In the Market for a Single action Colt Clone.......

[seekersoftheredmist]

Howdy fellers! Looking for the past several weeks intently and studying on several options for a new single action cowboy gun. Ive got the caliber chosen (44-40) but I'm torn between several different models. I love the Smoke wagon but also like the Great Western II "Alchimista II". Also the 1873 model P is very slick looking. Ive seen the Piettas and like their looks but i dont think i want the transfer bar that it has. Reason being i plan on doing more than "pull and shoot" with it. HELP me out fellers. I'M looking for First HAND experience advice. Thanks.

[Silver Jack Hammer]

Although not an answer to your question, I want to point out that the .44-40 is a more time consuming cartridge to re-load. You can't use carbide dies so you'll have to lube and clean when re-sizing, and the brass is to thin at the mouth of the cartridge and is not conducive to a progressive. You will be best off seating and crimping in two different steps to save your brass or you'll crush about 3 to 10 per cent of your cases at the mouth. This timely manner if you are making cartridges for "pull and shoot" range sessions which tends to consume more ammo.

You might want to consider a straight walled cartridge case.

I have little personal experience with the Colt clones other than what I see other shooters using.

[seekersoftheredmist]

Although not an answer to your question, I want to point out that the .44-40 is a more time consuming cartridge to re-load. You can't use carbide dies so you'll have to lube and clean when re-sizing, and the brass is to thin at the mouth of the cartridge and is not conducive to a progressive. You will be best off seating and crimping in two different steps to save your brass or you'll crush about 3 to 10 per cent of your cases at the mouth. This timely manner if you are making cartridges for "pull and shoot" range sessions which tends to consume more ammo.

You might want to consider a straight walled cartridge case.

I have little personal experience with the Colt clones other than what I see other shooters using.

Silver Jack, i am an old school single stage press man still! lol . just never liked the progressive stuff, plus its not conducive for paper patch loading. hence i already lube, seat and crimp in separate stages. i know it takes some time but i enjoy the process.

[DougGuy]

I saw this Uberti in a lgs and boy did it ever look authentic!

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/DougGuy/Guns/UbertiOldWestCattleman_zpsa0925c0b.jpg (http://s1202.photobucket.com/user/DougGuy/media/Guns/UbertiOldWestCattleman_zpsa0925c0b.jpg.html)

[DrCaveman]

Ive been interested lately in 44-40 but never dabbled
I bought a cimarron/pietta frontier 45 colt 4.75" a few weeks ago
Its pretty darn sweet, i have already found accurate loads that are free of leading...

Cant say about long term or hot loads, but for my money, it has the tightest lockup of any revolver i own. And a great balance, and better-than-blackhawk grip...for me

[blackpowder man]

I stick with Pedersoli and Uberti when it comes to Italian guns (or Beretta). I played with an 1858 remington by Pietta and never did figure out where the shots went-and I've been shooting cap and ball pistols for well over 25 years. I had an old Uberti 1873 cattleman colt clone made in the '70's and it was a great shooter. It was a .45 colt and as sliver jack pointed out .44-40 is much more of a pain to size. I have been shooting a pair of stainless new vaqueros in .44 special for a couple of years now and they are typical Rugers. I shoot both black powder and smokeless in both .44 special and .44 russian. Nothing wrong with a uberti though and I believe the groove diameter on their .44-40 is .429 which in my opinion is good. Gives you more boolit options without sizing them down too much.

[JMtoolman]

Hi there seeker, I have five 44-40's, three rifles and two revolvers, and here is what I have found. The cylinder mouths of the revolvers on mine have to be reamed. They all miked form ..424 to .427, while the bore's all miked .431. That means the slugs have to expand some five to six thousands after leaving the mouth of the cylinder, to match the bottom of the barrel. This is because most of the manufactures are already making 44 mag barrels, and they use the same equipment to make the 44-40 barrels. When the cylinders are reamed, they shoot very good, as well as any 44 mag does with the .431/.432 diameter cast bullets. Even my original 73 and 92 Winchesters match this size. Now on to the problems of reloading with the 44-40 dies! I have had Lee, RCBS. and Redding dies in 44-40, and each one is set up to size the cases for the .427 diameter bullets. This causes problems when seating a .431 diameter cast bullets. The dies all size the neck and the bullet down while seating the cast bullets. I have even had some of the cases collapse while seating the friction is so great trying to push the oversize bullets into the case. I finely took my RCBS seater die and annealed it, set it up in the lathe and using chucking reamers, opened up the mouth of the seater to take a .431/.432 diameter bullet. Then I opened up the neck area of the seater to take the diameter of the neck and bullet. In other words I had to remake there seating and crimping die! And it worked a treat! One could also take a 44 Mag. seater die and open up the case diameter and use the neck and crimp area of the die for the 44-40. For the right size seating and crimping diameters are already there! Other than these problems the 44-40 is one of my favorite rounds! I now have all of the problems worked out with my dies and just loaded 300 cased with no hickups what so ever. Best regards the toolman.

