Tag: Uberti

My Colt Walker Debut

By Joe Berk

I was downright giddy this past weekend, as I was about to do something I had never done before.  When you’re my age and that happens, it’s something special.  I was enjoying the feeling.  I don’t get to experience new things too much anymore.

Right side view of my Uberti Colt Walker. It sure is pretty, but can it shoot?

The something I was about to do?  I was going to shoot my 1847 Colt Walker replica revolver, a gun that is a cap and ball, black powder six shooter manufactured by Uberti in Italy.  It would be the first time I had ever fired a black powder revolver, and it would be the first time I ever went through the drill of loading it myself.

There’s a bit of a story behind the Colt Walker.  It’s than just a story.  it’s part of our history, and it goes back to near the beginnings of the United States.  Samuel Colt had invented his revolver with the 1836 Paterson model, manufactured by Colt in Paterson, New Jersey (hence the name).   It was a brilliant design, but it was probably ahead of its time in an era of single shot weapons.  That’s what most people thought, but Texas Ranger Captain Samuel Walker wasn’t what anyone might regard as “most people.”  Walker was a Texas Ranger, and he and his men actually used the Paterson revolver in combat along the Mexican border.  Colt Firearms had already failed as a business, but the Paterson revolvers did their job.  Captain Walker and his Texas Rangers prevailed against their enemy.

Captain Walker wrote to Samuel Colt.  Colt Firearms had folded, but Walker explained to Colt how effective his Patersons had been and he offered to help Colt design an even better handgun.   This meeting of the minds led directly to the 1847 Colt Walker.  As I mentioned above, mine is a reproduction of the original.  I paid $343 for it about 5 years ago.  Original Colt Walkers bring more than million dollars when they trade hands today (only a few exist of the 1000 Colts produced for the US Army and 100 Sam Colt made for marketing purposes).

Gus McCrae and his Colt Walker.  I’ll bet he was sporting a Uberti when they filmed Lonesome Dove.

Modern firearms use cartridges that already have the primer, propellant, and bullet contained in the cartridge case.  All we have to do is load the cartridge(s) and fire the gun.   Cap and ball revolvers are different. Loading and firing them requires a series of steps far more complicated than firing a modern cartridge gun.  Loading and firing a cap and ball revolver requires the following:

      • Inserting a measured amount of black powder (gunpowder, so to speak) into each of the revolver’s chambers.
      • Inserting a greased wad over the gunpowder.
      • Lubricating the bullet (typically referred to as the “ball” because the bullet is a cast round ball).
      • Positioning the ball over the chamber mouth.
      • Rotating the cylinder to position the ball under the revolver’s ram.
      • Using the ram to seat the ball in the chamber.
      • Filling the space above the ball with “grease” (a mixture of lard and other things).
      • Placing a percussion cap on each of the cylinder’s six nipples (the cap is the primer that ignites when the hammer hits it to initiate the gunpowder’s controlled rapid burn).

After doing all the above, I would then be able to fire six shots from my Walker.

Yours truly and good buddy Paul. We’ve known each other for more than 70 years.

My lifelong friend and good buddy Paul has been shooting black powder firearms for most of his life.  Me?  I’m a newby.  I’d never through the cap and ball loading sequence outlined above and I was plenty nervous about attempting to do so.  Basically, I’d be playing with guns and explosives.  I asked Paul about a thousand questions about how to do this, culminating in a visit to his rancho in northern California.   Paul was informed and patient, and he had a bunch of good things to give to me when I arrived, including:

      • Black powder.
      • Caps.
      • Balls.
      • Grease.
      • A loading stand.
      • Loading tools.

I was blown away by Paul’s knowledge, generosity, and willingness to teach me how to go about loading and shooting a black powder revolver.  I don’t mind telling you I was a little nervous, too.

The loading stand Paul made for me with the Uberti in place. The long rod beneath the barrel is the loading ram. It pivots to force a ball into the chamber.

Paul told me that while you can load a black powder revolver without any tools, doing so is a lot easier if you have a stand.  He had made a stand for me, and it fit the Walker perfectly.

A closer view of the loading stand with its tools mounted on the base. This is a cool setup.
The tool on top is used for seating the caps (as in cap and ball) on the nipples. The lower tool is the butterknife, used for spreading grease on top of a seated ball.

Paul also made up three tools to help the loading process.  Two of these (the butterknife and the cap seating tool) were integrated into the loading stand.  The butterknife is used to fill the cavity above the loaded chamber with grease.  The cap seating tool is used to push the percussion caps onto the nipples.

Paul fabricated this gunpowder measuring and dispensing device from a .30 06 cartridge. Note the powder charge markings on the shaft. I loaded 40 grains of FFF black powder in each chamber. This is a really cool bit of workmanship.

The third tool was the loading measure.  Loading a black powder revolver involves inserting a measured amount of black powder into each chamber.  Paul fabricated a precision measure from a .30 06 cartridge.  It was quite clever, and it demonstrated Paul’s considerable design skills.  I’ve known the guy literally all my life and he’s always surprising me with things like this.

FFF black powder. It’s a lot more sensitive than the powders we use today in cartridge guns.
Percussion caps. They are, in effect, primers. One goes on the nipple of each chamber. It’s the last step in the loading process. When the hammer strikes these, they ignite and light off the black powder.
Greased wads. These go over the black powder in each chamber, between the black powder and the ball.
Yep. I’ve got balls. Lots of them, in fact.
The grease that goes on each ball before it is loaded into the chamber, and then on top of the ball to seal the loaded chamber and prevent a chain fire event.

We had a very hot weekend and to further complicate things, the road to the gun club in the San Gabriel Mountains had been closed for the last several days (we were experiencing one of our many forest fires).  On Sunday afternoon, though, the heavy smoke emanating from the forest fire (I could see it from my home) had lifted.  I loaded the Subaru and headed for the range.  When I arrived, other than the rangemasters I was the only guy out there.  I had the range to myself.  It was 97 degrees, but I could take my time, focus on everything Paul taught me, and make myself a black powder shooter.

A lubed ball ready to be rammed into the chamber. Notice the cutout in the frame that allows the cylinder to rotate into position such that the ball is directly beneath the ram.

The revolver stand Paul made was awesome.  It held the revolver perfectly and greatly facilitated the loading process.  I set the powder measure at 40 grains (the Walker can go up to 60 grains), filled it, and poured the powder in the first chamber.  That was followed by a pre-lubricated wad on top of the powder.  I dipped one of the balls in the grease and seated it on top of the chamber I had just charged with powder and a wad.  Then I rotated the cylinder a few degrees and forced the ball into the chamber with the revolver’s ram.  Damn, that loading stand was a cool fixture.  I couldn’t imagine trying to do this without it.  I repeated the process five more times, and I had all six chambers charged.

After that, I buttered the tops of each chamber.  The purpose of doing so is to prevent one chamber’s ignition from lighting off the other chambers (such an event is called a “chain fire”).  That sometimes happened on the original Colt revolvers, it was viewed as a design flaw, and Colt’s early investors threatened to pull their funding when it first appeared.  I don’t know if that’s what led to using grease on top of the seated ball.  Whatever Colt did to allay their concerns, Colt’s investors hung in there with him.

The next step was to install the caps on top of the nipples. I was a little more nervous during this step.  The percussion cap is what starts the ignition sequence.  If one lit off during installation…well, let’s just say I probably wouldn’t be typing this story.  But everything went as planned.

I was ready to go, but my hands were slippery.  You know, they say you can tell how good a housepainter is by how much paint he gets on himself.  By that measure, I was not a very good cap and ball revolver loader.  I had grease on my hands and it made holding the heavy Walker difficult.  I wiped off my hands as best I could, picked up the Walker, and drew down on the target 50 feet down range.

To say I was nervous would be an understatement.  Here I was, greasy paws and all, holding this monster 5-pound revolver, trying to focus on a tiny and distant front sight while trying to keep it centered in the hammer notch that serves as the Walker’s rear sight.  I felt like a little kid playing with Dad’s gun when he wasn’t home.  Calm down, I thought to myself.  Focus on the front sight.  As I increased pressure on the trigger and tried to hold the Walker steady, I could feel Sergeant Major Emory Hickman, my Dad, and Paul watching me (even though I was the only guy out there on that very, very hot afternoon).

KA-BOOM!!!!

The big Walker barked, I saw the flash, the muzzle flipped up, I felt the recoil, and smoke filled the air.  I realized again:  This is a BIG gun.  Hell, Walker and Colt designed it so that if you missed the bad guy, you’d kill the horse he rode in on (the literal embodiment of what you say in a verbal altercation).  It was .44 Magnum of its day, the Dirty Harry handgun of 1847.  Do you feel lucky, punk?

Damn right I did.

I looked downrange, and I could see the first hole I had cut through the target.  It was high, but Paul told me these things all shoot way high.  My bad guy was toast.  Nailed him right in the neck, I did.  I was in the scoring rings!  Whoooowee, this was awesome!

Six holes from six balls. Not a bad group for the first time I ever fired a black powder revolver. But that hole on the left? Where did that come from?

I fired five more rounds, gaining confidence with each shot.  I became Captain Augustus McCrae.  I wanted to throw a shot glass in the air and nail it in flight, right there in the saloon, just like Gus did in Lonesome Dove.  I set the big Walker down on the bench and I called a line break (I was the only guy out there, but Captain McCrae wanted to do things right).  As I approached the target, I saw a decent group for a guy with slippery hands shooting a cap and ball revolver for the first time on a blazingly hot afternoon.  Then it was:  Uh oh.  I had put a shot off to the left in Mr. Bad Guy’s shoulder.  I counted the holes in my nice-sized neck group, and there were six.  Where did that seventh shot come from?

There’s a wad behind that tear in my target. It probably wouldn’t stop a bad guy, but I’ll bet it would get his attention.

Ha!  That hole in the shoulder was made by the wad from one of the shots!  It was still stuck in the paper, and when I lifted my iPhone to get a picture, it fell behind the target.

I was hot, sweaty, greasy, and still giddy.  Time for another six rounds.  Paul told me when you shoot these things, you’re lucky to get through two full cylinders.  The guns get so dirty they get difficult to cock and fire after the first cylinder.  A big part of the problem, Paul said, are the cap remnants.  They break up and fall into the mechanism.  He was right.

