Pietta revolvers quality question

Pre-1898

Pre-1898

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Hi, I am presently looking for a Single action .22 LR revolver with a steel frame. My first choice was a used Flat top Ruger single six, but i am also considering Pietta 1873. Now since I dont know much about Pietta revolvers, i would need some info from you guys / gals.

Are they good Quality revolvers ? if so Are they comparable to Ruger ? Since I dont want adjustable sights, it seems to be a good choice .

Can you please help me make my decision ? Shall I wait for a used Ruger Single six or go for a Pietta 1873 ?

any help is greatly appreciated
 
I have a Pietta 1860 C&B I converted to 45 colt. Nothing wrong with it, but it's no Uberti or Ruger in terms of build quality.

M
 
I have a Pietta 1873 copy and I am very pleased with the fit and finish. It is the 7 1/2" barrel in .44-40.

Last year I sent a Uberti 1860 back as 4 of the 6 cylinder chamber did not line up. There was a flaw in the trigger guard casting and the cylinder scene was hard to see.

What every you buy check it over.
 
Had a pietta 44mag, have to say it was a nicely put together pistol, nice blueing, brass trigger guard..functioned flawlessly shot straight....what more can I say.....
 
I've been using a pair of center fire Piettas for cowboy action for almost 6 years now. They are as reliable as the day is long. When I've used them for slow bullseye shooting they are as accurate for me as the best of my other options.

Of course any gun is a mechanical device so anything can go at any time. But I'd buy Pietta again without any hesitation given my own experience with the two I've got.


The level of workmanship is excellent as well. I've got an old 1960's vintage Ruger Single Six and the insides of the Ruger don't look any better than the insides of my Pietta single actions.

Take note that the Pietta guns use the old original Colt action. That means you need to go to half #### to load. And once on half #### NEVER lower it from the half #### position. With the old Colt style actions you ALWAYS continue to full #### and then lower the hammer from there.

For shooting at the range this means you load at half #### then close the gate and raise the gun to the shooting posture then finish cocking to full #### to take the first shot. For any use that involves laying the gun down or holstering you want to leave the one chamber empty and rotate the cylinder while at half #### to the position just before the hammer. Going to full #### indexes the cylinder so the empty chamber is then under the hammer and it's safe to pull the trigger while maintaining control of the hammer to lower it on the empty chamber.

If you have not owned a "proper" Colt style action gun it's not always obvious about this need to go to full #### all the time once the hammer is moved even a little.
 
Not to argue or take issue with BC above...and my info is about 5 years old - but back in the day I hung out with the black powder geeks on Claude's forum and it seemed that quality was all over the place on their BP revolvers. Some guys loved them, some hated them. Don't know about their smokeless guns but if it was me I would go with Ruger all the way. My Single Six is 32 years old and still keeping them in the black.
 
In the 90's Pietta took a back seat to Uberti for quality. But at some point in the early years of the new century they perked up. It's possible that the guys at your club were still using guns that they had obtained from that earlier time.

My own two Piettas that are just fine inside and out are 6 years old for one and probably 8 for the other. I bought a used one first at a price that seemed more than reasonable and after inspecting the gun and shooting it I ordered a new one from Marstar to go with it. The new one was also just fine when I opened it up.

This new generation Pietta product is just as nice as a couple of Uberti black powder guns I've got.

Now granted I'm not able to check out a dozen or more looking for anomalies. But from my own experience and reports of others I've read that have bought Pietta guns over the last 6 to 8 years I've yet to see a story about any rough machining or badly out of tune guns from recently made Pietta guns.
 
Yep.

There was a lot of monkey business going on around then, BC, and who knows who has the right of it. I have been hearing grumblings recently that Uberti is now having QA/QC issues and one of the grumblers is my gun smith. I dunno if it is even an issue or not: I lean toward Ruger because the local smiths know them inside out and can get parts for them whenever they are needed. I know that the Italian guns USED to be dodgy in that regard and probably still are. I have a Uberti 1876 in .45-75 that needs a new hammer because Bubba (previous owner) decided to do a trigger job...and getting a new one has turned out to be a PITA. That's just me though, your mileage may vary. By contrast my 1860 looks good, shoots like a house afire and I have sold more Uberti BP pistols than Uberti ha!. Once the noobs see them shoot, smell the stink and see all the smoke...at least a couple of them will lose their hearts to them the way I did.

Do you shoot BP cartridges for your cowboy shoots BP? If not...you should! :)
 
I've had a couple Pietta's. Still have one in .357 Mag.

They're no Colt SAA, but then they don't cost as much, either...lol....

But I still like 'em.

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They have a reputation for occasional quality control problems, however a good one is a good one and you can usually tell by inspection.

I bought a Beretta Stampede once, Beretta are supposed to be good quality but the first one I handled at the store had timing problems and I managed to lock it right up testing it by cycling it quickly. I had them bring out another which was fine and that's the one I took home.
 
One Lung, that's good information to know about the parts issue. Hopefully I don't run into anything I can't fix for myself or make a new one in my shop.

I'm a black powder junkie as well. But I make smoke with cap and ball guns instead of BP cartridges. Of course I have to load smoky cartridges for the rifle and shotgun but I like the cap and ball better. I shoot C&B guns fairly frequently during the year when the weather isn't soggy wet. And I did well enough to squeak out a first place in Frontiersman at last years Canadian SASS Nationals held in Kamloops.

In fact I like the smoky stuff well enough that I've got both a pair of Uberti Remington 1858's and a pair of Colt 1860's with a side order of a Colt 1851 as a spare. All in a good hard kicking .44 caliber.

It's funny but after trying my Colt 1860s with the new taller front sight blades I made and fitted I found that these mixed and matched Uberti and Navy Arms guns both shot as good as I can manage even with my best shooting modern guns. It was easy for me to get 2 inch groups at around 17 yards. And that's as good as the nut on the end of the grips can manage with any gun. So these C&B clones are not just for looking pretty or just for laying down a thick smoke screen. THEY CAN SHOOT TOO! ! ! !
 
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