Cimarron Eliminator 8

Amos Dumas · July 19, 2015, 08:55:36 PM

Any one seen, handled or shoot one of these? I am interested in getting one for SASS, but would like information concerning them before I jump in.
I have shot Rugers and Uberti's with no complaints, are these worth a try??
Thanks

Abilene · July 20, 2015, 12:13:08 AM

I would have to answer the same as when you first asked this question a couple weeks ago:

http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,55570.0.html

Pettifogger · July 20, 2015, 05:58:31 PM

It's just a SAA clone with an octagon barrel. Not going to be any different than shooting a round barrel SAA, just a different look. The local Cabelas has them. Might not be the Cimarron brand name stamped on them (didn't look) but they are Pietta GW IIs withh octagon barrels. Not bad looking.

Abilene · July 20, 2015, 07:24:12 PM

They are a little different. The Cabelas gun has a transfer bar, a 5 1/2" barrel, and standard action. The Cimarron has no transfer bar, 4 3/4" barrel, factory short stroke, and action job. Both have low wide hammers and checkered Army grip.

Harley Starr · July 20, 2015, 10:19:58 PM

Quote from: Abilene on July 20, 2015, 07:24:12 PM
They are a little different. The Cabelas gun has a transfer bar, a 5 1/2" barrel, and standard action. The Cimarron has no transfer bar, 4 3/4" barrel, factory short stroke, and action job. Both have low wide hammers and checkered Army grip.

Which is why I will opt for the Cimarron. Now if it were offered with a 5 1/2" barrel....

Johnny Dingus · August 01, 2015, 06:48:41 PM

Ordered a pair last week. I have both the AlchimistaI and Alchimista II. And I am very happy with the quality of the Pieta. If you order them understand that the Italians shut down in August for vacation and I mean all of Italy. Then when they start back up they might not start the line of pistol that you just ordered. My delivery date looks to be some time in November. No rush as I am enjoying my other ones for now. Will let you know how they compare after I get them.

Johnny Dingus

Johnny Dingus · October 22, 2015, 12:58:10 PM

Received my Eliminator 8's last week. Had some family business to attend to so today I am going to take them to the range and compare to the Alchimista II's that I have. When I get back from the range I will post more on my review. But first I would like to tell you that before firing them I did one modification. I took out the cylinder pin and replaced it with one that is shorter and does not have the safety notch cut.

Looking these pistols over they are beautiful. The fit is fantastic. They feel very good in the hand. The lowered hammer has just the right checkering on it so as to allow your thumb to cock it effortlessly. When cocking this pistol you notice right away that it is short stroked. While handling it before shooting it I found that if I would let the hammer down when holding the trigger if I did not let it down all the way and it stopped on the safety notch when I went to try and cock it it would be locked and not cock until I let the hammer all the way down. I don't know if that is normal or due to the short stroke as I have not encountered it with my other pistols when I would handle them. When looking down the barrel and sighting in you don't even notice it has the octagon barrel but it sure gives the style points when looking at it. The grips also have beautiful checkering.

Both of the pistols, the Alchimistas and the Eliminators are made by Pieta. The Alchimistas have a brass trigger guard and the Eliminators are steel.

I will post some pictures for you then after the trip to the range I will give you some of my shooting impressions.

Johnny Dingus

Johnny Dingus · October 22, 2015, 01:07:56 PM

Here are a few pictures in them you can see how much shorter the stroke is from both the side view and from the rear. You will see both the Alchimista and the Eliminator for comparison.

Johnny Dingus

Johnny Dingus · October 22, 2015, 04:43:59 PM

Looks like a few of you may be interested in these pistols.

Well here is the good and the bad.

Took 3 guns to the range with 100 rounds of 45lc. 200gr backed by 5.0gr of clays powder. My normal load.
I first shot my Alchimista one handed just to get a remembrance of the feel in my mind. Then I loaded both Eliminators and holstered them. I shoot gunfighter and I wanted to draw cock and shoot like I would at a shoot. I had previously set up 3 targets to shoot.
After the first time shooting the Eliminators I thought that they recoiled more than the Alchimista did. So I loaded the Alchimista with 5 and one Eliminator with 5 holstered and then when the clock in my head went off I pulled the pistols and shot. Then I reloaded and put the Alchimista in the left holster and the Eliminator in the right holster so I could compare with each hand when shooting. I found no difference in the recoil. So no worries.

I did this because the Alchimistas that I shoot are 5 1/2" barrels vs 4 3/4 barrels with the Eliminators. So far so good.
So I preceded to load holster and with the sound in my head as a clock I would draw and shoot. I did this for the 100 rounds. Each time I would shoot I would think back on how many targets I would hit and what was going on in my head and hand. When I missed a few more than I liked I would slow down and then carefully look at my hand hold. The grips between the Alchimistas and the Eliminators are just enough different that my hand would not slip and if I did not get a correct hold on the draw I had to consciously think of moving my hand while holding the gun for the next shot. While with the Alchimistas it is easier to adjust the hold. Not good or bad just different.

