Uberti 1873 Cattleman "Antique" questions

[Love Life]

A man down the road has an unfired Uberti Cattleman 1873 "Antiqued" revolver for sale. He wants $350.00 for it. I looked it over, worked the action, really didn't see any flies on it.

The Antiqued cattleman is the gun Uberti sells that looks like it was left out on the loading dock for a couple of weeks to make it look like it is 100 years old.

Anywho, does anybody have one of these, and if so is $350 a decent price and are there any issues to look out for?

[dubber123]

A man down the road has an unfired Uberti Cattleman 1873 "Antiqued" revolver for sale. He wants $350.00 for it. I looked it over, worked the action, really didn't see any flies on it.

The Antiqued cattleman is the gun Uberti sells that looks like it was left out on the loading dock for a couple of weeks to make it look like it is 100 years old.

Anywho, does anybody have one of these, and if so is $350 a decent price and are there any issues to look out for?

I believe Doguguy here on the forum has one, and really likes it. His does have very large cylinder throats and required a fat boolit to shoot well.

[M-Tecs]

It's well under the current GB price http://www.gunbroker.com/All/BI.aspx?Keywords=Uberti+1873+Cattleman+%22Old+West %22

[Love Life]

Thanks for the info!! I believe I may pick it up as it is undervalued (thanks M-Tecs!), but dang if it doesn't rank up there with buying jeans with holes already in them!

[Bent Ramrod]

A friend has a Shiloh Sharps with an "antiqued" finish. The case colors are dulled and in some spots barely there.

As long as a gun is new anyway, I'd rather buy it as such and "antique" it myself by use and handling, but to each his own. The price on the Uberti is very reasonable. If you don't positively dislike the finish, and it's in good working order, it sounds like a bargain.

[shoot-n-lead]

It is worth the price...if you don't buy it and it is a 44 special...let me know about it.

Thanks

[Beagle333]

I'd snatch it fast. It is definitely undervalued. :Fire:

[bob208]

that is a good price I would by it in a heartbeat. even though I do not like the antique finish. they do charge more for that finish. I just got a uberti for $450 today. it is a 7 1/2 barrel in .38-40. and it shoots great tried it soon as I got home.

[shoot-n-lead]

As long as a gun is new anyway, I'd rather buy it as such and "antique" it myself by use and handling, but to each his own.

He said it was already "antiqued" and it is a lot cheaper than buying a regular new gun and antiquing himself.

[Love Life]

It is the Old west model which has a factory applied antique finish. By antique finish it looks like somebody left it outside to long, then buried it in the yard out of spite after realizing they left their gun outside...

I have a colt that is 90 years old, and it's antique finish looks really good. Uberti needs to change the name to "Abused" finish, lol.

I plan on picking the gun up tomorrow. For a beater, who cares what happens to it, fully functional 45 colt revolver I reckon the price is good to go.

[shoot-n-lead]

It is the Old west model which has a factory applied antique finish. By antique finish it looks like somebody left it outside to long, then buried it in the yard out of spite after realizing they left their gun outside...

I have a colt that is 90 years old, and it's antique finish looks really good. Uberti needs to change the name to "Abused" finish, lol.

I plan on picking the gun up tomorrow. For a beater, who cares what happens to it, fully functional 45 colt revolver I reckon the price is good to go.

It might be a good one to powder coat.:-)

[Love Life]

It might be a good one to powder coat.:-)

Should I use the shake and bake method? Lol.

I also have some krylon left over from a couple camo projects...

[shoot-n-lead]

Should I use the shake and bake method? Lol.

I also have some krylon left over from a couple camo projects...

I have seen a couple of guns that guys sprayed with powder...they looked great.

Matter of fact, if I had a static gun, I have a couple of old guns that I would try it on...couldn't hurt'em.

[The Governor]

I have one of those and I think there are 2 types. One, has the cylinder pin retained with a screw and the other is retained with a spring loaded pin.

The spring loaded one is over $100 more than the one with the screw retainer I think.

Good luck, post some pics and enjoy.

[bedbugbilly]

My Uberti catalog shows them with a MSRP of $659 so you pay extra for that well worn look! :-) It shows them in 45 Colt and 357 - but that's the Uberti catalog and Cimarron or Taylor may order them in different configurations. The illustration also shows it with the BP frame - i.e. the cylinder pin is held in with the screw instead of the spring cross pin on the 'new frames" - either style is just fine and both work well.

The price you are tailing is a very GOOD price and if it were me, I'd snap it up. I love my Ubertis and all are good quality, good fit and finish and accurate - I have 357 and 45 Colt. While most dealers will sell under MSRP - I highly doubt you will find it in a LGS for that price - if you don't like the finish on it - just pretender's blued or shiny if that's what you like! :-) The ones that I've seen in the "old west" finish look nice.

