Pietta or Uberti

[hylander]

1858

Which seems the better these days for accuracy and for converting to Cartridge ?

[Hang Fire]

I have two Pietta 58 Remys (8" target and 5.5") Converted to .45 Colt with Kirst Konverter. Due to slow twist of Pietta, at present I use a 180 grn. SWC. For me the heavier boolits in the Pietta shoot way high and am looking at even a lighter boolit to use. I understand the Uberti has a faster twist, but I am perfectly satisfied with the quality of the Pietta.

[w5pv]

45 Colt here 4,5 inch barrel in Uberti and love it.Shoots as close as this shakie old man can hold it.

[mazo kid]

I have a 36 cal. Pietta '58, and both a Kirst and an R&D cylinder for it. Both shoot better than I can hold. Also have a a Pietta 44 cal. '58 with an R&D 45 Colt conversion cylinder. Love them all!

[rodwha]

I have a Pietta '58 from last Christmas. It has a faster 1:16" twist just as my Ruger.

If you are looking for a light and short bullet for your slow twist you may want to look at these:

http://accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=45-170C-D.png

http://accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=45-195C-D.png

You could further reduce the weight if you wish by making the meplat smaller and/or increasing the lube groove size.

These both work equally well from both of my pistols. My Remington likes 30 grns of 3F Olde Eynsford or Triple 7, and my ROA likes 35 grns of said powders.

[Omnivore]

I have both. My Pietta has the slow twist, while this Uberti has the more common, faster twist for 44 and 45 cal cartridge guns. I haven't fisked out the Uberti for accuracy, but it should do better with heavier bullets. The Pietta does OK, about four inches at 25 yards with round ball. Sometimes 3.5". Slightly larger groups with the Lee 200, but still OK. Not great. At 50 yards, the Lee 200s go all over the place, which is disappointing (I can shoot my Glock 20 FAR better at 50 and 100 yards then the Pietta). Fit and finish on the two guns are similar, but the Uberti cost an extra 100 dollars.

These are cheap guns, either one, and so if you get a really good shooter, you done got lucky, I figure. If a 200 dollar gun (Pietta) can shoot at all, you're doing well, and the Piettas do shoot OK, by all accounts, at least with round ball, and with conicals at close range.

If the rather significant price difference is of no consequence to you, I'd hedge my bets and make sure I got one with the faster twist. Rodwha's report of a Pietta with the fast twist is the only one I've heard. He got his a few years after I got my Pietta, but Cabela's, the only place I've ever seen twist rates listed for these particular guns, still says a Pietta 44 has a 30+" twist. It's pretty easy to tell by looking carefully down the bore. If one land makes approximately one half turn from one end to the other of your 8" barrel, then it's a fast (modern 44/45) twist of around 16". If it makes roughly a quarter turn, then you have the slower twist of 30 or more inches.

As far as use in the field goes; if I wanted a cartridge gun in this style I'd go for the '75 model, with the full-on loading gate and ejector rod. The money isn't much different either way. Having a percussion gun, that you intend to use in percussion mode, plus having a cartridge conversion cylinder, is a different matter. I've tossed it around quite a bit, but it's come down to whether I want to inventory another damn cartridge caliber (brass, molds, loading dies and all the rest, plus working up loads for it). I don't currently have any 45 cartridge guns, but I do have a 38 and they make the Colt Open Tops and the Remington '75s in 38 "Spatial". 38 Special doesn't make sense in a conversion though-- I'd want to be able to use the same loads in the Cowboy gun as I use in the modern 38 Special DA revolver.

After owning some dozens of guns for many years, I've realized that each gun is its own separate, on-going "program", i.e. I have to establish good loads for it, get the sights the way I want them and so on and on and on, and I only have so much time to commit to such things. More intimate relationships, and more frequent outings, with a smaller number of guns is starting to look better and better. As the saying goes; "Fear the man with only one gun". There's a lot of truth in that.

Try three different bullets, with three different powders for three calibers in three guns. How many combinations is that to test out and truly determine the characteristics? 81? See the problem? That doesn’t even get into different brands of brass, or primers, or bullet alloys, or sizing dies, or loading with or without certain wads or what have you, bullet lubes, or working on the sights and the impact point of each gun with each load, and so on and on and on.

Come to think of it. I haven’t been able to really “solve” even one of my dozens of guns in regard to all of the above. I’ve come very close on one or two, but that’s about it. I now realize that I won't live long enough, at this rate, to really get to know and "solve" each one of the guns I currently own.

[Good Cheer]

"My gun" is now a 1858 Remington (Pietta) with 6" barrel reworked to use .41 caliber molds.
That's what I'm gonna get real good with for a while. :drinks: