After months of waiting for Midway to get my "out-of-stock" Uberti 1861 Navy in, I went ahead and got a Pietta 1860 Army from Cabella's... on sale of course!
It arrived yesterday.
After sneaking it down to the man cave - the sneaking was force of habit since the first thing my wife said to me when I walked in was that I had a package.
I also got one of those "looks."
- I couldn't wait to make an initial overall evaluation.
Generally it is more then favorable. The metalwork is, for the most part, nicely polished and finished. The brass trigger guard is the only place on the revolver's exterior where I found any machine marks. The case colors are good; not great but good.
Mechanically the revolver has a nice, tight, solid feel and balances well. Maybe a tad nose heavy but I guess that is to be expected with an 8 inch barrel. Indexing and lockup seem fine. The trigger is just a mite "spongie" but all in all better then one if not both of my old Uberti SAA's.
The worst part of the revolver were the grips. For a new weapon, the finish was poor, the wood very rough in a couple of places and the wood to metal fit is terrible. So bad in fact that I could envision the proud wood lacerating my hand when I fired it!
Add to that the fact that the heads of the stock mounting screws stick out far enough from the frame that they may hit the web of your hand when the gun is held and I have two things I am going to work on before I fire it. Or I could just wear a glove...
All of that notwithstanding, I am very pleased with my purchase. Especially at the price Cabell's has on then for closeout. Next week I will tear the revolver down and take some measurements! I hope to find a .452 bore and .453 throats to match the .454 balls!
I'm even more excited at the thought of getting the Uberti 1861 Navy so I can compare the two. They say the Navy "feels" better in the hand then the larger Army. But the Army balances so well and points so naturally, if the Navy feels any better I don't know if I could stand it!