1873 Revolvers

Billy The Kid

Regular
Rating - 99.8%
570   1   3
Location
NB
How decent are the 1873 copies that Marstar sells?

I realize they are not Colts but would it be worthwhile to pick one up?

If so, Chaparral or Pietta?

Thanks guys!:)
 
The Chaparral is cheaper but it shows. It's not a bad looking gun but the ones I saw next to my Piettas were duller and the owner complained that the triggers had a lot of creep and were rough until he had a trigger job done to them.

My first Pietta came from the EE and it was nice enough that I didn't have any concern about getting a mate at the price Marstar was charging so I have a pair for CAS events. The blueing and colour case hardening shine like a new penny. The only issue I have is the grip wood leaves something to be desired. But a set of aftermarket grips or doing your own custom set can easily fix that. The trigger still has too much creep for my liking for a target gun but for CAS it isn't a bad thing since it helps in that event to reqire a slightly more deliberate pull in the heat of competition.

Target grouping if you're after a bullseye gun is a little iffy at this point. I'm still trying to come to terms with how to hold the plowshare guns the best way and with consistency. And I found that lead bullets group better as well (.38/.357Mag caliber in my case). So far my best is about 3 inch diameter groups at 12'ish yards shot one handed duelist style. With jacketed rounds this grows to around 5 to 6 inches. The gun is also sensitive to one or two handed shooting. Two handed holds back the recoil and the gun shoots quite low. But if you trim the front sight to compensate then it'll shoot too high one handed. Such is the life of a fixed sight gun owner. I trimmed my front sights to match the guns to the same loads used by my S&W Model 10 so I can reload just one set of ammo.
 
I recently purchased a pietta 73 from marstar. Mine is the 357 4.75 inch barrel version. I was actually surprised at how accurate mine is. Maybe I just got lucky. The grips are the checkered version. The only issue I have had is the first time I tried it I guess I didn't have the base pin seated fully so the cylinder wouldn't turn properly. If you are smarter than me you won't have this problem. I have found the best way to hold any sa is with the little finger underneath the grip. I have no information on the chapparal but I probably would buy another Pietta or two, especially if they offered them in 44 special.
 
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