Uberti Richards Transitional (R2) .44 Colt Cal.

[Long Johns Wolf]

A few days back pard of mine got himself a new pair of Uberti Richards Transitionals in .44 Cal..
This pair was hand delivered to him by the German importer HEGE from the Gardone factory last week.
In other words 2016 production.
Interestingly they have the U.S. CIMARRON FIREMARMS, not the German HEGE barrel marking.
Yesterday my pard dropped them at his smith who is actually a conversion artist to have them altered into Richards 1s.
Because that makes them more suitable for his cowboy action shooting.
I was present and had a chance to take a first look at this 2016 pair.
Because its been years that I could inspect this type of pistols.
I did not disassemble them but noted two (2) changes compared to the Uberti R2s I knew before:
#1: the front sights were blued - steel? - whereas I knew them as brass ones,
#2: in all the Uberti Colt style conversions I had had owned and seen incl. an R2 the frame (part #1) and breech assembly (#492 according to Uberti Parts and Schematics List) were two separate parts.
But in this 2016 pair these previously two parts are now one solid piece of steel.
Out of curiosity I have a question for the initiates: when did Uberti implement this short-cut at the production line?
Long Johns Wolf

[Pettifogger]

Have not seen the one piece frame models over here yet.  Cimarron has a booth at End of Trail.  I'll look at them there and ask a few questions.

[The Pathfinder]

Long Johns, that sounds like it would preclude doing the 1st model conversion, correct? If so I may have to rethink purchasing another my self, as I had a similar thought.

[Abilene]

I shot today with A.D. Texaz (Joe Neumann) and asked him about the change to the breech ring.  He was unaware of it.  A shipment of Transitional Richards has just arrived at Cimarron and he said he would take a look at them this week.

I'd imagine the "Cimarron" marking on the barrel was just a mistake.  Uberti has been known to make a few of those 

[The Pathfinder]

When I ordered my pair of Open Tops when they first came out, one came in marked Cimarron and the other was marked Hege. Figured at the time that Uberti was rushing trying to fill orders with whatever was available.

[Drydock]

Sounds like they used the 72 frame with Richards barrel assemblys.

[Long Johns Wolf]

Abilene and campfire regarding the CIMARRON barrel marking: from what I hear from Gardone the R2s are on back-order as far as European shipments are concerned. It is an issue of quantities ordered.
Since my German pard needed his pair urgently because of his tight schedule with the conversion artist one can assume that the Uberti picker just grabbed what 2 R2s they had available ... which were the ones with the CIMARRON marking.
If my pard had waited for R2s with the HEGE marking that would have meant another couple of months!
This way of handling the orders at Uberti is quite normal.
He agreed with the conversion artist to have the barrel marking removed and replaced with other ones anyway.
Part of his deal is to have corrected a few of the Italian "short-cuts". To end up with an outline closer resembling an original R1.
Drydock: no OT Frame with R2 Barrel assembly.
Long Johns Wolf

[Fox Creek Kid]

So, is Uberti now making these conversions with an integral conversion ring instead of separate?    LJW, you know people at Uberti, maybe if you e-mail them they can give you the straight story on this.

[Long Johns Wolf]

Hi Fox Creek Kid: my pards at Uberti have regretfully retired.
It appears they are "re-activated" to help at International exhibitions from time to time because they can translate English.
I can no longer reach them in Gardone.
Long Johns Wolf

[Fox Creek Kid]

I have a bad feeling about this.   

[Mike]

Cost cuts not surprised. There are second hand guns get one and put it away.
There quality has droped in the past few years also.
I personaly  am not interested in a gun that is not as close as possible to the origanal.