Model 1860 Army Uberti vs Pietta

[Montana Slim]

As best I recollect, I have 2 each Pietta, Uberti & "Colt" , plus 1-ASM.
Between my Pietta and Uberti models, I'd hands-down take the Uberti....I built these from consecutive S/N "kits" that I acquired from the exchange board on the SASS wire. They were older models and had been sitting around for quite some time. Took a lot of fitting, most of the internals would not assemble without major work. I spent somewhere near 12 hrs each fitting the parts, deburring, etc and polished/dressed the moving parts at the same time. The result was 2 mechanically suberb revolvers with matching actions. These were super-reliable until approximately 2011 when I ran out of 20th century percussion caps and had to use "new" ones.

Overall, I've shot the snot out of my Uberti 1860s and have made very few repairs.

Haven't shot the "Colt" set yet....but will someday....I hope.

Agree that any new C&B pistol will need significant going-over to remove sharp edges, burrs, etc.

My Pa has 2, or maybe 3 Pietta 1860s that I've tuned & polished. He wanted them setup to be conversions, so they've never been shot with loose-ammo. They're good guns with decent actions, but haven't been shot much.

Slim

[rifle]

Pietta replacement parts seem to be more consistant in uniformity.  I had somthing like six or eight cylinders fer the Navy at one time and they all fit the same,aligned the same(well), measured the same ect.ect.
I like the uniformity of the Piettas and the replacement parts. The little internal parts of Pietta's are nicer. The bolts smoother and shiny and the triggers uniform and well shaped and hammers nice and uniform and trigger bolt springs nice and smooth and shiny and uniform.

Pietta parts are easier to come by besides being more uniform.
Uberti changes their parts from time to time so a stock of parts may end up being harder to fit.

Pietta parts seem to be less expensive. The replacement parts assembly kits by Pietta are a real bargin.The hammer,trigger,bolt,mainspring,trigger/bolt spring. Nice parts kit.

The arbors are a lot more likely to be the right length in the Piettas since Pietta seems to take the time to keep tolerances really uniform and closer to correct. They strive to have the arbors bottomed correctly out of the box.

Uberti hasn't caught on yet that people know how the arbors should fit now. Doesn't seem to care if the fit of the arbor length is important and Folks know it. They still go with the fact most newbies are not knowledgeble bout stuff like that and take advantage of the naive.
The extra trouble Pietta takes to fit the arbors proper with the tolerances shows throughout the guns with all the tolerances more than not..
The cylinders on the Piettas seem a little softer than Uberti.

The Uberti doesn't have the stamping dowm the side of the barrel like the Pietta.

Pietta has the relationship between the chambers diameter and the barrel grooves diameter closer to correct. so......I'd bet on the Pietta to be more accurate out of the box.

Pietta has wedges fit so well in the arbor/barrel slots the wedge seems impossible to remove the first time around and.....the hook on the end of the spring in the wedge seems made to hook the edge of the barrel and not give way till the spring actually makes it's own little bevel where it needs room to get out of the barrel. The tipof the spring in the wedge needs filed on some so it doesn't hook the barrel so well .

Pietta has the timing of the action so the bolthits right on the edge of the cylinder notch with enough force to start peening the edge as soon as the action is worked. The edge to that side of the cylinder notches ends up destroyed since the cylinder steel is soft with the cap&ballers. Soft cylinder on Uberti and Pietta.

A lot of people don't know to correct the timing of the Pietta right out of the box to have the bolt hit back to the cylinder away from that edge enough so it isn't destroyed. ******* First thing to do with a Pietta right out of the box is to temporarily loosen the trigger/bolt spring so the action can be worked without ruining the cylinders notches which ruins the cylinder. Loosening that screw also lightens the trigger so that trigger side of the spring should be un-lightened before shooting the gun to be safe.

The bolt in the Uberti is better fitted to the cylinders notches compared to Pietta.