Fired percussion caps. Paul was right; they do come apart and fall into the mechanism. In the old days when you saw the hero of a Western movie point his gun toward the sky before cocking it for the next shot, it was to allow the spent cap to fall free of the six gun.

I got all the cap debris out of the Walker, loaded the gun again, and lit off six more.  I’d already been on the range an hour and half.  It’s like the amphibians say:  Time’s fun when you’re having flies.  A couple of shots from the next cylinder went a little high, but they were all in about the same area.

12 shots on target. My first 12 ever, and they were close enough for government work.

As I mentioned above, Paul told me all his cap and ball revolvers shot high, and that was what I found with mine.  That said, I was enormously pleased with the results.  The group was about the size of the orange bullseye.  My aim point had been the center of the bullseye.  If I held low and to the right, I’m confident I could put six rounds in the orange bullseye.  Move over, Gus!

You know, on the way home, I was thinking about what our early Americans had to contend with when armed with cap and ball revolvers.  It’s astonishing to think about winning gunfights, battles, and wars with weapons that are so heavy and take so long to load.  My admiration for what they accomplished had been high; it was now even higher.

That ride home was quite a ride.  I was going to call Paul to tell him about my success with the Walker and thank him again, but the radio was carrying President Trump’s speech live from Pennsylvania.  He was only minutes into it and I was only half listening when I heard things crashing and then I heard several pops.  And then a blood curdling scream.  What I was hearing didn’t compute at first, and then I realized:  Someone was shooting and I was hearing it live.

I arrived home a few minutes later and turned on the TV.  What I saw hit me hard.  The President escaped death by millimeters, and that only occurred because he happened to turn his head at precisely the right instant.  I feel terrible for the retired firefighter who died and the others who were injured.  It was a massive failure on all but the final Secret Service action (when they killed the sniper who fired the shots).  I’m sure we’ll be hearing much more about this as the weeks and months go by.  The Secret Service is a troubled agency.   If it’s not botched protection efforts it’s cocaine in the White House or hookers in Colombia.  It’s almost as if they need to shut that agency down and start over. I hope they get it right soon. I would have written and posted this blog sooner, but like most Americans, I’ve been glued to the television as updated info on the assassination attempt rolled in.

So to get back to this blog, I am very pleased with my Walker’s performance, and I am more than a little pleased with my performance, too.  I’m hooked on the cap and ball revolver experience.  For most of us in most of the United States, we can still purchase black powder guns through the mail and have them delivered to our home.  Just this morning I received a cap and ball revolver sale notification from Midsouth Shooting Supplies.  Don’t overlook these windows into our past.  Take it from me:  They are fun.

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A Four-Screw Navy Arms Repro Colt 1860 Army: Part 2

By Joe Cota

When I got home yesterday from a routine 10-year colonoscopy exam (the prep was the worst part), I took a short nap, later in the evening the little lady went outside for something and brought in a package that had been sitting unguarded on my front doorstep probably since mid-morning.  To make matters worse, it had been shipped it in a clearly marked ASUS Workbook computer box, complete with carry handle!

I opened the package today and the gun far exceeded my expectations! Man, this piece is so very cool. The Navy Arms box is complete with some minor scuffing. All the paperwork is present as near as I can tell.

Here are two pages from the catalog.  You can click on the two images below to see larger versions that make reading the print easier.

There is also a color catalog. My gun is letter C in the catalog photo which proclaims it to be “one of the finest muzzle loading pistols in the Navy Arm line.”  After handling the gun, I believe them. Oddly, nothing in the package I’ve seen in my brief review indicates that this gun was manufactured by Uberti, but the Uberti crest stamped inconspicuously on the frame tells me that it was.

The AB stamp on the gun translates to a 1976 date of manufacture. Totally unexpected by me, the frame, hammer, and loading lever are all beautifully case color hardened steel. Oh, man the photos don’t do any justice to the vibrant colors! The barrel is a highly polished deep blue having a mirror-like finish. The brass trigger guard is a little dull, but not tarnished at all after spending the past 48 years in its oiled plastic bag time capulsule. Oh, and that super fine ocean battle scene either engraved or rolled onto the cylinder is simply immaculate! The walnut stocks deep grain really showcases this piece.

Well, I have to catch up on my office work today, so I am just put everything back in the Navy Arms box for now. Maybe I’ll have some time over the coming weekend to clean it up and put on a fresh coat of oil. Until then I imagine there will be a considerable amount of daydreaming about this piece going on upstairs.

For now, enjoy these updated photos. The gun still hasn’t been cleaned. I Can’t wait to shoot it. Yeah, I know, I know. There may be a few folks who say the gun has survived 48 years without being fired and should stay that way. Well, it probably had been proof fired in Italy at the factory, but there is no evidence of it except for the factory proof markings. My thinking is that this isn’t an original Colt 1860 Army and I paid only a couple beans for it including shipping, so why not wake it up from its long hibernation and have a blast?