[Love Life]

This one is the black powder frame. Instead of a slotted screw to remove the cylinder pin, it is a thumb screw which I think is kind of neat. I'll try it out with 255 gr bullets and see what happens from there. I'm hoping for POA/POI. If not, hopefully it hits low. If it impacts high then I am going to use it to hammer nails and will curse Uberti from this point on.

[bob208]

my .38-40 seams to shot to point of aim. at 20 yd. first shot I held at the bottom of a playing card hit low. the other five held center and that is where they went.

[35 Whelen]

That's a damn good price for ANY new Uberti. I'd buy it in a nanosecond. Remember, functionally it's going to be the same as any Uberti.

A few years ago I had one of their Rooster Shooters:

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h6/308Scout/Auctions/RoosterShooter8_zps6a0f56c2.jpg (http://s60.photobucket.com/user/308Scout/media/Auctions/RoosterShooter8_zps6a0f56c2.jpg.html)

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h6/308Scout/Auctions/RoosterShooter2_zps7828a2f1.jpg (http://s60.photobucket.com/user/308Scout/media/Auctions/RoosterShooter2_zps7828a2f1.jpg.html)

I wanted to keep it so bad, but at the time, they were all but impossible to find, so profit went ahead of pleasure.

35W

[Mossy Oak]

I have an earlier Uberti 357 with the NY distributor marking and brass frame. A 147 grain round nose bollit and 2.8-3.0 grains of TiteGroup is my load. This gun will out shoot my Ruger three screw 357 hands down. Buy it, excellent price too!

Joe

[Virginia John]

I had the Beretta version, Stampede also made by Uberti. If you decide that you don't want it, let me know.

[Love Life]

Just got it home. I took several bullets sized at .456, .454, and .452. The .452 bullets were the best fit, but required a bit more than finger pressure to go through the chamber mouths and one chamber the .452 would not go through.

Next I will slug the barrel, but I'll more than likely be sending this to DougGuy to ream the chambers to a uniform dimension. Overall I am happy.

[35 Whelen]

Just got it home. I took several bullets sized at .456, .454, and .452. The .452 bullets were the best fit, but required a bit more than finger pressure to go through the chamber mouths and one chamber the .452 would not go through.

Next I will slug the barrel, but I'll more than likely be sending this to DougGuy to ream the chambers to a uniform dimension. Overall I am happy.

Sounds like you got a winner. Personally, I'd shoot it before I worried about having anything done to it. I've had plenty of Uberti .44 Specials and 45 Colts that were very, very accurate, that never had their throats measured or their barrels slugged. Shoot first, ask questions later, is my mantra.

35W

[Love Life]

Sounds like you got a winner. Personally, I'd shoot it before I worried about having anything done to it. I've had plenty of Uberti .44 Specials and 45 Colts that were very, very accurate, that never had their throats measured or their barrels slugged. Shoot first, ask questions later, is my mantra.

35W

Most certainly good advice, and I'll be shooting this gun this weekend with some 255-ish grain bullets over Bullseye power.

Right now I am an hour into the "Lets turn a $350.00 deal into a $250.00 gun" game. The Antiqued finish is quite ugly, and does not look antiqued. It just looks like an abused gun. The judicious use of Naval Jelly, Evapo-Rust, steel wool (0000), and nylon bristle brushes is showing a very nice satin finish under the faux aging/patina.

[johnson1942]

it would not be hard to rust blue that gun, if you should want to do this, pm me and i will tell you how.

[9.3X62AL]

LL--

I have had exactly two Uberti Cattleman revolvers, both with 4-3/4" barrels, one each in 45 Colt and 44/40 WCF. Right from the box, both shot "standard weight/standard pressure" loads very close to where the sights looked. Great wheelguns.

At $350, I would have snapped that 45 Colt right up. I would likely do to that "distressed over-spray" the same operations you are talking about. I do NOT "get" the point of spending more money on a worse-looking gun--but that is me. Other folks might like it.

[Love Life]

At $350, I would have snapped that 45 Colt right up. I would likely do to that "distressed over-spray" the same operations you are talking about. I do NOT "get" the point of spending more money on a worse-looking gun--but that is me. Other folks might like it.

Amen. The gun is in the oven now at 100 degrees, and will get a CLP bath when done.

I fire blued some of the screws, most took a nice color but I missed my time on 2 of the screws so sadly no blue for them...I'll order some spare screws and try again. Fire blued some other parts as well.

Not a bad Sunday spent, and I was able to try things on this gun that I wouldn't do to more expensive guns. I reckon I will spend the next night or two working on some left over "Character" from the faux antiquing and look into rust or hot bluing the gun.