Niether Uberti or Pietta have the hammers set to be dry fire safe so the hammers get peened up too soon.
Uberti and Pietta have barrel grooves deeper on one side of the barrels than the other too often.
Pietta usually has the bolts not quite fitting the cylinder notches so that ill fit(bolt too wide)helps damage the notches even more than the timing letting the bolt hit the edge of the cylinder notches and peen them down. Since the top of the Pietta bolt has the cant to it too canted the fit of the bolts to the cylinder notches is the achillies heel to them right out of the box....bad bolt fit to the cylinder notches.

Uberti and Pietta do a great job making the cap&baller revolvers for us.The fact that both companies go thru the trouble to do such a good job making the guns but....leave certain aspects so ill and never srtraighten those illnesses out is a real mind bender.

The Companies both make nice guns but why they don't SEE what the Hombres state about the certain ill aspects to the guns...like the short Uberti arbors,the stamping on the side of the Pietta barrels, the ill Pietta bolts fit and timing, the soft cylinder steel of both Uberti and Pietta, the ill relationship of chambers to barrel grooves, the Pietta wedges too tight in the guns out of the box and whatever else I'm fergitting.

The very least needed done is the Uberti short arbor and the Pietta ill timed and fit bolts should be addressed. The soft cylinder steel also needs adressed.

Now....don't get the wrong idea bout the cap&baller revolvers from me being so picky. The Uberti and the Pietta are nice guns and worth the money.

[Gabriel Law]

Truly Grits and Pettifogger:  I have an 1860 Uberti that I bought in the mid 70's and would like to find another to match it.  But I am really interested in this tuning article you mentioned.  Can you sent me in the right direction to get a copy?

[Gabriel Law]

...and just one more thing - where can I get a set of replacement nipples for my Uberti 1860 - preferably a set that fits our modern #11 caps?  Is the set that Taylor's and Co. sells appropriate?

[rifle]

Uberti 1860 Army cap&ballers are still the same now as in the 70's.....close enough.

Any Uberti nipples should fit a Uberti. Uberti makes good nipples. Taylors sells them.

I've had Uberti guns since the mid eighties and they are still going strong. Piettas since 2001 or so and still going strong.

[Lefty Dude]

For CAS/SASS competition you will want performance nipples like Treso's or Slix-Shot. Most shooter prefer the new Slix-shot cones. Both are made for Uberti or Pietta's, you must specify which you prefer.

In the Dark Arts library here, you will find the fine articles on tuning the C&B Revolvers, By Larsen Pettifogger.

[Gabriel Law]

Please excuse my stupidity, but can you provide a link to the article?

[pony express]

Please excuse my stupidity, but can you provide a link to the article?

http://www.theopenrange.net/forum/index.php?topic=7988.0

[Coffinmaker]

Hi Rifle,
Earlier in the life of this thread, I didn't feel much like a dissertation on the "what's wrong with Pietta and Uberti so I deliberately kept my answer short.  However:
I wish there were some way to make copies and include your answer to this question in every kid's box. 
I retired a couple of years ago but, I still council all my friends who purchase Pietta, to bring the new gun by the house so I can fix the bolt fit before they ever cycle the action. 

Coffinmaker

[Lefty Dude]

Yep, Pietta's are known for over-size bolts and tight cylinder locking notches. Bolts must be fitted for proper function & operation.

[Truly Grits]

Once again, Thanks Pards. I'm so glad for finding this forum and all the great advice from all of you.

I found Pettifogger's articles and have read them through, twice. Taken the gun apart and checked both the arbor and the bolt fit. Both were perfect, right out of the box. I've test fired a full set off caps, no issues. Am I just having beginners luck? Guess it's time to load em up n git on with it.

One more question. DD, I believe I have read here that you use a Tupperware full of Moosemilk for clean up after shooting. Do you just toss the whole gun in, grips and all? Or just the cylinder and barrel? Do you scrub them out? If you do scrub, Nylon or brass brush?

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By the way this is Grandpa n the Kid. Both 1860 Army, Grandpa was made in 1867 and has lived long n hard, judging by his scars. He still works, but I figure he has earned a pampered retirement. I so wish he could talk, I'll bet the stories would be great. The Kid and his twin (in transit) will do the heavy lifting now.

Again, thanks Pard's. I hope to meet many of you over the next few years, at some matches.

Cheers!