Now for the Bad....well not really... in a comparison everything is not equal. Two different types of pistols even though they are from the same maker, these two are not equal. The Alchimistas were not slicked up but come ready to shoot from the factory. The Eliminators are sent out to a gunsmith from Cimarron and are slicked up. The factory does the short stroking. If I were comparing these pistols to a run of the mill SAA I would be ... WOW ... you have to get these ... they are so much better than what I compared them too. For those of you looking for a great pistol out of the box either of these are great. For those of you looking for a better than you have pistol you need to honestly look at the pistol you are shooting. I did not. The only thing the Alchimista lacks is the short stroking. And for a gunfighter that will save you time. The thing that the Eliminators do not have that I like about my Alchimistas are the trigger in the Eliminator is not a wide and smooth trigger. It has the narrow trigger like most SAA. The pull on the trigger is lighter and therefore I did shoot a few rounds before I was ready to. But I will get used to them.

My suggestions to Pieta would be to give it the wider trigger and it would be a perfect pistol.

If you have run of the mill pistols these will definitely be a big improvement. If you want short stroked pistols these work great. If you want style points they look and handle great. If you don't ever plan on pushing your envelope on shooting cowboy you really don't need these pistols.

But for me I am glad that I got them and I hope that with time I will be much much faster shooting Gunfighter with these. I know I am going to give it he_l.

Johnny Dingus

Abilene · October 22, 2015, 05:12:03 PM

Good review, Johnny. A.D.Texaz from Cimarron has been shooting the first set of sample guns from Pietta for several months (.357's). He let me shoot them in a match a month or so ago. I shot them gunfighter style, and while they did feel good in the hand and were easy to cock and shoot, I had a lot of misses. I didn't try them out first to see where they were hitting with my .38's so that didn't help any

I have fairly small hands, so I don't know if the Army grip has anything to do with it. A.D. doesn't miss much with them so I can't blame the guns.

Johnny Dingus · October 22, 2015, 05:35:01 PM

Thanks Abilene.

I have big hands and have the 60 grip on the USFAs both sets of Alchimistas and the Eliminators. I like the grips and with a little use I am sure I will not be missing much. The last match with the Alchimistas I shot clean. I can shoot well just not as fast as some. That is one of the reasons I wanted these. The other is I love the Octagon barrels.

Johnny Dingus

Hambone Dave · October 23, 2015, 11:44:08 AM

Did anyone have documentation of makers using octagonal barrels on SAAs back in the 1800s? If not then illegal to use.

Abilene · October 23, 2015, 01:10:32 PM

Quote from: Hambone Dave on October 23, 2015, 11:44:08 AM
Did anyone have documentation of makers using octagonal barrels on SAAs back in the 1800s? If not then illegal to use.

Dave, this gun would be illegal for NCOWS even with a round barrel because of the short stroke. But it is legal for SASS. Before this gun from Pietta, some people were putting octagon barrels on Rugers and SASS approved that. Personally I wish SASS had not allowed short strokes on rifles or pistols, but they did. BTW, no documentation of Rugers in the 1800's either, hehe.

Tall Dark Slim · October 23, 2015, 07:38:32 PM

Personally I think it's awesome that someone has come up with an awesome customization on a design which doesn't have much appeal of late. Short stroked six shooters are a great idea given the possibility of interesting one more person in really learning how to shoot a revolver. Tempting me to crawl out from under my Rugers and see what's going on with these.

Bibbyman · September 16, 2018, 03:41:41 AM

JD,

Do you have an update on your Eliminator 8s?

I recently bought one in 45Colt at a local gun shop that was a NIB trade in. While it may not have been fired, it looks to have been "tinkered with". Now I'm finding they have been discontinued by Cimarron.

Johnny Dingus · October 28, 2018, 12:29:09 PM

Bibbyman,

Still shooting the 8's shot a match just this last weekend and still loving them. everytime I pull them out of the holsters and cock both hammers in my gunfighter class I am glad I got them. The only problem I have is when my brain says I can do it and the facts show other wise. Yesterday at the shoot the stage had a plate rack kinda of a big square with plates in a Z pattern, we were to shoot the shotgun at some knock down targets re stage and then pick up the rifle shoot the plates in the rack re stage and move forward if you wanted too shoot the plates with the pistols. Any way one of the cowboys who shoots traditional shot the plates without moving forward to the pistol distance. Well I thought I'd give it a try. Gunfighter did not do as good as the traditional shooter. Two hands and two eyes made for 4 misses.

I have shot a clean match with them and usually only miss one or two shots during a match. Shooting gunfighter I shoot with both eyes and sometimes have a problem with which eye on which sight. My guns have not caused me any problem in the 3 years that I've been shooting them.

Sad to see Cimmaron is not selling them now.

Bibbyman · October 28, 2018, 02:35:21 PM

Thanks for the update.

Two weeks ago I shoot Josey Wales fronteer cartridge gunfighter. Missed 8 total. 5 of them were shooting at 8" falling set for rifle targets. I had 3 clean stages. I didn't use the Eliminator - 4 Cattleman, 2 44WCF and 2 45Colt.

Here is one of my better runs.

I really like my Eliminator 8. I kind of keep my eye out for another.

I'm thinking of shooting Josey Wales with 5 pistols and use the Eliminator as a shotgun.