We forwarded Joe’s photos and request for info to my good buddy Paul, who is our resident blackpowder firearms guru.  Here’s what Paul had to say:

Those two extra screws are for a shoulder stock. You remove those screws and put the shoulder stock on then secure the stock with those screws. That gun is desirable because of that feature. If he had the shoulder stock it would be worth three or more times what the gun alone is worth. That gun looks like new – I wish I owned it! Not too many people purchased a shoulder stock for those guns that’s why you don’t see them often and when you do they cost BIG MONEY.

There were a few different styles being sold back in the ’60s & ’70s. I looked on YouTube for some questions that I had and found that some of the shoulder stocks did not need to remove those screws. The stock only used those screws to pivot the stock attachment area on, then the claw would grip a notch in the bottom of the grip frame. Some guns would be cut under the recoil shield on both sides of the shield for the front of the shoulder stock to hook under so they did not need those screws. Have a look on YouTube to get a better picture of what I am referring to. By the way it looks like a great gun!

Good inputs, Paul, and thanks very much for the explanation!

More Tales of the Gun!

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A Four-Screw Navy Arms Repro Colt 1860 Army: Part 1

By Joe Cota

What is it supposed to be a copy of?

My “new” in the box never fired Colt 1860 Army clone was imported by Navy Arms some 45 or so years ago. It hasn’t arrived yet but should be in the mail any day now.

After purchasing it, I was looking more carefully at the photos and I am a bit perplexed. It definitely had four screws. The barrel is stamped “Model 1860 Army Cal 44.”  This one appears to be by Uberti.

I had never heard of a four screw Colt 1860 Army before, but I had seen online photos of what I believe was described as a four screw Colt 1861 Navy.

These are the only photos I have for now and they are not really all that clear. The guy says it’s still covered in packing grease and he’s only had it out of the plastic bag twice in the 40-some years since he bought it, including last week to take these photos. It looks like it might have some sort of cylinder engraving, but wouldn’t that be a Navy and not the Army model?

Does anyone know what we have here? Did Navy Arms import a lot of these four screw early Army versions, or more of the standard three screw guns? Was this gun made by Gregoreli & Uberti, Uberti, or is it something else?

Were these guns good shooters? I’m not expecting too much out of it as I know it won’t be anywhere near as nice as my Uberti 1858 New Army (which is shown above), but heck, it was almost free. I never pass up the opportunity to buy interesting and unique guns at bargain prices.

Stay tuned for Part 2 when I finally see what it is I bought.

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A Custom .22 Magnum Colt Paterson Conversion

By Joe Berk

Here’s another fascinating custom revolver that showed up in our Uberti Facebook page.  It’s from good buddy Steve, who sent additional photos and is allowing us to use the story here on ExNotes.  Here’s what Steve shared with me:

I have an original Paterson in its original configuration of .36 caliber (I mean an original Uberti Paterson, of course).  I searched for years for a way to buy a conversion cylinder for it.  I stumbled across this and could not pass it up.

A little history on this one…the way it was converted was the gunsmith milled down a Harrington and Richardson .22 barrel and sleeved it into the Paterson barrel.  Then he used standard .22 Magnum sleeves in the cylinder  The loading ramp was milled such that it pins the base of the round in, so there was no need for a loading gate.

The barrel and frame are actually the original blue steel.  The gunsmith dip stripped the parts then meticulously polished them to a bright shine.  I just keep it well oiled.

Steve, your .22 Magnum Paterson is a great looking gun.  Thanks for allowing us to share it here.   For our ExNotes readers, the Paterson was the original Colt revolver patented by Samuel Colt in 1836.  The revolvers are called Patersons because they were manufactured in Paterson, New Jersey.  Colt built these and then went bankrupt and shut the gun business down.  He unsuccessfully pursued other business interests and then was contacted by Captain Samuel Walker of the Texas Rangers, who had used Colt Patersons against the Comanches to great effect.  Captain Walker told Samuel Colt about that and how he thought the revolver was a very effective weapon, and the two Sams (Colt and Walker) designed the 1847 Colt Walker, which we’ve written about before.

If you’re wondering why Steve’s Uberti Colt Paterson replica appears to have no trigger, it’s because the trigger retracts into the frame.  It extends when the revolver is cocked.  That design was eliminated on the Colt Walkers, which had what we now view as a normal trigger and trigger guard.  The Paterson did not have the loading lever common to later Colt blackpowder revolvers, which greatly slows the Paterson loading process.

Uberti no longer lists the Paterson in its menu of reproductions (I’ve already checked, as posting this blog whet my appetite for a Paterson reproduction).  Pietta (another reproduction revolver Italian manufacturer) does, but they show the Paterson as out of stock.  These replicas sell for big bucks when they come on the market (typically for something in the $750 to $1000 range), but that’s trivial to what an original Colt Paterson would bring.  Those have fetched a million bucks.

Another bit of trivia…you may think you’ve never seen Paterson, New Jersey, but if you watched The Sopranos (an HBO crime drama TV series currently available on MAX and set in New Jersey), you’ve probably seen Paterson a few times and not known it.  There are at least a couple of Sopranos scenes at the falls in Paterson (one in which Mikey Palmici throws a guy off a bridge, and another where Hesh threatens to do the same).  Ah, New Jersey…I’ve never been to Paterson, but the next time I’m back in the Garden State I’m going to hit some of the spots featured on The Sopranos.  When I do, I’ll post it here on ExNotes.