Here is my take on the gun: It is well put together with no flies on it. I do however think Uberti is ripping everybody off. If all examples are like mine, then I believe the gun is a second that is antiqued to make money on an otherwise money losing item. Just my 2 cents.

[ancientriflesmith]

Have 4 Uberti guns and one Pedrosolie.(you know what I mean) Sharps 45-70. All are quality work and shoot better than I can hold nowadays. The last Uberti I bought was a 1873 45 Colt. Just like the antiqued mentioned but matte finished blue. I test fired it 6 shots cleaned it good and put it back in the box. I wouldn't take another bill over the price you quoted for the subject of this thread for it Gunshow prices seldom are less than 450 and usually much more. Go for the buy. ancient rifle smith.

[bedbugbilly]

LoveLife - I have a 7 1/2" Cattleman in 45 Colt and I love it. As another stated, the throats are compatible with the boolits I use - normally the traditional 255 grain RNFP. I load them over 6.0 grains of Red Dot. The chambers in my are fairly generous and usually, the spent casings fall out without even using the ejector rod. I use mostly Starline brass. I have also had good luck with some 230 ish grain RNFP. I haven't tried it yet with BP tut that will come this summer. I don't classify myself as a "crack shot" but I have shot SA for many years - I give it a good try though with age and old eyes that don't see the best.

Anyway, I have a 50 yard range in my backyard on the farm back in MI. Shortly after I got it, I was fooling around at distances out to 25 yards. I was doing O.K. and then decided to back out to 50 yards - figuring I would be lucky to get one on the paper. Shooting single hand, I carefully aimed and et 'er rip and much to my surprise, my first shot was dead in the center of the Bull. Don't ask me if I repeated that feat but at least I knew the pistol was capable of it! It's one of my favorite SAA to shoot.

I have a 357 Uberti 4 3/4" Bisley and it too, is a great shooter for lead - more accurate thanI am.

On my 45 Colt - the Uberti is the only 45 Colt I have at the present time. I learned lucky to only neck size the brass (new brass I FL size the first time) and that's all that I need to do. My one mold drops at about .454 right on the button and I had some RNFP that I bought that was sized at .452. The revolver seems to shoot them both with equal accuracy and no leading problems at all. I like my Cattleman so much, I'm planning to buy one of the "Hombre" models that is 4 3/4" just for a "knock around gun" to play with.

Good luck with your new one . . . I think you are really going to like it and it should put a big smile on your face! Please give us a range report and let us know how it goes! Thanks!

[Love Life]

I checked the gun this morning, and no rust. Rust was a concern since the gun is now pretty much in the white.

I am still debating on whether to hot blue it or rust blue it. Both would look nice. Then again, I could always have it cerakoted flat dark earth and call it a tactical single action.

[Sigmanz]

I have a variety of Uberti's in several calibers. Typically very nice solid pistols. I like to work the actions slightly to smooth them, but not really necessary.
If you were to ceracoat it you would have to have it drilled to mount a red dot too.. Then you could get one of the tactical leveraction abominations to go with it ! Lol

[Love Life]

To be super tactical I would need to have it drilled and tapped, put a rail on top, and then mount a dot to the rail. I could also duck tape a maglight to the barrel, lol.

[Soundguy]

I have a uberti cattleman 2 1873, charcoal bluing, 357. Love that gun.

[DougGuy]

LL, jump on that Old West model sir, it may come to be that it becomes quite collectible in the future b/c they didn't make very many of them. As far as authentic, this one is no joke, I owned a 1902 made Colt 45x4 3/4" and this Uberti is SO FREAKIN' ACCURATE to a genuine 1st gen. "pinched frame" Colt that it ain't funny. I wish I still had the real one. You would have to look HARD to pick them apart!


I checked the gun this morning, and no rust. Rust was a concern since the gun is now pretty much in the white.

The aging and distressed finish on it is very well done, doesn't look at all faked, but it is a finish nonetheless, actually done with cyanide from what the distributor told me. It's not "in the white" at all.. It just looks like it.

Mine has .4565" throats but takes to a 454190 sized to .456" like a duck to water. Very accurate, no leading, I can't say one negative thing about it, I gave $400 for mine and never thought twice before buying.

I did very minimally touch up the forcing cone before I even bothered with the first range session, I could see it was barely there and needed a little more attention than it got at the factory.

Also, editing now that I am remembering, the first range session had some really wide swings over the chrony, and a couple of rounds that ftf. I dropped a pencil down the bore and dropped the hammer on it and it barely lifted the pencil 4" off the breech face. A 1911 by comparison will launch one several feet into the air. SilverJackHammer sent me a "cobra" spring from Colt which cured the problem immediately and I then had much more consistent ignition and much better results over the chrony.

