hunter64 said:
Is the cattleman a faithful reproduction of the Colt SAA or are the parts slightly different?
Current Colt SAA's are now in what is referred to as the "3rd generation". 3G Colts are made BY UBERTI and assembled and finished in the U.S. by Colt. Considering the parts for the original are made by Uberti, it would be difficult to get a better reproduction than a Uberti Cattleman.
I bought one in .357 Mag/38 sp. with the new 'antique' finish. Real nice! I like everything about it. It was funny the day I brought it home; a couple, who are friends of mine, came over to see it. After admiring it for a few minutes, she turned her attention to talking to my wife. He and I were still checking it out. When he mentioned that it's nice to have a manufacturer's warranty on the gun, she overheard the conversation and chimed in wondering how I could have a warranty on such an old gun.
With some women, you could pass this off as ignorance. Not with this gal - she owns a veritable arsenal of her own guns. She knows shotguns, hand guns, assault rifles - you name it. The antique finish is just so good that it takes a knowledgeable individual to know what they're looking at.
I don't know if Ubertis may have been lower quality in the past (I doubt it), but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them today. For those that don't already know, Uberti is now owned by Beretta (Along with Benelli, Franchi, SAKO, Stoeger, Tikka and a host of lesser known companies. Beretta is also partnered with Fabrique National of Belgium, who own the US Repeating Arms Company [Winchester] and Browning).
SS