Colt SAA Clones

[jmort]

"Both are slicked up by the factory..."

In the end having gun tuned by someone like Long Hunter is better way to go than "factory."
Long Hunter does all the following:

- OUR PRICE INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING CUSTOM WORK -

1.

Hone all internal parts
2.

Replace all springs with Lee's "Gunslinger Spring Kit"
3.

Rework sear and hammer for crisp 2 1/2lb trigger pull
4.

Open forcing cone to 11 degrees
5.

Square barrel face
6.

Check cylinder gap and head space
7.

Set timing and advance bolt drop

Factory will include coil springs but not forcing cone and I doubt factory includes most of the rest and what is factory will be done at a lower grade. If you have a gun he will do an action job for $135.00
http://www.longhunt.com/gunsmithing/colt.htm

I had Lee's do one of my single actions and it was worth every penny. Too bad they only do black powder now.

[robertbank]

I would be all over that with my new Cattleman but living north of the 49th makes it near impossible to ship the gun down to you thanks to all the cross border BS that we are now faced with.

Take Care

Bob

[Larry Gibson]

I would be all over that with my new Cattleman but living north of the 49th makes it near impossible to ship the gun down to you thanks to all the cross border BS that we are now faced with.

Take Care

Bob

Isn't that the truth! Have to cross the border twice one way to visit daughter in Point Roberts.....have Nexus but it's still a pain. Have to strip search the PU and RV to make sure not one single cartridge case of any kind is there....always harder coming back into my own country than into Canada.......go figure........PITA for sure........

Larry Gibson

[jmort]

Canada must have some real good gunsmiths who do single actions.

[Walstr]

Buy USA & consider the Ruger New Vaquero's. I heard from shooters, it's twice the gun made overseas & you need a mic to tell the diff from a Colt SA. Very sturdy for entering the CAS addiction!

[robertbank]

Buy USA & consider the Ruger New Vaquero's. I heard from shooters, it's twice the gun made overseas & you need a mic to tell the diff from a Colt SA. Very sturdy for entering the CAS addiction!

I have to say BS on the "made overseas" comment. The Rugers are nice but do require work if you want them to shoot well. Typically the cylinder throats are way to tight for shooting lead. The cylinder throats on my two Rugers were .002 undersized and required reaming. Uberti SAA are every bit as good as anything Colt makes and sell for 1/3 of the price. I have to say buying virtually anything in the way of consumer products from the US is hit and miss at best. Probably true with most of what is produced today from most countries. Just because it has one countries name on it doesn't mean it is a superior product. Beretta owns Uberti and Beretta has been making forearms before Colt and Winchester were glints in their father's eyes.

Take Care

Bob

[felix]

Every stinking revolter in the closet has a problem because I am the judge about what specs are not up to felix's specs. So, the truth be known, I'm the problem and so it is up to me to find the "load" for it. The rules on this board clarify which problem can be fixed easily, and those which require professional help by whomever. ... felix

[birch]

The cat is officially out of the bag!!!

[35 Whelen]

There are at the moment five Uberti's/Cimarron's (they're one and the same, you know) in this household, and not a bad one in the lot. I have a pair of .44 Specials and I LOVE them and killed three deer with one of them this year. I polished the innards and replaced the mainspring and the bolt spring on the .44's. They're well made and amazingly accurate.

There's also a NM Vaquero 45 Colt that I bought almost new a year or so ago. The bolt dropped way too early scratching a line on the cylinder so I had to make a new hammer plunger to alleviate that problem. The cylinder throats were undersized which caused crappy accuracy so I had to have them reamed out. The factory plastic grips could've been used to strip barnacles from the hull of an oil tanker. And when I first shot it, it hit 4" left of aim at 25 yds. so I had to slightly bend the front sight to correct that problem. So now I have almost enough $$$$ in it to buy TWO Uberti's and the only thing that it'll do that a Uberti won't is handle slightly heavier loads.

35W

[Silver Jack Hammer]

35 Whelen, with those plastic grips that have the checking too sharp, just do like I do when I get a new Colt. Take sandpaper to the plastic until the checking has been smoothed out to your liking. It's easy, doesn't cost anything and you don't have to wait for it.

