Comparing 4 different single action revolvers.

[Buckaroo Lou]

This is a very good comparison video comparing the workmanship of the Uberti, Colt, USFA, and Standard single action revolvers. It is long but lots of interesting information. Personally I think it is worth a look-see.

[Capt. John Fitzgerald]

Informative.  Thanks Buckaroo!

[Buckaroo Lou]

Here is another video with some USFA history and comparing the USFA and Colt. Pretty informative.

[Abilene]

Someone posted that first one somewhere on CASCity in the past, though can't find it now.  That is our own forum member OD#3.  And yes, it is VERY informative!!

[45 Dragoon]

Yep, talked with OD#3 yesterday!  He's just been real busy but checks in now and then.

Mike

[G Bulldog Grainisland III]

Most interesting. Thank you for sharing!

-Bulldog

[huckleberryTO]

Hello Everyone! 

Brand new member here.  I was actually watching OD#3's videos this past week and that got me thinking about my own USFA premium model I had ordered from the company through my dealer back in 2005.  It was nickel-plated and came with a 4 3/4" barrel chambered for .45 Colt.  Serial was 23XXX.  I had also ordered an extra cylinder from the factory in .45 ACP so could change calibers.  I also had one-piece natural Tru-Ivory grips installed afterwards by a local gunsmith. 

I know there's been some discussion about the relationship between Standard Manufacturing and USFA and whether or not Standard is using CAD from USFA or if they bought USFA's machinery.  In OD#3's video he talked about the shape of the top strap of the frame being a telltale characteristic of them being different.  It could just be my eyes but when I look at my gun, the top strap looks a look like OD#3's Standard frame rather than his USFA frame. 

I've tried to take some pictures but the lighting isn't good right now and also shiny nickel with all the reflections also make it hard to see things clearly.  What do people use to host photos here?  I used to use Photobucket but then they started charging for that privilege.   

[Capt. John Fitzgerald]

Greetings, Huck, and welcome to our forum!
My all time favorite USFA is a nickel plated 4&3/4" .45 with factory elephant ivory grips & a personalized serial number.  It, too was made back in 2005.  It truly is a piece of art!  Hold on to yours and don't ever let it go!!!
CJF

[huckleberryTO]

Oh believe me... I'm never selling it.  When I hold it, it almost makes me feel like Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday.  Now I just need to track down a high quality nickel-plated .38 with an ivory birds head grip.

[OD#3]

Hey man,

Nice to see you on here so quickly. I used to use photobucket too, until they started charging an arm and a leg; and though they claimed one could retrieve his photos back from them, I was never able to.

I recently posted something on the S&W forum and discovered postimage.org.  Seemed to work very well, and it is free.  We'll see how long they'll stay free, but I was able to load some pretty large pics on there.

I'm eager to see you pics.

[huckleberryTO]

Thanks for the info on postimage.org.  We'll give this a try.  I apologize in advance for my poor photography and camera.

[Professor Marvel]

Greetings My Good Huckleberry!

Thanks for joining and sharing the photos of your USFA - I never get enough of those!

Since I am well known as  a halfass a halfwit   sort of a wit nitwit occasionally somewhat funny around here, I literally
cannot let your below post go by unmolested  uncontested without a humorous commentary:

Oh believe me... I'm never selling it.  When I hold it, it almost makes me feel like Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday. 

So, your telling me that whenever you hold it you feel like a Dentist with cold sweats, weak, tubercular, have uncontrollable coffing fits,
and  have a death wish?

(all in good fun)
prof (trying desparately to be funny) marvel

[OD#3]

Hey Huckleberry,

I've been staring at your pics for a long time, and thanks for posting them so quickly.  Initially, I can see what you're referring to, but after examining your pics next to my Standard and my other USFAs, I really think that it is the nickel-plating that is throwing us off.  The lines are just harder to see well in a nickel finish.  Here is a pic of an early Standard (not mine).  It is the line along the side of the topstrap as it plunges down in the front that is a departure from the USFA.  Even yours is more of a gradual curve, whereas the Standard's seem to more abruptly change direction half-way through the arc.  I know it is subtle, but I'd put the Standard's front topstrap curve somewhere in the middle between USFA and those old STI's (pic also included and also not mine).

[huckleberryTO]

I see what you're saying about the gradual curve now vs the shorter and sharper drop on the front of the Standard.  I would say the back of the top strap though the lines of my USFA curve upwards instead of downwards like in yours.

