I like doing more with less.

snoopycda

snoopycda

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Like Quigley said "I never had much use for a handgun" until recently.
If we were allowed to carry while hunting, then I would use one as a finisher.
I have a Ruger mkII and recently purchased a 1911 Norinco, and have whetted my appetite. Mine works very well.
The only other pistol i am at this point interested in is a '73 SAA Colt. With that being said, i dont want to pay Colt prices.
My question is who makes the best replica for the dollar spent? Chiappa, Uberti or some other brand? Or should i just seek out a Ruger Vaquero and play with that?
Traditional gun and caliber are important to me, so 45LC will be what it will be chambered for even if i choose the non traditional (but spiritual) Vaquero.
 
I have a Uberti 1873 SAA and it is a very smooth gun to shoot, the cost of .45 Colt factory ammo is what inspired me to get into reloading which also comes in handy for the .45ACP guns.
You can't go wrong with either the Pietta's or Uberti brands if you want a gun that looks like the original Colt, the Rugers are great for heavy duty gun slinging.
 
I went with Pietta for my cowboy action guns. Four years of use in matches and general target shooting and I'm still happy as a clam. I've also got a couple of Uberti black powder cap&ball revolvers that are equally trouble free and joyful to shoot.

I went with these over the Rugers as I wanted the honest to gosh Colt "4 click" action over the Ruger transfer bar and disconnector. For me this is the perfect setup. I like that when I shoot my guns, the black powder loads in particular, that I'm experiencing EXACTLY what the folks from back then experienced.

Ruger, Pietta or Uberti are all a wash on quality from what I've seen. I know the Ruger folks won't like that in some cases but they mostly paid for the extra parts inside that gives them the transfer bar and cylinder disconnect.

I've personally had experience with Chiappa through their Armi Sport lineup and personally know three fellow shooters that have had issues with Chiappa guns. And I've chatted with a gunsmith that cringes a little inside when he sees a Chiappa come in for work. So my suggestion is to go elsewhere until they choose to spend more of the price of the gun on the internals and less on the exterior bling. Their cowboy guns LOOK GREAT! But in too many cases the look is only skin deep.
 
I have a Uberti SAA and am thoroughly pleased with it. Like BC's Pietta, it has the "4 click" action. Feels great in the hands, shoots like a dream.
Now I'm leaning towards a Uberti second model Schofield. Just something about that top break action ......:D

(E) :cool:
 
I have my eye on a Pietta 5 1/2" for 400.00 new. Should i jump on this?
By the way, is there factory black powder loads available for the 45 Long Colt?
 
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It depends on the model. For the newer matt finish Millenium models that's the same price that Marstar has them listed for. So it's not something wondrous.

I've seen the Millenium model in the flesh and the matt finish left me cold. Maybe if there were such a thing as a "tactical cowboy" this would be the right gun for them. But for my money I'd rather pay the extra and get one of the shiny colour case/blued guns that shine in the daylight like a freshly minted coin. Despite the fact that it's fake colour case the blued cylinder, barrel and frame are nicely polished so the whole gun just has a nicer look for me.

In the US you can buy small firm black powder loads. But I don't know of anybody up this way making such ammo. Just not enough call for it.

If you're getting this/these new gun/s in .45Colt you'll soon come to see the positive side of reloading your own rounds. Cost for factory .45Colt will astound you and if you shoot much at all with this gun it'll quickly pay for you to buy into a reloading setup. And once you're into reloading it's not hard to make up your own black powder rounds.

Note on the BP rounds. First off it's important that there is no air gap in the casing. There MUST BE enough powder or powder/separator card/filler so that the charge or charge and filler is slightly to moderately compressed. If it shakes around at all then it will generate a HUGE pressure spike. BP and the BP substitutes are very unlike smokeless powder in this fact.

Secondly if you use honest to gosh black powder you will have to melt out and replace the bullet lube with a vegetable substitute. A popular one is beeswax with olive oil mixed in to soften the wax. Another is Crisco shortening with canning paraffin wax or beeswax to thicken it up a little extra. You will also need to clean the bore and cylinder and re-lube with a black powder compatible oil such as Ballistol or Canola oil. Yep the cooking oil. Don't leave it in for long term but for up to a couple of weeks it actually is a great rust resistance oil and it keeps the black powder fouling soft for your day of shooting. A drop on the cylinder arbor at each loading keeps things moving easily. In fact it would likely work well with the beeswax instead of the olive oil.

