Cimarron/Pietta Cavalry progression

[Drydock]

Last year I picked up a "New old stock" Cimarron Pietta 7th Cav that had been sitting in a store display for a long time, (VERY good deal)a 2022 production year.  This week I picked up a current production Cimarron/Pietta "Henry Nettleton" Cav revolver.  Both are tight well timed revolvers, with <.004 barrel cylinder gaps and .452 chamber throats.  Both use piano wire bolt springs, coil/plunger hand springs, and a nicely light hammer spring.

Both have deep even blueing, with sharp edges on the blued steel parts.  The frames are clearly case "colored" as opposed to Case Hardened, but the process has improved a great deal from the "washed" look of a decade ago.  The frame edges seem rounder/softer than my Colts, but the look is acceptable.  The stocks are oil finished Italian Walnut, much preferred to the heavily varnished "clear coat" that Uberti uses.  Cartouches are laser engraved into the wood.  This produces a very sharp clear cartouche that bothers some, but I have found over time that dirt and wear will soften the engraving to a more branded look.

All metal markings other than the hammer checkering are laser engraved.  This produces a subtle difference in look that bothers some again, but again, over time, use and wear mutes this.  Really like that Pietta hides their manufacturers marks, as opposed to Uberti's "Made in Italy" right on top of the barrel.  The 7th has a 2 line patent mark, the HN a 3 line. This is correct.

Both have proper hardened plates around the firing pin, and both have proper barrel bushings for the ejector housing mount.

The differences are of interest to me.  The 7th Cav has simple parallel file cuts on the hammer thumbpiece, the HN has the proper coarse bordered checkering of a 1st Gen Colt.  Oddly enough this is stamped, Uberti now laser engraves this.  I've never understood why Pietta file cut their early 7th Cavs that way, they were producing other revolvers with the proper hammer stamps at the time.  The 7th Cav is missing several inspection stamps, and does not have the last 4 of the serial number on the cylinder.  The HN has almost all the stamps, missing only the "HN" above the frame serial number (Might be deliberate) and does have the unique HN stamped hammer mark. The serial number is present properly on the cylinder.

Both have the caliber marking on the left trigger frame flat.  Both also have the Italian Proof marks on the side of the cylinder.  (I have a 1999 Uberti with those marks on the back of cylinder, wish they would have kept doing that, current Uberti's have them on the cylinder side just like the Pietta's)

Neither has the date stamp above the cartouche (again, might be deliberate, suspect the Italian govt does not like dates on guns other than their own) but the HN does have the additional inspector cartouche on the opposite grip.  Again all these "stamps" are laser engraved, correct font, but slightly larger than the originals.  Probably deliberate.

The butt strap of the 7th has the serial number and "7 CAV CO. C"  the HN is marked "9 CAV. F CO".  Both exactly like that.  Interesting as neither the box nor Cimarron's current advertising has the HN as a  "Buffalo Soldier" commemorative.

Its been interesting to me to see Pietta's learning process in making these Military replicas.  The HN seems particularly well done.  Not up to the USFA one, but at 1/5th the current market price I like it.

[Mogorilla]

Pictures please.   

[Abilene]

Regarding the hammer checkering / serrations, based on some discussions elsewhere some of us believe that Pietta has a giant box of hammers full of both types, and pulls them out at random to put on guns,  My one  set of Piettas were made years apart but have one of each style (the new gun has the serrations), however a lot of people buying new pairs of guns, even consecutive s/n, have reported one of them having the straight serrations. 

[Drydock]

Makes as much sense as anything else I could come up with.

FWIW Dept:  Going back and watching Mike Harvey's 2019 video where he talks about tooling up for these guns, he does mention marking them for the 9th Cav.  However, in several videos of the 1st run of these revolvers (2023-24) no one mentions any such markings.  This revolver is from early in the 2nd, current run, maybe now they're marking them? 

It's a nice touch if so.  The 9th was one of the few, perhaps the only unit to recieve Nettletons as made.  Most of them went straight into storage, only emerging to be altered to 5.5" guns just before the SA War.

Of course, I'm not sure I've ever seen an SAA with actual armory applied Unit Markings, unless it was a fake.  The Brits love to do that, but the US never really bothered.

[Abilene]

...Most of them went straight into storage, only emerging to be altered to 5.5" guns just before the SA War...

Very interesting, never knew that.

[Drydock]

I got Graham, Kopec and Moore's "Study of the Colt Single Action Army", along with Moore's follow up "New Discoveries" and "US Alterations"  All fine reading and worth the money.