1858 Remington - which one?

[Chas.]

I've been wanting a Remington 1858 and MidwayUSA has 2 different ones, but they're the same. Of the ones I'm considering both are blue steel, 8" octagonal barrel, .44 caliber, and brass trigger guard. One is made by Uberti and priced at $319.99. The other is made by Pietta and priced at $349.99. Decisions, decisions. Any guidance would be appreciated.

 

[Mike OTDP]

Which Pietta? They make two very distinct grades. The Shooter's Model is an OK gun. The low end Pietta or Uberti? They are limited by the budget.

 

[straight-shooter]

May want to check out this Uberti 1858.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=272962339

 

[Chas.]

straight-shooter, thanks for the link. Unfortunately I live in Tennessee so I'd have to pay the 9.75% sales tax which makes it close to the Midway price if I exercise the "Buy Now" option. I will watch it though. Maybe I can get it at a lower price than the "Buy Now".

 

[rdstrain49]

I had two Pietta Remington 8". Both were returned due to the barrel being improperly indexed. Gave up on Pietta, got a Uberti Navy and Army. Both are very accurate. One of the big advantages of the Uberti over the Pietta is the Uberti has a dovetailed front sight. To me, that is a really big deal.

 

[Armored farmer]

I have both Pietta and Uberti.
The Uberti action is crisp and clean, even sounds good. The Pietta action feels mushy.
Both brands are good shooters.

FWIW:
If I were to pick one.....Pietta 5 1/2" barrel '58....no hesitations.

 

[Geneseo1911]

You might check Cabela's. They often have them on sale as well.

I have a Pietta from them. It has the best trigger of any handgun I own. That said, I had to clean up several chips left in the gun from the machining process, so it would appear their QC is not so great. For me, it's no big deal, but it might be to someone who doesn't enjoy hobby gunsmithing.

ETA: I checked my receipt, and I paid $219.99 for my Pietta approx. 1 yr ago (steel frame, 8", .44), including tax. I see that they are on sale right now for $229.99.

 

[hang fire]

Pietta has upped their game in the last few years, for quality and accuracy I would put them up against the Uberti any day.

 

[Hellgate]

My two SS Piettas were prior to the upgrade but they were heavier, have a post front sight (undesirable to me), had big grips(OK if you have big hands) and seemed klunky for Cowboy Action Shooting. Once I handled a Uberti it was love at first sight. They were lighter, smaller framed, smaller grips and had a dove tailed front sight. I traded/sold off the Piettas for Euroarms SS 58s and bought two Millenium finished Ubertis (less than $150 each). The Euroarms are even lighter than Ubertis, have even smaller grips with dovetailed sights, handle like a Colt Navy but overall are not as well made as Ubertis. Get the Uberti.

 

[rdstrain49]

Yep, what Hellgate said. Both of my 2011 Pietta's shot about 2 feet left at 25 yards. Not acceptable. The fit and finish was quite good, but if the barrel is not indexed correctly and as a result the weapon shoots that far off, no amount of fit and finish will make up for it. Pietta was a huge disappointment for me. I hope others have better luck. As for me, I'll stay with the Uberti's.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

I have heard that the quality of Pietta C&B guns has gone up over the last few years, but when I bought a pair of Pietta 1860 Colts a couple of years ago, I was not impressed. There were burrs left on the frame that should have been removed before the frames received their 'color case' finish. They were not, so removing the burrs now would leave unsightly marks that would stand out like a sore thumb. I was not very pleased with the finish on the parts inside either, I too had to remove a bunch of burrs inside.

Frankly, I am surprised to see that Midway is selling the Pietta for more than the Uberti. Used to be the other way around. If you go to Cabelas they have a Pietta 1858, blue 8 inch barrel, on sale now for $279.99.

I have two 1858s, my old EuroArms Remmie actually made by Armi San Paolo that I bought brand, spanky new in 1975, and a Stainless Uberti that I bought used about 7 or 8 years ago. The quality of the old EuroArms Remmie is very high, but it was made a long time ago.