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The Autry Museum Colts

By Joe Berk

I haven’t been to the Autry Museum in Los Angeles since 2018 when I took the photos you see here.  I’ll get out there in the next few months.  It’s one of the great destinations in the Los Angeles area, and what makes the Autry even better for me is the extensive firearms display.

I found these photos when I was poking around a bit on an external hard drive.  For this blog, I’m including only the Colts in the Autry Museum.  I only photographed a few of firearms I saw there.  The Autry had more Colts, as well as Winchesters and other firearms on display.

The photos were a challenge.  Each of the guns you see here was behind glass, and the lighting was fairly dim in the firearms display area. I was using my D3300 Nikon with its standard 18-55mm lens, shooting at ISO settings of 800 to 3200.  These are not conditions conducive to capturing good images.  I did the best I could.

The sixgun you see in the photo above is an original Colt Walker, one of the one thousand guns Sam Colt manufactured for Sam Walker in 1847.  The last original Walker I know of that sold went for a million bucks.  We’ve mentioned the Colt Walker in an earlier ExNotes blog.  I bought the Uberti reproduction; the reproduction Uberti Walkers sell for just over $500.

The Autry Museum firearms collection features several Colt black powder revolvers.  In addition to the Walker up top, here are a two more I photographed.  The first one is a .36 caliber 1851 Colt Navy that belonged to Wild Bill Hickok.  The second is a .44 caliber 1860 Colt Army.  It’s quite fancy and it probably belonged to somebody famous, but I don’t know who (and that gives me a good excuse to get back out to the Autry Museum).

As you might imagine in a museum dedicated to the American West (and one carrying the name of a famous cowboy star like Gene Autry), the Colt 1873 Single Action Army revolver is well represented in this collection.

One of the 1873 Single Action Army revolvers on display at the Autrey Museum belonged to Theodore Roosevelt.  His initials are carved into the ivory grips.

There were also a few Colt double action revolvers:

In addition to the early Colt revolvers, there were three Colt Pythons:

This is a crop showing some of the engraving detail on the revolver above.

The Museum also displayed an engraved 1911 .45 Auto.  This 1911 was manufactured by Colt and several other manufacturers (as is the case even today; Colt still makes the 1911 and so do many other companies).  The 1911 shown here had the trigger guard cut away.  The idea behind removing the trigger guard is that it allows getting off a shot more quickly.   The modification is not something I’d want.

There was one more Colt I should mention:  A Bulldog Gatling gun.  Richard Jordan Gatling, the Gatling gun inventor, never operated his own factory.  All U.S. Gatlings were manufactured by Colt in Hartford, Connecticut.  They were also made under license in Russia military by the Orloff company.

Uberti replicas of the Colt Walker and the Colt 1873 Single Action Army.

We’ve done other blogs in the past on the Colt Walker and the Colt Single  Action Army (including the two replica revolvers you see in the photo above), other Colt black powder revolvers, and variations of the Gatling gun.  Those blogs are here.  You might also want to pick up our book on the Gatling gun.

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The Wayback Machine: Two 1858 Remington Revolvers

By Joe Cota

This blog compares two modern Italian reproductions of the famed .44 caliber 1858 Remington New Model Army revolver.  One is manufactured by A. Uberti S.p.A. (it’s the one on top in the big photo above); the other is by F.LLI Pietta (the revolver on the bottom). Here’s another shot of the two:

The Uberti in on top right, the Pietta is on lower left.

The 1858 Remington New Model Army was a competitor to Colt’s blackpowder percussion sidearm.  The Army went with both versions but primarily bought the Colt (it was 50 cents cheaper than the Remington).  Then the Colt factory had a fire in 1864.  At that point, the Army starting buying Remingtons in quantity.  The Remington was considered to be the stronger revolver because it has a top strap over the cylinder (the Colt does not), and some folks feel the Remington is easier to aim because the rear sight is cut into the frame (instead of the hammer, as on the Colt).  And there are other advantages to the Remington, which Jose covers.  With that as a background, here’s Jose’s article on the modern Uberti and Pietta reproductions.  All photos in this blog are by Jose.

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If you’ve never fired a percussion revolver you’re really missing out on huge part of firearms history. But maybe you didn’t know that even here in California you can order one of these fine blackpowder revolvers online or over the phone with a credit card and have it shipped to your doorstep without background check or going through an FFL. Your state rules may vary.

Cap and ball packpowder sidearms were a huge part of arms on both sides during the American Civil War. The Union Army had a contract for the Colt 1860 Army, but when Colt could not keep up with demand Remington Model 1858’s were ordered. Many troops preferred the Remington over the Colt for a number of reasons. The Remington has a top strap making it stronger, and the Colt was prone to having loose percussion caps jam the cylinder.

