American Western Arms -AWA SAA ? ?

[Rube Burrows]

I am trying to find out about the quality of American Western Arms (AWA). Can anyone tell me anything about these and if they are worth getting.

Do they have all the clicks? Good metal and parts? reliable? On par with some of the other clones such as Uberti?


Honest straight up reviews please.



Joey

[Harley Starr]

Howdy Joey. Name's Ridgway. Check out my post for "AWA Ultimate 1873". Second page of gun reviews.

[Rube Burrows]

Thanks.

[Harley Starr]

Happy to help out.

[44caliberkid]

I have an AWA Ultimate 1873 in 44-40.  First the good news.  It is very well finished, the blue is high polish and even the case parts are high polished.  One of the best finished factory guns I've seen in years.  The coil mainspring system is very smooth, action is overall very smooth.  The imitation ivory grips are nice.
    Now the bad news.  As it came, NIB, the hand was filed down so short it barely protruded from the frame and would miss the cylinder or bump it then lose contact, leaving the cylinder on free wheel till the bolt came up and jammed against the cylinder, out of the slot.  I didn't want to send it away to Florida, so I just ordered a new hand and installed it.
   Went to shoot it and it grouped ok for elevation but a foot to the left at 15 yards.  Holding the frame verticle and looking down the barrel you could see the barrel was not screwed in all the way leaving the front sight canted to the right.   Again I didn't want to send it off to Florida so I took it to a gunsmith who works on SAA's and he put it in a barrel vise and turned the frame the slight amount it took to get the front sight straight up.  The ejector rod housing still fit fine so it was a simple fix (if you have the tools).
   So, yes, they are pretty, but you might have to send it in for final set-up.   I've heard their gunsmith is pretty good from other forums where guys had to send their guns back.
   I don't think they're worth what they're asking, I mean, it's still an Italian SAA.   If you can get one for $400, what I gave for mine, then I think that's fair.   The dealer who had mine couldn't unload it for anything close to retail and after two years sitting in his shop let me have a deal.

[Harley Starr]

44caliberkid,

The dealer who had mine couldn't unload it for anything close to retail and after two years sitting in his shop let me have a deal.

If I'm reading this right, then you didn't order that revolver from AWA personnally, but someone else may have. Used gun maybe? If that's the case then that gun may have gotten past quality control by accident and the previous owner didn't want to work out the kinks. That's just an observation, I could be wrong. Besides... an Italian Colt clone with more custom options than one could dream up and fully assembled by American gunsmiths can't be half bad.

[44caliberkid]

It was a new gun.  It was ordered for another customer (thus the 44-40 chambering) who backed out and never picked it up.  It had never been fired or in anyone elses possesion.   And I did praise the finish and smoothness of the action, I just don't think they're worth the MSRP.   If you can get it closer to dealer cost then go ahead.   Because ultimately they are an Italian SAA, they do not hold their value beyond new sale price.  I've had two other AWA SAA's, though they weren't the Ultimate, just standard model.  One was a .357 and was a fine piece.   The other was a 44 Special that had undersized chamber mouths and didn't group, it patterned.   Both were used and were $375 or less.   The 44 Special went away fast.   AWA has had a lot of guns returned in the past.  My experiance with them was in 2004 - 2005.   Just about every Lightening rifle they made went back to them, but that's true of all Lightening repros.   I'm just citing the law of averages, I had three and two needed extensive work to be usable.

[Harley Starr]

My experiance with them was in 2004 - 2005.

Well let us hope that AWA has had plenty of time to improve their quality.