The other alternative is to load up some cases with Pyrodex P. This is the FFFg black powder equivalent. It's OK with regular oils and bullet lubes for the most part so it's easy to use. But like black powder it leaves a corrosive fouling so you need to wash the gun out in water than dry and oil it at the end of the shooting day to avoid rust issues.
 
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BCRider said:
It depends on the model. For the newer matt finish Millenium models that's the same price that Marstar has them listed for. So it's not something wondrous.

I've seen the Millenium model in the flesh and the matt finish left me cold. Maybe if there were such a thing as a "tactical cowboy" this would be the right gun for them. But for my money I'd rather pay the extra and get one of the shiny colour case/blued guns that shine in the daylight like a freshly minted coin. Despite the fact that it's fake colour case the blued cylinder, barrel and frame are nicely polished so the whole gun just has a nicer look for me.

In the US you can buy small firm black powder loads. But I don't know of anybody up this way making such ammo. Just not enough call for it.

If you're getting this/these new gun/s in .45Colt you'll soon come to see the positive side of reloading your own rounds. Cost for factory .45Colt will astound you and if you shoot much at all with this gun it'll quickly pay for you to buy into a reloading setup. And once you're into reloading it's not hard to make up your own black powder rounds.

Note on the BP rounds. First off it's important that there is no air gap in the casing. There MUST BE enough powder or powder/separator card/filler so that the charge or charge and filler is slightly to moderately compressed. If it shakes around at all then it will generate a HUGE pressure spike. BP and the BP substitutes are very unlike smokeless powder in this fact.

Secondly if you use honest to gosh black powder you will have to melt out and replace the bullet lube with a vegetable substitute. A popular one is beeswax with olive oil mixed in to soften the wax. Another is Crisco shortening with canning paraffin wax or beeswax to thicken it up a little extra. You will also need to clean the bore and cylinder and re-lube with a black powder compatible oil such as Ballistol or Canola oil. Yep the cooking oil. Don't leave it in for long term but for up to a couple of weeks it actually is a great rust resistance oil and it keeps the black powder fouling soft for your day of shooting. A drop on the cylinder arbor at each loading keeps things moving easily. In fact it would likely work well with the beeswax instead of the olive oil.

The other alternative is to load up some cases with Pyrodex P. This is the FFFg black powder equivalent. It's OK with regular oils and bullet lubes for the most part so it's easy to use. But like black powder it leaves a corrosive fouling so you need to wash the gun out in water than dry and oil it at the end of the shooting day to avoid rust issues.
Click to expand...

Sounds like If i want to try black powder, get her in stainless then stick it in the dishwasher when your done.
I already handload for rifles, have been for many years. i just didnt want to for handgun unless i have to.
Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.
 
With the cost of .45Colt ammo you'll simply be forced to buy the stuff to reload. Unless you have lots of disposable income it's simply not an option if you want to shoot this caliber on a regular basis.

A buddy that got into shooting cowboy action with me a couple of years ago has .45Colt pistols and lever gun. We calculated out that his reloads cost 23 cents each for the primer, powder and cast lead bullet. There's also a cost for buying the brass since it won't last forever but he'll likely get enough use from it that we're still only looking at 23.5 cents at most based on up around 50 reloads per casing with the brass factor added on. So that's a whopping $11.75 per box of 50 at this point. Compare that to up around $40 a box for factory loads and you can see why it's worth getting into reloading sooner instead of later for this caliber if you go for the gun.
 
Just bought the Pietta. What sold me besides the price point was the authentic click of the hammer as its being cocked. The Uberti's looked good too.
And yes it is in .45 LC. at 1.00 per round, i will be handloading. At least the brass is easy to collect after shooting!
 
Pic isn't coming thru. Hover over the picture at PB and then click on the funny "flower". Click on the IMG code to copy and then paste that into your post here.

Keep in mind that with the fixed sights you need to adjust the load to the sights. Light and fast bullets will print lower than the POA while heavy and slow will tend to print a little higher than POA. You can also find a load you enjoy with "enough" recoil and then trim the front sight blade to match the POA to where your pet load hits.

If you approach it right and play with the loads for a while it's also possible to get produce a light recoil 200gn load that will print to the same impact point as a stout near full pressure 250gn load. That way you've got some grin making heavy ammo as well as newbie friendly light loads that shoot to the same point of impact. Takes a bit of playing around to get there though. But hey, that just means more range time.... :D

I also found that the impact point varied depending on if I was shooting using two hands or one. And in my own case since I have chosen to shoot my cowboy matches in "duelist" style using only one hand I eventually trimmed my front sights to deal with that along with my final ammo choice.
 
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