Uberti 1858 Remington Revolver

I’ve had the Uberti for about 10 years. It’s an awesome piece of fine craftsmanship. There is nothing cheap about this revolver, the fit and finish are supurb. The cylinder and barrel are a deep blue, the steel frame is color case hardened, and the trigger guard is polished brass, ans walnut stocks, giving it a very classy look. The gun is a six shot .44 cal, rifled 8-inch barrel with 1:18 LH twist, and weighs in at 2.7 pounds.

454 cal pure lead balls, Remington #10 percussion caps, waxed felt wads, and the Uberti 1858 New Army.
Powder measure, balls, waxed felt wads, and caps.

I use .454-inch diameter balls cast from pure soft lead (stick on wheel weights or plumbers lead, BRN 7) weighing in at 143 grains. It fires best when loaded with 35 grains of FFF blackpowder (I don’t like substitute synthetics), a felt pad soaked in bore butter over the powder, and the ball over the top. The felt over the powder charge prevents a chain fire from jumping between cylinders, and also adds some lube to the barrel between rounds helping prevent a buildup of powder. Either Remington or CCI #10 percussion caps provide the spark.

The color case hardened steel frame on this model Uberti is off set nicely by its polished brass trigger guard.
The loading lever on the Remington 1858 is used to ram the ball into each cylinder, after loading powder and waxed wad. The percussion caps are placed on the cylinder nipples only after all cylinders have been loaded.
The cylinder doesn’t require removal between loadings, only for cleaning.

The Uberti is very well balanced and feels good in the hand. The cylinder locks up very tightly. There are noches between the cylinder nipples to rest the hammer on making it safe to carry with all six cylinders loaded. The rear sight is a V-notch on the top strap, unlike the Colt 1860 which has the notch on the hammer because the 1860 lacks a top strap. It’s no exaggeration that out to 40 yards my the Uberti 1858 holds about as tight a group as my Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 mag!

The Remington 1858 has a top strap over the cylinder making it stronger than the Colt 1860 and older firearms. It also allows for placement of a stable V-notch rear sight as opposed to the Colt’s rear site which is a simple notch filed on the back of the hammer.
Nice sight picture. This Uberti has a 1:18 barrel groove twist and holds groups as tight as my Ruger Super Blackhawk out to about 40 yards.

Properly cleaning and blackpowder revolver after a day in the field is a good exercise in gunsmithing. The revolver should be entirely disassembled, down to the Springs, removing hammer from the frame, cylinder pin, loading lever, trigger, mainspring, nipples from the cylinder – everything except for removing the barrel from the frame and front sight.

The notchs between the nipples are for the hammer to rest, allowing the six-gun to be safely carried with all cylinders loaded.

A good set of gunsmithing drivers and properly fittjng nipple wrench are mandatory to keep from damaging the screws. Owning a blackpowder revolver will help anyone gain confidence to start Barking simple dunsmithing repairs and parts replacements on other types of firearms. If you don’t already have a blackpowder gun order one today! They are a blast.

Pietta 1858 Remington Revolver

This one was recently purchased because the price was right. It looks like it has never been fired, and I’ve not fired it yet, either. The specs are essentially the same as the Uberti; however, the claimed weight of the Pietta is only 2.4 pounds compared to Uberti’s 2.7 pounds. For whatever reason the Uberti feels much lighter and more well balanced. The Pietta is noticeably front heavy. The Pietta has a little play at cylinder lockup. The hammer pull and trigger feel smooth and crisp, similar to the Uberti.

The Pietta, another quality Italian replica in a slightly lower price range.

The really nice thing about the Pietta is that it came with an optional .45 Colt conversion cylinder. I’ve always wanted to get a conversion cylinder for my Uberti but they are very expensive, about 2/3 what I paid for the gun, and they always seem to be out of stock.

This Pietta came with a .45 Colt conversion cylinder.
The conversion cylinder has an upper plate that holds a separate firing pin for each cylinder.

The conversion cylinder for the Pietta fits very nice, locks up tightly, and came with a box and a half of .45 Colt ammo which I have no intentions of using. Remington first started converting Model 1858 revolvers to .46 cal rimfire metallc cartridges in 1868. These were still blackpowder cartridges as smokless powder hadn’t yet been developed. So I will hand load .45 cartridges for the Pietta using blackpowder to stay traditional.

I’m looking forward to shooting these two together on a side-by-side comparison soon. For now, I hope you enjoy the photos.

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A Uberti 44 Special SAA

Good buddy Paul is the guy who got me interested in the Uberti Single Action Army and blackpowder Colt replicas, and it’s an interest that I am thoroughly enjoying.  We visited recently and Paul showed me one I had seen before that he had recently added a set of custom grips to.  This is a  Uberti Single Action Army with the black powder frame chambered in .44 Special, and it is a stunning example of Uberti’s work.

Paul purchased a set of synthetic ivory grips that had a large decorative eagles molded into the grip material.  The original grips with the eagles didn’t quite make it for Paul, and the fit of the grips to the grip frame was poor.  Paul sanded the eagles into oblivion and very carefully recontoured the grips for what is now a perfect fit.  There are no gaps and no overhangs anywhere.  There’s something about the Colt SAA configuration that just feels right in the hand.