[OD#3]

Yes, it looks like that in every picture you posted except for your first one.  I just can't tell how much of this is from the nickel luster or if it was actually machined that way.  If we were talking Colt, I'd chalk any variation in contours up to a variation in how the individual workman refined that part on his polishing wheels.  But my partially-finished USFA parts show a distinct programmed-in contour that didn't appear to be able to lend itself to becoming a bit up-swept during finial finishing operations.  I don't know....

[Coffinmaker]

   Hey Odie # 3   

Here I thought you had blown everything off and went to Alaska for Salmon fishing.  Or maybe feeding the Brown Bears.  Or something.

I'm actually trying to determine what exactly we are trying to determine here???  I know there has been some past discussion of whether Standard is using Ex-USFA machines.  They did acquire them.  Whether Standard is using Uberti CNC programming is a question.  Dimensions are a bit of a question. And there are several roadblocks to a resolution.  A.)  There is nobody left at USFA whom is talking at this point in time.  A Lustrum or so ago it was confirmed some USFA machine tools went to Standard.  B.)  Standard ain't talking.  Not at all.  Other than to say their guns are all theirs and not Uberti.  OK, I'll buy that.  Besides, since I retired for the third and very LAST time I haven't been messing with any suppository shooters at all and cannot contribute intelligent contributions.  SO:

What are we trying to figure out and does it make any difference??  USFA made FINE GUNS.  Standard is making FINE GUNS.  Colt is making .......... well, never mind Colt and Uberti is making some really horrendous Faux Pas (that STUPID Firing Pin).  USFA, Colt and STANDARD are all well overpriced for what you get.  If you want the best value for dollar, Skarf up a Pietta GW II in Stainless and be done with it.

Oh.  Once uprooted, hauled away and re-set, the machine tools are not going to machine exactly as they did before.  Adjustments are necessary.  Comparisons are functionally a waste of time.  Just my three cents.

[OD#3]

Hey Coffinmaker,

I'd heard that folks had been asking about me.  Sorry about the hiatus.  I was getting frustrated with Youtube's censoriousness of gun content, which had been making me less enthusiastic about making videos, which had the unintended consequence of my not reloading and shooting in a while, which led to my not paying as much attention to firearms and the forums as I used to.  It did have one benefit; when I wasn't spending so much time messing with firearms and perusing the forums, I was less likely to notice specimens for sale on the forums, and my bank account is grateful.

But one cannot stay away forever, and I continue to get comments and questions on my videos that I answer, which led me to direct the OP here.

I notice little details on firearms that a lot of folks miss, and I can get obsessed with them.  I struggle not to them bug me, but when a clone-maker deviates considerably from the original in appearance, especially when it doesn't need to, I tend to fixate on that.  So when the Standard first debuted, I noticed immediately that the contour of the front of the topstrap looked "wrong".  Its arc was unique to Standard, supporting Standard's assertion that its single actions were 100% their own development and had nothing to do with USFA.  And then my inspection of the rest of the parts appeared to support that in some areas but not in others.  This was before anyone offered anything beyond anecdotal evidence that some USFA tooling went to Standard.  I have still not seen anything beyond this anecdotal evidence, so the dimensional differences still capture my attention more than they probably should.  And I still fail to see how the moving of CNC machinery would have much effect on the final shaping of some of the parts, but I'll have to defer to an expert on that.  It just doesn't make intuitive sense to me, given my understanding of how CNC machining is supposed to work.

This attention to detail trait of mine can be a real curse.  I don't like the Pietta GWII for what you and most others would consider to be a ridiculously nit-picky reason.  Their trigger guards have no bevels at the top, and that just bugs me.  A lot.  3rd Gen. Colts don't have them either, so Pietta's version shouldn't bother me.  But it does...A lot... Because they're supposed to be copies of 1st Gen Colts.  So why can't they make the trigger guards look right?  Yeah, I know...nit-picky...

[Coffinmaker]

Hey Odie

  Pickey  Pickey  Pickey      However, I do understand.  There are some differences in the various guns that just grate on one's buttons.  None of the Replicants are totally accurate in detail when you bring out the magnifying glass.  I actually consider the 3rd generation of Colt SAAs to be replicas and not all that good either.  Not to mention WAY overpriced.

Hope hanging around here again doesn't have detrimental effect on yer bank account   

Really good to hear from ya.