OFFICIAL Open Top (1871/72) Thread (post pictures here)

[Slamfire]

A big thank you to ya justician. I 'v sure been drool'n over all these on the forum, i'v told the wife she really need's a 71-72 in .38 spl. less noise & recoil( ya'll beliv'in this,,,,,right) than my 75 44/40.





      Hootnix

[Justician]

Right, so...  I'll assume that since no one touched the question about the forcing cones, either A) it's false, or 2) it's not worth bringing up.

The THIRD option is the fella what told me that don't know anything anyway.  Oh well!

The people I shoot with either have opentops in .38 or .44, so forcing cone cracking has not been an issue. I have read several discussions here as to why the .45 might have problems. Basically it seems like chambering for the .45 removes too much metal. That said, I know forum discussions that there are several who shoot the opentop in .45.

A big thank you to ya justician. I 'v sure been drool'n over all these on the forum, i'v told the wife she really need's a 71-72 in .38 spl. less noise & recoil( ya'll beliv'in this,,,,,right) than my 75 44/40.

      Hootnix

Your most welcome. My wife thinks my .38 opentops are too heavy. She shoots Cimarron Lightnings instead.

Justician

[Six Gun Saint]

The people I shoot with either have opentops in .38 or .44, so forcing cone cracking has not been an issue. I have read several discussions here as to why the .45 might have problems. Basically it seems like chambering for the .45 removes too much metal. That said, I know forum discussions that there are several who shoot the opentop in .45.


Your most welcome. My wife thinks my .38 opentops are too heavy. She shoots Cimarron Lightnings instead.

Justician

My good sir, you rock.  Thank you!  Conformation was what I was looking for, and it's what I've found...  Kindly sucks a bit, surely, since I will be using .45LC-just probably won't go with Open Tops...  Maybe later, as a backup set, in a different caliber-because they are LOVELY!

[Hoof Hearted]

I would think (and I'm pretty sure this has been discussed before) that if you were to visually inspect the forcing cone area of a prospective Uberti 45 OT barrel. You could see if the forcing cone was reamed too deeply, causing it to become thin in the area prone to cracking. I would venture to say that this has, occaisionally been the culprit in these "cracking" reports.

HH

[buckskin billy]

here are my two .44 colt  71-72 open tops and my nearly completed jesse james holsters i've been working on for about 6 months.



the gun on the bottom saved my life from a thug about a year ago.

[Hoof Hearted]

Alright!!! please explain to me, ( one more time) the differance between 71's & 72's, .........

Hoot

While re-reading this thread I realized no one approached this part of your multi "faceted" question from above!

The Italians explain it as "Early" (71) and "Late" (72) with the early having the Navy grip and the late having the Army grip.

HH

[Hoof Hearted]

here are my two .44 colt  71-72 open tops and my nearly completed jesse james holsters i've been working on for about 6 months.



the gun on the bottom saved my life from a thug about a year ago.

Nice "setup" there Buckskin!
Just the right amount of Patina........
Now strip those grips of that Italian finish

HH

[Justician]

here are my two .44 colt  71-72 open tops and my nearly completed jesse james holsters i've been working on for about 6 months.



the gun on the bottom saved my life from a thug about a year ago.

I've got a Colt Python that got me through a couple of shooting incidents. Like mine, I bet that revolver will be the last one that you would ever get rid of.

Justician

[Mike]

Nice pair there, I like the semi used look.

I have the early and late mod's. The early (top) is in 38 which I have ordered a 44 barrel for it and would like to open the cylinder out to 44 colt. The bottom Late is in 45 Schofield. got both second hand at a good price.

[Justician]

Nice pair there, I like the semi used look.

I have the early and late mod's. The early (top) is in 38 which I have ordered a 44 barrel for it and would like to open the cylinder out to 44 colt. The bottom Late is in 45 Schofield. got both second hand at a good price.

Wouldn"t it be cheaper to buy a .44 special cylinder? Then you would have both the .44 and .38 as options?

That's assuming you meant the new .44 Colt. If you want to bore the cylinder out to the original .44 Colt, you will need a .45 barrel.

Justician

[Mike]

Hi,
Yes I agree and I have a 44 barrel coming but it has taken so long to get it ordered from Uberti. I origanly ordered a longer 38 barrel but it did not arrive so changed it to a 44, still not sure if it is in the order boxed and waiting for permits.

I guess I just want to get the gun finished.

[buckskin billy]

I've got a Colt Python that got me through a couple of shooting incidents. Like mine, I bet that revolver will be the last one that you would ever get rid of.

Justician

it use to be my least favorite gun cuz of all the problems i had with it when i first got, but now i rank it all most as high as i do my colts and c. sharps, and when the chips fell down it didn't

[Abilene]

These are not my guns but are worth seeing.  These OT's belong to Bronco Birnbaum.  Engraving by Terry Theiss of Harper, TX.  They have sported Ivory grips from Paul Persinger for a number of years now but I only have these older photos.  Bronco has put thousands of BP .44 Russians through these.

[Abilene]

Okay, here's some more OT's, a little different.  Also not mine.  I apologize but I do not recall the name of the owner.  Fingers might know.  I was working at the Hell on Wheels regional a few years back and this fellow pulled these snubbies out of his pockets to show me.  I believe they are .38's.

[Abilene]

I was at Cimarron when this gun was about to be shipped to Colonel Hacker.  At least, that was the name engraved on the backstrap.  Engraving is by Uberti.  Frame has the U.S. case-color finish.

[Abilene]

I've worked Shot Show a few times for Cimarron and so had a chance to handle some of their show guns, which are rarely seen otherwise.  Of course I snapped some pics  

This one is in antique finish, factory engraved.


And here is their Tiffany-gripped OT:

[Abilene]

And finally, here is a Cimarron OT which should be of interest to anyone who owns an Uberti OT.  This was the first one, s/n X01.  It's a .44.
The ivory "Eve" grip was carved by Paul Persinger and is a copy from a photo of a period grip.

[Justician]

And finally, here is a Cimarron OT which should be of interest to anyone who owns an Uberti OT.  This was the first one, s/n X01.  It's a .44.
The ivory "Eve" grip was carved by Paul Persinger and is a copy from a photo of a period grip.

What a great group of guns. Thanks Abilene,

Justician

[MJN77]

Well, I don't have mine yet but, here it is. I got it off gunbroker from 3B shooting supply. It's a .44 colt. Looking forward to getting it.

EDIT  Deleted photobucket ransom pimp add.

[Hoof Hearted]

Good on ya!
Man that thing is shiny as a pimple on a teenager.........