayflingythingy]

Uberti's percusion revolvers are the best made today (excepting the Old Army which is not a repro) and I can vouch for them. The 1873 Winchester repros also have excellent reps. Most likely you both just got a lemon. My LGS sold a bunch of the 1885 rifles and has no customer complaints so far. Overall, my opinion of Uberti is that they are very high quality for the $ spent. I say this even after I had to return a rolling block rifle! You can't judge just by one example.

[Treegunner]

I'm sorry to disagree with you clayflingythingy but the dollars for quality issue doesn't hold water. No I didn't pay $2500.00 as I would have for a Shiloh. Shiloh's parts are hand fitted and they are true works of art along with being a ultra high quality piece of precision equipment. Each rifle is very labor intensive, hand built one at a time and pass stringent quality standards. Yeah I know, if I wanted quality I should have bought one of them.

I gaurantee a $800.00 Bushmaster or a 900.00 Springfield would not have the quality issues the Uberti's are having.

If Uberti's products where so good why the 5-6 week back log with their gunsmiths? I am just guessing that there is more than just one example of quality failures.

For a new rifle to fail after 9 shots, I would have to say that was a definate miss by their quality control (if they even perform inspections) and then they dont even want to back it up by replacing it.

Uberti puts out a nice low budget high wall just above the Taylors and Armis but well below the Pedersolis.

So in summation, I spent over $800.00 on a refurbished rifle that is luckily valued at $650.00 at this point. (Anyone who loves Uberti's so much want to buy it-I will throw in the Stoeger sights for an extra $50.00. I love Uberti's customer service as well. I feel as though I have a new pen pal for the next 6 weeks. I will even throw that in with the rifle purchase to any potential buyers FOR FREE! Now is that a bargain or what? Please feel free to e-mail me.

Yes I am bitter about investing my hard earned cash in a sub-standard Uberti. Maybe if I was one of the lucky ones who by chance puchased a reliable one, I would have been singing their praises as well.

I honestly didn't think, although it wasn't a $2000.00 rifle, a $900.00 gun purchase would be a gamble and this big of a loss.

I am just retelling my experience so others hopefully wont get dupped as I did.

[ 03-31-2006, 06:48 PM: Message edited by: Treegunner ]

[Irish Dave]

I've had excellent perfor5mance from all my Uberti products -- Henry, 66 and 73 rifles and several Uberti-made revolvers. I have a pair of Cimarron Model Ps that I prefer to my 2nd Gen. Colts.

That's not to say that someone couldn't have gotten hold of a stinker. It happens, I guess.

I will say that all of my Ubertis were purchased or at least built before Uberti was bought out, so things might have changed, I suppose.

[JCSmith]

Originally posted by Irish Dave:
I've had excellent perfor5mance from all my Uberti products -- Henry, 66 and 73 rifles and several Uberti-made revolvers. I have a pair of Cimarron Model Ps that I prefer to my 2nd Gen. Colts.

That's not to say that someone couldn't have gotten hold of a stinker. It happens, I guess.

I will say that all of my Ubertis were purchased or at least built before Uberti was bought out, so things might have changed, I suppose.

[JCSmith]

Irish dave:

I am glad you have had such good luck. I have had good luck with a Cimarron (Uberti) 1873 rifle I bought used about nine months ago. It is beautiful and has operated flawlessly. The catch is that it is about twenty years old (according to Cimarron) and is an early model. You bring up a good point: Has Uberti quality declined since it was bought out by Beretta? Certainly the Stampede was made after that event. The warranty deserves a failing grade for sure when compared to other major makers!

I do have a confession: The transfer safety mechanism breakage that I cited in my original post was due to my operator error. It is only right that I publicly and humbly acknowledge this since I erroneously faulted the gun.

[Irish Dave]

You bring up a good point: Has Uberti quality declined since it was bought out by Beretta? Certainly the Stampede was made after that event.

Good question. May be too early to tell.

[Whiskey Tim]

The gun was probably a lemon hence it being on the used market. I've had the best of luck with my two stampedes. The previous owner probably tried to bend the front site and broke it off I bet.

[JCSmith]

Whiskey Tim,

I am glad you have had such good luck with your Stampedes. The silver soldering of the front sight was confirmed to be defective by a local gunsmith of over sixty years experience. He pointed out to me how silver solder was present on only two small points of contact on the front sight blade. The shop tried to go to bat for me and help me get the sight repaired through the warranty process to no avail. I called and tried to convince Berreta that even though I was technically not the original purchaser the take home lesson was that the workmanship of the solder job on the front sight was shoddy and that a reputable company like Berreta should make it right. I spoke to the highest man they would let me talk to and it was all without effect. This, when coupled with the fact that most all the major firearms makers have a substantially better (yes, even lifetime) warranty, adds insult to injury. On the positive side, the Stampede shoots right to point of aim now and is very accurate.