Are there year(s) of production that should be avoided in this revolver? I hear warnings from various sources and know-it-alls who say guns, like the Uberti Cattleman produced prior to the new factory, should be avoided. Is that the generally accepted opinion?
Thanks
I have owned numerous Uberti Cattleman revolvers during the last decade and none have given me any problems. I think that they are as good as, if not better than the Colt revolvers they copy.
No problems noted with any of mine.
While I have had excellent service and apparent good quality control from the Uberti revolvers I have purchased, I don't recommend buying any Italian-made firearm "in the blind"--that is, ordered in a manner that does not include the right of refusal if quality is lacking. That might br a good operating mode for the buyers of ANY firearm in this scandalous, graceless age.
Specific to the Italian arms question, I was acquainted with a buyer and factory rep for a high-end Italian gunmaker several notches up the food chain from Uberti. His recommendation was to NEVER buy an Italian firearm "sight unseen". Much of his work involved return/replacement of VERY EXPENSIVE shotguns that in spite of their steep tariffs still had a 25%-30% return rate on these finest-kind scatterguns. WTH?? His explanation was that Italian gunworkers are so deeply and comprehensively unionized that no amount of effective discipline could be applied to prompt more careful attention to detail. Further, if it's a warm, sunny day--a third of your workforce might not show up. Again, no consequences. Any attempt to enforce some craftsmanship integrity on the shop line turned that 30% return rate into a 90% rejection outcome. And we think the USA and Canada have intransigent labor elements.
Excellent advise from 9.3x62 above. Owing 7 Uberti revolvers (2 1851 Navies, 2 1860 Army, 2 1873 45 Colts, and 1 "Colt" 3'rd Generation) I got a bad 1851 with LOTs of defects including the wrong front sight, tool marks all over it, burred up screw holes, and grips that did not fit. Fortunately I sent it back to MidwayUSA and they replaced the thing. How that one left the factory is a mystery but it was ALL boogered up.
Aside from that defective revolver which was replaced, the "Colt" is the worst. The silver plating is turning black (bad plating) and the cylinder would not come off the revolver. I had to use a bearing puller to remove it from the oversize Arbor, mill the Arbor down and reface the cylinder. That one (a gift from my wife) really pisses me off since it is a "Colt" Black Powder. It's actually an Italian made revolver, assembled here in the USA and they ASSUMED that since it was a "collector" model, it would never be disassembled. What a piece of work. That one I am stuck with.
I like the Uberti revolvers I have and if you shoot them a lot, you had better have a few spare springs on-hand. That's just the nature of the beast with the Colt single-action design.