I like this gun.  I’m a big fan of the .44 Special cartridge. Paul tells me he shoots a 215-grain bullet he casts himself and it is quite accurate.  Like my .45 Colt Uberti, Paul’s gun shoots to point of aim at 50 feet, which is great for a fixed sight handgun.

Paul and I had a good conversation about our shared interest in these old western style sixguns.  We’re both about the same age and we grew up in an era when cowboy TV series and western movies dominated the entertainment industry, and that undoubtedly influenced our taste in firearms.  It was a good time to be a kid, I think.

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Colt Walker: The Official Handgun of Texas

Governor Greg Abbott of the great state of Texas is a leader who gets it…he understands what “common sense” gun laws should be.  Need proof?

Good buddy Paul alerted me to Governor Abbott’s proclamation, and I like it.  I used to live in Texas, you know.  Sometimes I wonder why I moved.

In case you were wondering, here’s what the Resolution for such an act looks like:

SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The original 1847 Colt Walker pistol was
historically crucial to the early survival of the great State of Texas; and
WHEREAS, The original 1847 Colt Walker pistol was an essential tool in the defeat of the Mexican army during the Mexican-American War to reclaim Texas, the 28th state of the Union; and
WHEREAS, The co-inventor of the original 1847 Colt Walker pistol, Samuel Walker, was a captain in the Texas Rangers, the first state police agency in the country; and
WHEREAS, The original 1847 Colt Walker pistol was America’s first pistol to hold six rounds, otherwise known as a “six-shooter”; and
WHEREAS, The original 1847 Colt Walker pistol is still the most powerful black powder pistol in existence; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 87th Legislature of the State of Texas hereby recognize the original 1847 Colt Walker pistol as the official handgun of the State of Texas.

That’s pretty cool.

We’ve written about the Walker Colt, its history, and the Uberti replica of that great gun before.  I haven’t shot mine yet, but that’s a character flaw I aim to correct in the near future.  When I do you’ll read about it here on the ExNotes blog.  At the risk of being redundant, here are a few excerpts from our previous Colt Walker blogs:

And one more…a photo I like a lot. It’s my Uberti duo…the Colt Walker and a Single Action Army.

There’s more good gun stuff here, folks.

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Youberty? You bet!

That would be my tuned Taylor Uberti in .45 Colt, the Italian Stallion Single Action Army revolver that has graced these pages in a few earlier blogs.  It was a good day…a couple of my good buddies stopped by with brass they didn’t want (including the ultra-tough-to-get-these-days .45 Colt), and I was hard at it on the reloading bench shortly thereafter.  My go to fun load in .45 Colt is 6.4 grains of Trail Boss, a 200-grain cast bullet (in this case the truncated roundnose thrown by the Lee mold, although just about any 200-grain semi-wadcutter works equally as well), and a crimp for an overall cartridge length of 1.595 inches.   It was 5 shots at 50 feet, and I was putting them pretty much into one ragged hole just about exactly at my point of aim.  You just gotta love a good Single Action Army revolver…I sure do!

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About the only thing I don’t like about Trail Boss powder is that it doesn’t obturate well, although you wouldn’t know it from the accuracy this load delivers.  Trail Boss soils the cases and they take longer to come clean in the tumbler, but it’s a small price to pay for this kind of accuracy.

The nice thing about the Trail Boss load mentioned here is that it shoots just about to point of aim for me at 50 feet.  Another nice thing is there’s almost no recoil…this load in a Single Action Army is a real powder puff.   Yeah, I could go hotter, but what would be the point?

More Uberti blogs?  Hey, take a look…

Colonel Colt and Captain Walker

Men of a Certain Age

And of course, there’s all the other Tales of the Gun stories!

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Two .44 caliber 1858 Remington New Model Army Revolvers

This is a guest blog by good buddy Jose, and it compares two modern Italian reproductions of the famed .44 caliber 1858 Remington New Model Army revolver.  One is manufactured by A. Uberti S.p.A. (it’s the one on top in the big photo above); the other is by F.LLI Pietta (the revolver on the bottom). Here’s another shot of the two:

The Uberti in on top right, the Pietta is on lower left.

The 1858 Remington New Model Army was a competitor to Colt’s blackpowder percussion sidearm.  The Army went with both versions but primarily bought the Colt (it was 50 cents cheaper than the Remington).  Then the Colt factory had a fire in 1864.  At that point, the Army starting buying Remingtons in quantity.  The Remington was considered to be the stronger revolver because it has a top strap over the cylinder (the Colt does not), and some folks feel the Remington is easier to aim because the rear sight is cut into the frame (instead of the hammer, as on the Colt).  And there are other advantages to the Remington, which Jose covers.  With that as a background, here’s Jose’s article on the modern Uberti and Pietta reproductions.  All photos in this blog are by Jose.

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If you’ve never fired a percussion revolver you’re really missing out on huge part of firearms history. But maybe you didn’t know that even here in California you can order one of these fine blackpowder revolvers online or over the phone with a credit card and have it shipped to your doorstep without background check or going through an FFL. Your state rules may vary.

Cap and ball packpowder sidearms were a huge part of arms on both sides during the American Civil War. The Union Army had a contract for the Colt 1860 Army, but when Colt could not keep up with demand Remington Model 1858’s were ordered. Many troops preferred the Remington over the Colt for a number of reasons. The Remington has a top strap making it stronger, and the Colt was prone to having loose percussion caps jam the cylinder.

