Pietta vs Uberti

stevejones

stevejones

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I'm considering the purchase of a cap and ball revolver. I have owned them in the past but different brand names, however they were Italian made. Other than the typical problems that are inherent with all cap and ball revolvers they were decent guns. I was curious if there was a quality difference between the two companies and would really appreciate some input.

Thanks for your thoughts. Steve
 
If you get a recently made gun from either company you will find it to well made, the Uberti's tend to have nicer wood grips.
I have several guns made by both makers and it is a toss-up as to which is better made.
 
OK thanks for your input. I see them on the EE but usually they are older guns and the seller wants almost as much as a new one...I think going new is the way to go. I have had a repro 1851 and `1861 navy but I'm thinking 1858 Remington.

Thanks again. Steve

b
Skinny 1950 said:
If you get a recently made gun from either company you will find it to well made, the Uberti's tend to have nicer wood grips.
I have several guns made by both makers and it is a toss-up as to which is better made.
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If you're looking at 1858's then I can say from the pair of Uberti 1858's that you're going to be hard pressed to find a nicer gun. I use mine for some fun day stuff but mostly for Frontiersman cowboy action shooting. They've been amazingly reliable for a good 7 years now. And I got them used so I'm guessing the previous owner shot them at least a little.

They are so solid that at least one more generation will be able to enjoy them without issues after I'm done with them.

I have read by more than a few folks that own both brands that there's little between them these days. One is better in some ways and the other in other ways.


One thing that NEITHER of the companies can get right is the nipples. You'll find that if you budget for replacing them with a good after market brand nipple that the caps will fit better and your life will be simpler in many ways. Treso seems to be the winner with Slix Shot a near second and the stock nipples on either brand being distant "also rans". The choice of which to get likely will depend on which caps you find the most often.

The Slix Shots really like Remington #10 with CCI #10 being darn close but just a very slight pinch more tight. Either should be pushed on with a push stick in any event to ensure that they are seated correctly on the nipples.
 
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I've been impressed with the Pedersoli 1858, specifically how smooth and light the trigger felt. Even though I own a FWB Rogers&Spencer I'm considering an Perdersoli 1858

Brian
 
Steve,
Try to have a feel of one before you commit to buying-I have just sold my '58 Remington because the grips just felt too small to handle comfortably but I do have big hands thou! It was great fun to shoot and surprisingly accurate if I did my bit.
 
Silfield said:
Steve,
Try to have a feel of one before you commit to buying-I have just sold my '58 Remington because the grips just felt too small to handle comfortably but I do have big hands thou! It was great fun to shoot and surprisingly accurate if I did my bit.
Click to expand...

Pietta has changed the grip to allow more space between front grip strap and the trigger guard. You could also grind out the area yourself to accommodate your hand. I have small hands and the older frames are still a bit tight for me.

The Remingtons hand together longer that the Colt "wedgies" in my experience. I currently own or have owned examples of the "wedgies" from the .31 to the Walker and the only one I kept was the 3rd Model 2ng Gen Dragoon. It works and has given me no problems.
 
The problem with most of the "wedgies" ( I like that :d) is that the Italian factories do not fit the arbor to the barrel correctly. The arbor is supposed to bottom out in the hole in the barrel and the wedge is supposed to hold the arbor firmly against that. The idea being that the arbor or hole is adjusted for this engagement to occur when the cylinder has just the right gap.

Instead they leave the arbor short and the wedge ends up being used as an adjuster for the cylinder gap. But that makes the barrel retention a bit springy and fails to correctly lock the barrel, frame and arbor together to form a proper load bearing locked together collection of parts like Sam Colt intended.

When this is tuned correctly the gun won't experience the beating it gets when the wedge is asked to spring the barrel into place like it does on the guns as they come out of the box.

I've added buttons of steel soldered to the front end of the arbor to correct this issue. It totally changes how the wedges hold and how the gun is broken down and re-assembled.

But I digress. This is supposed to be about Remington clones.

I know that Pedersoli and Uberti are linked these days by a common owner. So some of Perdersolis guns show up in slightly lower trim as Uberti guns and some Uberti guns with some dressing up are being sold as Pedersolis. I suspect that the Pedersoli Remington is one of these. A Uberti with some nicer wood grip and maybe a little extra polishing and deeper bluing. In exchange it digs a little deeper into the wallet.
 
I've read that a proper fitting split washer ahead of the cylinder arbor can aid in the fit of a "wedgie". Lots of cures, but why bother when there are Remingotns out there that work out of the box?
 
Thanks for the terrific input everyone. I guess its just a matter of deciding which one to get as there a lot of different models each company makes. Sail32 I am not sure if #11 nipples will thread into the cylinder but that's great advice if it works! My hands are probably average in size and the previous colts I've owned seemed to fit my hand ok. I'm familiar with all the peculiarities of loading and shooting cap and ball revolvers but what was mentioned earlier about the wedgies reminds me that both of the colts needed to be disassembled and cleaned as the fouling made it difficult, if not impossible, to #### the piece after around 2 loadings. Is the cause of this partly to do with what was mentioned?

Cheers. Steve.
 
