Uberti Top Break Russians

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skokie

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At the end of last year, I picked up a pair of Uberti Third Model Russians in .44 Russian as my new main match SASS revolvers and I have entirely fallen in love with these revolvers. They are extremely precise and fit my large hands well, they are also super easy to clear and prove safe, not to mention the cool factor is through the roof. In any case, I've been shooting some moderate smokeless loads as well as BP loads, all with 200 grain RNFP I cast myself and have had no problems at all. What I'm left wondering is, how hot can I load for these guns? All the loading data I'm seeing is on the light side, I'm guessing to prevent originals from blowing up, but these are modern guns in perfect condition. If I'm not mistaken, Uberti chambers this model in .38 special as well as .45 long colt, no slouch when it comes to pressure. So my question is, does anyone know what pressures these revolvers are rated for? I don't want to burn the barn down every time i shoot, but the occasional hot target load would be fun and dreams of handgun hunting in the states has me wondering what type of performance I could get from these very accurate revolvers. Thanks all.
 
I don't think Uberti uses different steel for different chambering's so you should be able to go to .45 Colt pressures. the weak point in the Schofield's is the latch.
 
I have an original 3rd model Smith and Wesson target in .44 Russian, it is in excellent museum condition , got it from gunbroker about 5 years ago, also have a couple DA smiths in .44 Russian also in good condition, the target model is awesome, haven't brought myself to shoot it yet, it was very popular with target shooters in the day Theodore Rosevelt ordered 3 of them as did Anny Oakley.
They are much faster to reload than pretty much any other handgun of the era. The Uberti should be tough, being made of modern metals and are quite beefy.
 
mr.e moose said:
I don't think Uberti uses different steel for different chambering's so you should be able to go to .45 Colt pressures. the weak point in the Schofield's is the latch.
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That's what I was thinking, but there's no documentation so it's hard to tell. I have Russians, not Schofields. The latch is different but I'm not sure if it's better.
 
skokie said:
That's what I was thinking, but there's no documentation so it's hard to tell. I have Russians, not Schofields. The latch is different but I'm not sure if it's better.
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Yea, schofield basically has the latch reversed, supposedly makes it easier to reload single handed while riding a horse, or something like that! I would suggest emailing Uberti for some info on what they suggest for loads.
 
Even with stronger modern metals this is not an overly strong style of design. Since they are chambered in .44 Russian you can certainly shoot full power loads in that caliber. And particularly full compressed loads of black for Frontier Cartridge. But I'd be reluctant to go any higher with smokeless even for anything occasional. Even a full power standard .45Colt load may not make the gun blow up since they do proof them for such pressure. But over time I'd worry about even occasional loads of that pressure causing the hinge and latch to loosen up.

Locally we have a guy that also enjoys his Schofields. So much so he chose Schofield Kid as his cowboy nickname.
 
skokie said:
That's what I was thinking, but there's no documentation so it's hard to tell. I have Russians, not Schofields. The latch is different but I'm not sure if it's better.
Click to expand...

Schofield is a much stronger lockup.

On the Russian, the hook on the top of the hammer hold the latch from lifting during firing.
 
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