[taco650]

This has been an interesting thread. I've seen 35W's kill pics with his 44 Special and it sure is enough gun. Also saw a NM Ruger Vaquero 45colt in the gs the other day. It looked pretty interesting but I didn't have the $599 they wanted for it so it stayed in the case. Would like to get a 45 colt as a fun gun but think the colt clone won't be strong enough for the loads I'd like to shoot. Guess I've been shooting 44 mags too long LOL! Need to do some more shopping before deciding.

[The Virginian]

If you can get USFAs on the secondary market, they are even superior to any Colt that rolled out of Hartford. Too bad they are not making them now. Of the Italian imports, all of them are very good now since they have improved machining and metals, but one that is hand tuned like the one mentioned earlier will handle better. I have had great luck with Taylors and Company out of Winchester Virginia. They import them and even have a tuned Uberti SAA offering. Pietta is good, but is so whimpy they won't even put the patent dates in the frame.

[Vulcan Bob]

I have two 3 1/2" Uberti Thunderers that I shot with full power (8.0gr of Unique, 250gr LRNFP) loads for six years of Cowboy Action match's. didn't do a thing to em, just shot em box stock and they gave me no problems at all and are still as tight now as they were new. Cylinder throats are .454"-.455" on both but for some reason they shot .452's just fine.

[robertbank]

I have two 3 1/2" Uberi Thunderers that I shot with full power (8.0gr of Unique, 250gr LRNFP) loads for six years of Cowboy Action match's. didn't do a thing to em, just shot em box stock and they gave me no problems at all and are still as tight now as they were new. Cylinder throats are .454"-.455" on both but for some reason they shot .452's just fine.

Now that is great to hear. I intend to carry either of my two Uberti .45Colts for bear protection and 8 gr of Unique is my chosen load under a 255 gr LSWC. I also have a Ruger but if I got to do some hiking the Ruger weighs in heavier than the SAA. If 8 gr of Unique won't kill what I am facing using that bullet I am on the wrong continent.

Take Care

Bob

[Char-Gar]

Before USFA was USFA, it was USPFA and made their sixguns "under the blue dome" from Uberti parts. Some say these Italian parts were soften than American parts and wore out sooner. I can't say for certain is this is true or now as I have only had this one since 1995 and it shows no signs of any wear. If it shows up, I will just replace the offending part, but I am dubious I will ever have to do that.

[jmort]

"Full power" for 250 grain lead boolit is 9.5 grains and keep to SAAMI spec. I would go to 9 grains with the 255 grain SWC as Unique likes the upper end of its range.

[Char-Gar]

"Full power" for 250 grain lead boolit is 9.5 grains and keep to SAAMI spec. I would go to 9 grains with the 255 grain SWC as Unique likes the upper end of its range.

"Full power" is a term that means whatever the user wants it to mean. To duplicate the original black powder loading requires somewhere between 8 and 9 grains of Unique, depending on the individual firearm and it's specs. I tend to like 8.5 grains of unique over the 250-260 grain cast bullets.

For many years the various ammo factories loaded 6.5 grains of Bulleye and it is still a good load.

[robertbank]

My bullet mold is very similar to Lyman's 452424 boolit only casts out a tad heavier using WW alloy. Max load listed for Unique is 8.5 gr. With my wrists the recoil from this load is all I need. One gr of powder just increases the hurt factor with little in the way of additional performance. Hell any bear I see likely isn't going to notice the difference.


Take Care

Bob

[jmort]

Alliant lists 9.5 grains for 250 grain lead boolit. I don't like to red-line, but we are only talking about 14k psi max. For me, full power means maximum load for gun, in this case, 14k psi.

[Char-Gar]

Years ago, I tried 9.5 grains of Unique under the above mentioned bullet in a pair of Colt New Service revolvers and got flat primers and sticky extraction. That is when I dropped back to 8.5.

Pistol are individuals and while some may tolerate red line loads, others will not. The fact that the load was not excessive in Alliants tests means nothing in your revolver.

If I can't kill it with 8.5, it won't be killed with 9.5. All the extra grain of powder will do is create more wear and tear on the sixgun, create more recoil and cost more money.