If the washer, split or flat doesn't matter, is the right thickness then yes. or a small #6 or 8 hex nut being thicker might do the trick. And a hex nut of that size and thickness is likely going to be a touch too thick and that allows the person to dress it down to the right thickness on a file or careful use of a grinder. Otherwise it's either doing nothing or it's holding the cylinder gap open by too much.

I chose to make up and solder little steel buttons in place which are the right fit so the part won't go flying out and be lost all the time. I enjoy that sort of tinkering though and I've got all the tools for it.
 
Steve, try that Canola oil trick I mentioned. I've shot my 1860's in a few cowboy meets now where they have to run smoothly for 6 reloads each. I load the cylinder then put a drop of Canola oil on the joint that leads into the cylinder arbor. The Canola cuts the fouling that is in there and keeps the cylinders literally spinning freely all day long. Not as free as first thing in the day but freely enough that it's tough to feel any drag at all.

Some folks mention using a grease such as "Bore Butter" on the Colt open top arbors. I tried that and there's too much viscous drag. So I went back to Ballistol oil on the arbor and add that drop of Canola with ever reload. They stay free all day that way.

The Remingtons also gum up if I don't oil the pin with every loading. So they are not immune to the issue.

The aftermarket nipples that fit specific caps typically come in all the common thread sizes to fit different brands. I know that Uberti uses 1/4-28 while Pietta uses a 6mm x 1.0mm metric thread. But the common suppliers should have all these thread sizes.

Treso is apparently the winner for nipples and the Treso brand fits CCI #11 neatly.
 
Hi. I do not know about the \pieta, but I own an Uberti Remington and my brother owns a Pedersoli. There is quite a bit of difference. The Pedersoli has worked great from day one. The Uberti took a bit of fiddling around. As mentioned before, the nipples were the biggest problem. Once I changed from the factory nipples, the problems went away. The Pedersoli has a tighter fir to all parts. This is good and bad. If I forget to oil the cylinder pin on the Uberti, it fires for longer than the Pedersoli. The Pedersoli gums up right away. The hammer spring on the Pedersoli is a bit tighter. The hammer is better made. More polished. I can strip the Pedersoli down and re-assemble it no problem. The Uberti has issues. Some of the small screws are too tight to disassemble. They are also not that strong.

The Pedersoli was almost twice as much as the Uberti, but worth it. If I had someone give me one, I wouold choose the Pedersoli. If I had to buy another one?????I may go for another Uberti. Although the Pedersoli is a fine piece.

Kevin
 
Kevin, if the small screws are too tight that's the fault of the last person to put it together. The proper torque for tightening small screws is more of a two finger pinch on the screwdriver. If you are using a full fist approach then it's time to back off a bunch on that practice.

For example as a rule screws seem to "bed in" or the lubricant migrates away or by some other method tighten themselves when left for a longer time. So if it's been a while then the torque you need to break the screw loose should never be the torque you use when you tighten it again. This applies doubly for the action screws that are the pivot pins for the trigger, bolt and hammer. A snug pinch on the smaller and a little heavier tweak on the bigger hammer screw. But neither should be tightened with a firm grip and a serious twist.

If it turns out that they loosen in use then the tighten them back up with a little more firmness than used initially. The threads will stay pristine a lot longer using this method.


And I'm not surprised at the improvements you noticed between the two brands. While the companies share some product I did not mean to suggest that the name is simply changed. There are some significant differences between the two. Fit and finish of the parts is one I would expect. Even if it's only some extra care in picking out parts that fit correctly and sending the rest back.
 
B/P fouling to the axle pin on a Remington can be mitigated somewhat if you have access to a machine that will turn it, either a lathe or drill press. If you cut 5 or 6 small grooves in the axle (not very deep, 5 to 7 thou) and 10 to 15 thou apart with the first one just inside the front of the cylinder. This was done by old time gunsmiths back in the day when only B/P was available and the workings of your gun dictated whether you lived or died. a lot of original Colts have the grooves cut as well but removing the pin was not as easy.

This also works on cartridge guns as well. I've done it to gun I only use smokeless in as well if it has a "generous" cylinder gap that allows crud to build up on the axle/cylinder interface. I've had them go from having to use pliers to pull the axle for cleaning after a 500 rnd shoot to shooting half a season and still pulling the axle with finger tips just by cutting a few grooves in the axle.

Most of the fowling/crud seams to stop at the first groove and the rest of the grooves retain grease much like the lube in a cast bullet. I use a fishing reel grease that has almost no drag, on the axle pin, it will stop fowling migration better than oil.
 
No matter what you do to the cylinder arbor of a Remington, it will get blasted by BP fouling and bind up. There is no gas shield of any kind in the design. There is a flat area to apply lube, but it is insufficient.
After lubing the chamber mouths, I now give a squirt of Ballistol to the cylinder pin and give it a spin. That works better.

I took a new Pietta .44 c/w 5 shot Kirst conversion cylinder unit. Worked fine with .45 Colt loads, but I had to crank on more tension to the hammer spring for reliable cap & ball ignition. A lot of the failures to fire I've seen can be attributed to too light a hammer fall.
 
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