Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Uberti Question

You hear a lot of crap in a gun shop but the guy I talked to about a NIB Uberti 45 LC told me they were as strong as the old style Ruger Vacaros. I really doubt that is true but thought I would ask those I would trust.

Doubtful. I don't think the cylinder is as big in diameter as the Ruger and I've never had one cross my bench that wasn't SOFT. Decent enough guns but they're built on a 150yr old blueprint using what appears to be 150yr old metallurgy. I'd not be stoking one with ruger only loads. Of course lots of stuff can be made very dead very quick with a 255 cruising along at 900fps.

They are as strong as a Colt Single Action, and not a bit stronger.

A buddy bought a Cattleman .357 mag. Started out shooting factory loads. It shot way left of target. After a lot of load experimentation we noticed a trend with this gun. The lighter the load the more it shot true to form. Light 38 special loads were right on. Did not matter what bullet we used. The only thing we came up with was that the right side of the frame where the loading gate cut out is,was flexing under the hotter loads.

Succinct and absolutely correct.

The 1873 Cattleman is available in 44 magnum, therefore they must be stronger than a Colt Single Action Army.

Thanks guys. That was pretty much the way I was thinking.

I have seen then in 357 Mag, 44-40, and 45 LC, but have not seen the 44 Mag.

I would say that is correct. A few years ago i went to a auction in scottsdale, for a movie prop company. They had a bunch of uberti's cross in the mid 300dollar range, which i thought was silly. Looking in the barrels they had been shot a lot with blanks and were sewer pipes. The guy who owned the prop company also had one old style vaquero ruger which i picked up in the mid three's. And another poster had it right.
for some reason about ten years ago i loaded some 250grain pills with 9grains of unique. Fired them recently. One cylinder full in a smith, didn't like it at all. They ejected fine and not sticky but just a lot of blast and recoil. So i fired the rest of them through a redhawk the other day. Didn't like them any better in that one either. I am going to stay with my traditional load of 8grains of unique.
I should post sometime a picture of a saa lead bullet i fired through a 8inch .45smith it expanded, a hollow point, to about .90 wide. And that was not with 9grains either.
I would much much rather have a ruger either old style or the new style vaquero than an uberti. The new style vaquero can be loaded hotter than the colts, but just not to the "ruger" only standards which are not needed anyway.

brian pearce had a great article in handloader a few years ago comparing the new vaquero to the old, with recommended loads for I II and III categories. I being the old colts, three being the ruger only loads. The II were for the new vaquero.
I like .45colt and like the smiths. But there is just something about a 4inch saa style revolver. They are easy to carry and quick to point. The only disatvantage i have found is slow to reload.

Here you go, 44 mag.


http://www.uberti.com/1873-single-action-cattleman-revolvers

i might add scott, one day being the idiot i am, i by mistake fired a .44magnum in a old style ruger vaquero. Interesting casing when i got it out of the gun. As to the gun, no damage at all probably because of the smaller bullet and gas bypass going down the barrel. But it does lead to them being plenty strong. One of the things that led me to the .45colt was being able to launch that big fat pill without all the blast and recoil of a magnum. I forget that now and then.
I still have a couple of boxes of buffalo bore .45colt ammo, that i got to take to bear country in colorado. Haven't shot it yet.

if you remind me prior to quemato, i will bring an assortment of .45colts and ammo to indulge your lust.

The old Ruger Vaccaro is the same strength as the SB. The New Vacarro is not.

Thanks. Now I know.

Don't count them before you come.

Yes I have the 45 LC lust. I first got around 1973 but have never owned one. Someday...

I do agree that a sa 45 LC with around a 5 inch barrel is a might fine choice for carrying in the woods. Nothing I will ever run into it would not stop. For some reason I just point a sa faster and better than any da I have held.

Scott, I agree about the clunky Vaquero being stronger, but I'd still take the Uberti between the two. The New Vaquero is more tempting.

The .45 Colt 'limited' to standard loads is still a great round and the Uberti would do just fine.

Absolutely. When you take it out there and start shooting things, you begin to see that you really don't need a "magnum" when you're using a .45 Colt. I had a load that pushed a 275 grain bullet to right around 900fps, and that leveled an 1,800lb bull that was trying to kill everyone. Bullet penetrated the skull and went nearly 1 foot into the neck.

scott
Was that a LGS down near were you are staying or maybe was staying as I don't know if you are still down the road a bit from me. Cheers NC

Not necessarily so! The first .44 Mags were built on Colt SAAs and most of them blew up, however, Both Keith and Casull used Colt SAAs to generate pressures and loads that aren't used in factory .44 Mag loadings today.

The Colt SAA is actually a lot stronger than it's given credit for, but the Uberti gun that is chambered for the .44 Mag, is (I'd be willing to bet) given different heat treatment, and perhaps a different cylinder pin arrangement as well as a few other refinements that one cannot see from a photo.

Interesting to know just what they are.

No, a shoe repair shop in Canby with a FFL. Old fart like you and me. He has several interesting handguns there.

Here's a picture of a Uberti and 3rd. Gen Colt, both in 45 Colt.
Weight, feel, and accuracy are about the same.
Only difference is the Uberti is about $1000 less.
I shoot both the Uberti and the Colt, but only go out in the woods and fields with the Uberti,
I can live with dings and scratches on a $450 gun, but not on a $1,500 one.