SA Revolver - Recommendations Anyone?

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sobo4303

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I am looking to purchase a six shooter (ya...I love 'em). Options are the Uberti, Vaquero, Chaparral (Marstar) or Pietta (Marstar).

At a recent gun show I held and played I with a Chaparrel. Seems tight enough, but I value advice too. I am kinda leaning towards the original action (half-#### loading) versus the Vaquero style.

Anybody have any thoughts?
 
To get the best answer, you have to tell us for what purpose please?

Uberti's are fine, but for the same price I'd buy the Pietta. Then you don't have to worry about the silly extra "safety" parts in the hammer ~ but you should fix the cylinder pin on the Pietta. They're notched; mine spun and then "jumped" under recoil.

The Chaparrel's I looked at reminded me of the Uberti's from the 1970s and early 80's, good enough guns, but lacking the lines and finish of a real Colt...

New Vaquero's have a detent to stop the cylinder at the proper loading position, but they are weaker than a full size (discontinued) Vaquero. The major advantage of the Ruger's is that their parts (and springs) will probably never break.

If you were planning to shoot alot, I'd rank them:
Ruger
Pietta (not the "old model")
Uberti
Chaparrel

If you don't care about looks, but only price ~ go with the best deal $ wise.

I've actually looked at all of these guns, and I have bought the Colt, Ruger, and Pietta. Passed on the Uberti and Chaparrel...
 
sobo4303 said:
I am looking to purchase a six shooter (ya...I love 'em). Options are the Uberti, Vaquero, Chaparral (Marstar) or Pietta (Marstar).

At a recent gun show I held and played I with a Chaparrel. Seems tight enough, but I value advice too. I am kinda leaning towards the original action (half-#### loading) versus the Vaquero style.

Anybody have any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Well this is a question that will stir the pot....

Rugers New Vaquero is closer to the dimensions of a true SAA, and there is no question about their ruggedness...They look fine and shoot great....But they don`t operate like a true SAA ex: no half ####, opening the loading gate frees the cylinder, cylinder can rotate in opposite direction.....

Chaparral....The price is certainly right, but I have seen them jam up, with questionable fit and finish...Others people`s I have used worked and looked great....Action was a bit rough, but not big deal....Pietta and Uberti have a better case hardened "look" to them...Italian made...

Pietta....The Italian maker has improved dramatically over the years in form and function....Slightly less expensive than Uberti...I have several Pietta`s in cap `n ball (1851 navy`s, 1849 pocket, 1851 Sheriff), and they all look and shoot great....Action`s are fine....I don`t believe that you can go wrong with today`s Pietta`s...

Uberti.....These set the standard for SAA`s over the years....All my SA`s are Uberti`s (have 9 of `em), and the only thing that has ever gone wrong is one SA broke its "hand" twice...Two were a bit rough out of the box, action wise, but one smoothed out after some use, while I had a gunsmith tune out the other.....

I`m always hesitant about buying a firearm "sight unseen", but if the price is right, why not go for it?....Marstar`s reputation for service is unquestioned, and they have Pietta`s and Chaparral`s for an excellent SA price, and in a real caliber, .45 Colt (it`s COLT, not Long! pant, wheeze).....
Over all, I think that the Pietta`s that Marstar has are a better buy, although slightly more expensive....You can`t go wrong,....BUY, BUY, BUY....
 
I have Rugers, Ubertis and Piettas. For the money I have loved the fit, finish, feel and accuracy. I have owned C&B and cartridge Piettas and would not hesitate to buy them again. I have even exchanged emails with Mr. Pietta himself on a cowboy action shoting forum, hows that for customer service?

As for the Chapparals, I have not heard thing one about them being good. Your mileage may vary.

Matt
 
Because it hasn't been mentioned yet, I'll add that Heritage Manufacturing also offers 45 colt revolvers. The centerfire are manufactured by pietta and assembled in America.

We had them at a good price. They are sold out now with no ETA on resupply just yet.

heritage45_1.jpg
 
Usage

As to usage, I will truly be a noob. I will be shooting often, so usage will be getting up there. No competitions or anything like that. Just wanting to get introduced into this sport and get familiar with SA revolvers without spending money and then finding out that for a few dollars more, should bought a different model.

Thanks guys, your posts are quite helpful.
 
With the cowboy replica guns they all have fixed sights. If you don't mind picking a type of ammo and then trim down the front sight to suit that ammo and living with the fact that the sights will only be good for that ammo or ammo that by coincidence happesn to shoot to the same POI then the Uberti and Pietta guns are excellent value for the money and are nicely made. I chose Pietta for my own Cowboy Action shooting based on their fit and finish and nicely made internals that I found in a used one that I got off the EE here. The quality was very nice on all counts and I had no qualms about ordering a brand new second one from Marstar.

By constrast the Chaparral guns that a shooting buddy got do the job but the fit and finish is not up to the quality of the Pietta and Uberti arms that I have.

The thing I like about the Uberti and Pietta guns is that they are faithful "4 click" copies of the original Colts. Meanwhile the Ruger Vaqueros are their own internal system that just happens to look like an original Colt on the outside.


There's one other very important aspect. I reffered to the fixed sights up top. If you want to play with different loadings, different ammo or get into reloading and want to much about with finding the load that works the best with the barrel then you'll appreciate having an adjustable sight. That means just one option. The Ruger Blackhawk. There's some nice stuff from Freedom Arms but the price is well up there beyond the stratosphere for most shooters. Meanwhile the Blackhawks have an excellent rep as a tough gun that you can really load up hot if you want to try some big power reloads.

So if you want a nice cowboy clone gun then Pietta or Uberti. If you want a highly adjustable and wide range of single action use then the Blackhawk.
 
SA Revolvers

Can't comment on the Pietta or Chaparral, but all of the Ubertis that I've handled were a very good fit and finish and reasonable price. The Rugers are excellent but lack the true "Cowboy" feel IMHO. Just my $.02
Sharpset
 
The Blackhawk is also available with two cylinders in the convertible models i.e. 45Auto/45LC and 357/9MM. If you do a lot of shooting 45LC is more expensive, even if you reload because the cases cost more.
 
I own a pair of Rugers New Model Vaqueros, They are the 1st choice of Cowboy Action Shooters. I have handled Ubertis, Piettas and Chaparals as well as Old Model Vaqueros liked them all. But no regrets. In fact my wife is starting to shoot if she gets interested in CAS I'll buy her a pair, if she wants them, although she likes the look of the Uberti Cattleman birds head grip.... We'll see.
 
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