Uberti 1858 Remington Revolver

I’ve had the Uberti for about 10 years. It’s an awesome piece of fine craftsmanship. There is nothing cheap about this revolver, the fit and finish are supurb. The cylinder and barrel are a deep blue, the steel frame is color case hardened, and the trigger guard is polished brass, ans walnut stocks, giving it a very classy look. The gun is a six shot .44 cal, rifled 8-inch barrel with 1:18 LH twist, and weighs in at 2.7 pounds.

454 cal pure lead balls, Remington #10 percussion caps, waxed felt wads, and the Uberti 1858 New Army.
Powder measure, balls, waxed felt wads, and caps.

I use .454-inch diameter balls cast from pure soft lead (stick on wheel weights or plumbers lead, BRN 7) weighing in at 143 grains. It fires best when loaded with 35 grains of FFF blackpowder (I don’t like substitute synthetics), a felt pad soaked in bore butter over the powder, and the ball over the top. The felt over the powder charge prevents a chain fire from jumping between cylinders, and also adds some lube to the barrel between rounds helping prevent a buildup of powder. Either Remington or CCI #10 percussion caps provide the spark.

The color case hardened steel frame on this model Uberti is off set nicely by its polished brass trigger guard.
The loading lever on the Remington 1858 is used to ram the ball into each cylinder, after loading powder and waxed wad. The percussion caps are placed on the cylinder nipples only after all cylinders have been loaded.
The cylinder doesn’t require removal between loadings, only for cleaning.

The Uberti is very well balanced and feels good in the hand. The cylinder locks up very tightly. There are noches between the cylinder nipples to rest the hammer on making it safe to carry with all six cylinders loaded. The rear sight is a V-notch on the top strap, unlike the Colt 1860 which has the notch on the hammer because the 1860 lacks a top strap. It’s no exaggeration that out to 40 yards my the Uberti 1858 holds about as tight a group as my Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 mag!

The Remington 1858 has a top strap over the cylinder making it stronger than the Colt 1860 and older firearms. It also allows for placement of a stable V-notch rear sight as opposed to the Colt’s rear site which is a simple notch filed on the back of the hammer.
Nice sight picture. This Uberti has a 1:18 barrel groove twist and holds groups as tight as my Ruger Super Blackhawk out to about 40 yards.

Properly cleaning and blackpowder revolver after a day in the field is a good exercise in gunsmithing. The revolver should be entirely disassembled, down to the Springs, removing hammer from the frame, cylinder pin, loading lever, trigger, mainspring, nipples from the cylinder – everything except for removing the barrel from the frame and front sight.

The notchs between the nipples are for the hammer to rest, allowing the six-gun to be safely carried with all cylinders loaded.

A good set of gunsmithing drivers and properly fittjng nipple wrench are mandatory to keep from damaging the screws. Owning a blackpowder revolver will help anyone gain confidence to start Barking simple dunsmithing repairs and parts replacements on other types of firearms. If you don’t already have a blackpowder gun order one today! They are a blast.

Pietta 1858 Remington Revolver

This one was recently purchased because the price was right. It looks like it has never been fired, and I’ve not fired it yet, either. The specs are essentially the same as the Uberti; however, the claimed weight of the Pietta is only 2.4 pounds compared to Uberti’s 2.7 pounds. For whatever reason the Uberti feels much lighter and more well balanced. The Pietta is noticeably front heavy. The Pietta has a little play at cylinder lockup. The hammer pull and trigger feel smooth and crisp, similar to the Uberti.

The Pietta, another quality Italian replica in a slightly lower price range.

The really nice thing about the Pietta is that it came with an optional .45 Colt conversion cylinder. I’ve always wanted to get a conversion cylinder for my Uberti but they are very expensive, about 2/3 what I paid for the gun, and they always seem to be out of stock.

This Pietta came with a .45 Colt conversion cylinder.
The conversion cylinder has an upper plate that holds a separate firing pin for each cylinder.

The conversion cylinder for the Pietta fits very nice, locks up tightly, and came with a box and a half of .45 Colt ammo which I have no intentions of using. Remington first started converting Model 1858 revolvers to .46 cal rimfire metallc cartridges in 1868. These were still blackpowder cartridges as smokless powder hadn’t yet been developed. So I will hand load .45 cartridges for the Pietta using blackpowder to stay traditional.

I’m looking forward to shooting these two together on a side-by-side comparison soon. For now, I hope you enjoy the photos.

That’s an awesome article, Jose.  Thanks very much for sharing it with us here on the ExNotes blog.

I asked Jose to tell us a bit about himself, and he did.   Jose is a geologist, an offroad racer, a fly fisherman, an upland game hunter, a handloader, and he likes to teach outdoor sports to young people. He lives on the banks of the Henry’s Fork River in Idaho in the spring and summer months and he spends the winter months in Big Bear Lake, California. Most of Jose’s offroad racing adventures are in Baja.  Jose’s other hobbies include taekwando, and cumbia and bachata dancing.  An interesting man, to be sure!

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