The factory rep had sent me a replacement spring, which only duplicated the results of the spring that came installed in it, just a heads up..

[Love Life]

Mine will never be a collectable now, lol. I fire blued the screws for the ejector rod housing, trigger, hammer, and grip frame; and fire blued the thumb screw for the base pin and fire blued the end of the base pin. Then I broke out the files and took care of the casting seam in the trigger guard, blended the back strap to trigger guard fit at the bottom of the grips. I more than likely will leave the "Ears" alone where the backstrap meets the frame.

What I did was let the entire revolver (except springs) soak in evapo rust for several hours. That knocked off a bunch of the faux character. Then I scrubbed with steel wool. Right now it is a nice satin finish that I probably won't need to polish any more before I rust blue. Right now I am just blending areas where parts mate.

I may pull the screws, polish them to a high shine, and then re fire blue.

[kmrra]

Super buy

[DougGuy]

Mine will never be a collectable now, lol. I fire blued the screws for the ejector rod housing, trigger, hammer, and grip frame; and fire blued the thumb screw for the base pin and fire blued the end of the base pin. Then I broke out the files and took care of the casting seam in the trigger guard, blended the back strap to trigger guard fit at the bottom of the grips. I more than likely will leave the "Ears" alone where the backstrap meets the frame.

What I did was let the entire revolver (except springs) soak in evapo rust for several hours. That knocked off a bunch of the faux character. Then I scrubbed with steel wool. Right now it is a nice satin finish that I probably won't need to polish any more before I rust blue. Right now I am just blending areas where parts mate.

I may pull the screws, polish them to a high shine, and then re fire blue.

I hope you come back in and update this thread when you get it finished, here are some more pics of mine by comparison. From what I have seen of these, there are variations in finish to the point that some look more "authentic" than others, but to me, after having owned the real deal that this is a copy of, it doesn't look or feel faked at all, they did a really good job on it, and if I had started with a new gun and wanted to antique it to match the old Colt I used to have, I would say that the finished product here would have wildly exceeded my expectations.

Here are some pics, the bottom two pics are genuine 1875 Colts with the "pinched frame" rear sight notch.

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/DougGuy/Guns/DSC03760crop768_zpsxo4wirjx.jpg (http://s1202.photobucket.com/user/DougGuy/media/Guns/DSC03760crop768_zpsxo4wirjx.jpg.html)

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/DougGuy/Guns/DSC03759crop768_zpsdumrpz3h.jpg (http://s1202.photobucket.com/user/DougGuy/media/Guns/DSC03759crop768_zpsdumrpz3h.jpg.html)

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/DougGuy/Guns/DSC03751crop768_zpsmcms3evi.jpg (http://s1202.photobucket.com/user/DougGuy/media/Guns/DSC03751crop768_zpsmcms3evi.jpg.html)

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/DougGuy/Guns/DSC03733crop768_zpsyheifbcl.jpg (http://s1202.photobucket.com/user/DougGuy/media/Guns/DSC03733crop768_zpsyheifbcl.jpg.html)

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/DougGuy/Guns/ColtSAA163-PinchedFrame_zpsmenldwex.jpg (http://s1202.photobucket.com/user/DougGuy/media/Guns/ColtSAA163-PinchedFrame_zpsmenldwex.jpg.html)

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/DougGuy/Guns/ColtSAA58-PinchedFrame_zpsjrah8aay.jpg (http://s1202.photobucket.com/user/DougGuy/media/Guns/ColtSAA58-PinchedFrame_zpsjrah8aay.jpg.html)

[Love Life]

I'll be shooting it this weekend. Had to buy 100 rds of jacketed loaded ammo (ouch) to hopefully shoot the roughness out of the barrel. It's not major machining marks, but definitely some roughness.

Once those are fired through I'll put another 100 jacketed bullets (reloads) through it just cuz. Then I will move on to lead bullets. I have 240 gr SWC, 255 gr RNFP, and the famous 45-270 SAA. Happiness will be shooting low with the 240's, dead on with the 255's, and a coupe inches high with the 280 gr bullets.

[DougGuy]

Have you gave it the pencil test? Cock the hammer and point the muzzle upward, drop in a pencil on the eraser end, see how high it goes when you drop the hammer. Mine wouldn't go but 2-3 inches at first and I had erratic ignition, 150fps swings over the chrony and a cpl that failed to fire at all. Factory replacement spring did the same thing. SilverJackHammer hooked me up with a Colt "cobra" mainspring that pretty much fixed it, at least it will get the pencil out of the barrel now.

[bob33809]

I had two and I loved them. Good deal I paid 475 a piece.

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