[Bent Ramrod]

My SAA in .44-40 is a Uberti replica of a Remington 1890. The cartridge is a little finicky to load, but it is one of the all time classics. Get a Lee Factory Crimp die, or buy the RCBS mould that has a good crimp groove. The case mouth is thin and boolits of the 42798 type can back out of the shell on recoil if not well crimped in. You are limited to short nosed boolits of 210 gr or lighter unless you can find something like the Ideal 429434 which is the 42798 with a gas check shank. You can also use the 429215, although you may have to crimp it over the front driving band to get it to fit in the cylinder.

If you want a Colt clone at a reasonable price I have been very happy with my Cimarron Ubertis in .32-20 (7-1/2") and .45 Colt (4-3/4"). Except for the two-detent cylinder axle, which acts as a "safety" when pushed all the way in, the guns are ruthlessly authentic. You can get the blackpowder style frame with the set screw and the bullseye ejector or the later version with the spring loaded cross pin and the crescent ejector. They even have the old style Serif letters and numbers on the barrel.

[Vulcan Bob]

Hi there, I think any ole Uberti made one will do. I shot the snot out of two box stock Thunderer models in .45 Colt with full power loads in SASS with zero problems. I would also suggest an USFA but since they went under they are getting a bit pricey.

[seekersoftheredmist]

Thanks fellers, Keep the advice coming. It sounds as if i should go with the 45 Colt. I love the 45 Colt And have a Ruger in it that i Load rather HOT. THats one issue i will have to be careful about if i get an Italian gun. i dont wanna detonate the little feller! Might use Nickle brass in one and regular brass in the other......

[TXSlade]

103789

Here's a used Uberti I just picked up. Stainless steel, 45 Colt, and I really like it. I was looking for a Colt and will still get one, but this Uberti will be my shooter and the Colt will join my Pythons in the safe.

[seekersoftheredmist]

TxSlade, thats a pretty piece. Hows she shoot? and What kind of meal is she digesting?

[TXSlade]

You know I just got it, I plan on making blackpowder loads. I want to find a good "cowboy" boolit mold. All of my 45 molds are for my 454's and are a bit heavy for this frame. I do have a Lyman/FA 265 gr mold that will work, but it looks modern. I want something that looks a bit more classic, round nose maybe.

It hasn't been fired much, the SA pull is pretty good. I took it apart, and degreased it. I find about 90% of used firearms I buy are way overlubed. Then I just polished moving surfaces, didn't change anything, just smoothed it all up. Definitely improved the action feel. Then lubed it up properly.

All in all, I am impressed with gun. Just need to make some 45 Colt, or find a LGS with a box them.

[TXSlade]

Plus, I need to find
Blackpowder, no one has it locally.

[seekersoftheredmist]

I know the feeling bud. Luckily i have a friend thats heading up to Northern Va to the North South Skirmish store and is going to bring me back some Olde Eynsford ( 1.5 and 3f) gonna try some of it in various pieces and if the hype is legit , try to order a case. By the looks of things I'm prolly gonna go with the 45 colt in the Colt Clone. i was pretty set to go the route of the 44-40 but after studying and seeing the "issues" some are having/had , i think itd be better to just stick with a caliber i know plenty of ad already load for. Got a feeler out for the Evil Roy by Cimmaron Yesterday ad found one NIB for 575.00 gona sell my Super redhawk and hopefully go that route. Any thoughts on this folks?

[littlejack]

sotrm:
I bought one of the 'Evil Roy" Uberti saa (45 Colt) revolvers a few years back. This was the first and only Uberti revolver that I had/have bought. My first revolver was a Ruger BH back in 1968 in .41 magnum.
The Uberti is without a doubt, a fine work of craftsmanship. Folks can say what they want about the "pasta" guns, but the truth is, they ARE very nice working and aesthetically pleasing to the eye firearms. The "Evil Roy model goes above and beyond in terms of "smooth". Mine functions flawlessly, and is as accurate as I can hold. I would not hesitate to get another one if the need arose.
Just sayin.
Jack