I am surprised about the comment about the Piettas being bigger. In my experience it is the other way around. My old EuroArms Remmie is the same size as the original Remingtons were. My Uberti is slightly larger and weighs about four ounces more than my old EuroArms Remmie. When I sent it to Talyors to have a conversion cylinder fitted to it a bunch of years ago, the gunsmith there told me he used a cylinder that was the right size for a Pietta. The Uberti cylinder would have been too big.

My old EuroArms Remmie used to shoot quite high. When I started getting interested in conversion cylinders I started noticing that more recently made Remingtons of all brands had noticeably taller front sights than my old EuroArms Remmie. Taller in fact than the originals had. So before I sent it off to have the cylinder fitted I had a gunsmith install a Uberti front sight on it because the Uberti sight was taller than the original sight that came on it. As I recall, it did have a dovetailed front sight, but the dovetail was not big enough for the Uberti sight. So he had to cut the dovetail bigger to fit the Uberti sight. When he was done I had a nice tall front sight and the gun now hits point of aim.

+1 for dovetailed front sights, you can drift it back and forth a bit if you need to correct a little bit for windage. If you have a pinned or screwed in front sight you are pretty much stuck.

For me, I will always buy the Uberti over the Pietta. I am just more impressed with the Uberti level of finish than I am with Pietta.

 

[Chas.]

Frankly, I am surprised to see that Midway is selling the Pietta for more than the Uberti. Used to be the other way around.

That surprised me as well. I would expect the Uberti to sell for more than the Pietta.

 

[Hellgate]

Driftwood,
I ordered several taller front sights for the Euroarms Remmies from S&S sutler that were made by and for the Euros. No new dovetail needed.

 

[hogshead]

I vote for Uberti. I bought a Pietta from Cabellas a few years back. It shot about a foot to the left at 25 yards. No adjustment any where I woulda had to bend sight. I sent it back and got a Uberti and it shoot dead on . If it hadn't it has a dovetailed front sight.It had a better finish and fit to.

 

[Tinpan58]

I have 4 1858 .44 and 1 .36 all pietta, that I have purchased in the past 15 months, all good straight shooters with the exception of the .36 which shot about 2 inches to the right which I was able to correct using a small triangle file on the rear sight, all the guns sot a little low, but easy to correct with a file on the front sight. The only uberti I have it the 1858 revolving carbine, the frame on the uberti is more streamlined looking, and the outside of the barrel is is slightly smaller in diameter, I am pretty sure the pistols are probably the same, also the action on the uberti was great out of the box, The pietta’s had a creep in the trigger pull but I have been able to get rid of that as well, The pietta’s have their name and for black powder use only stamped on the barrel, the uberti dose not.

One thing to conceder with the remmy, To get the full experience of it you should have at least 2 extra cylinders, I think anyway, so if you plain to do that and price is a consideration, I would suggest cabelas for pietta the guns are cheeper they carry the cylinders and spare part kits. If you want a gun that is probably a closer replica of the original, I would go with the uberti, and midway is great, fast shipping great customer service, thats my experience anyway, good luck either way I you will have good fun shooting.

 

[FreddyKruger]

The stainless uberti's are sexy as hell in my opinion.

 

[rdstrain49]

I don't like stainless guns. But that sure is nice, might have to rethink the stainless.

 

[Geneseo1911]

Not only is it pretty, it is less likely to turn into an ugly rustball! I want a stainless Ruger Old Army pretty bad, but they are spendy.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy Again

Here are mine. The Stainless Uberti is at top, the blued EuroArms is at the bottom. Both have their R&D conversion cylinders in place. Yes, the Stainless Uberti came with a blued conversion cylinder when I bought it. Makes it look kind of interesting.



Hellgate: It never even occurred to me to look for a EuroArms front sight. It was easy to get the Uberti sight from VTI Gunparts, and the smith did not charge much to cut the dovetail bigger and fit the sight.

As far as rust and blued steel is concerned - there was no Stainless steel when the originals were made. Keeping them from rusting is no big deal. Contrary to popular opinion, Black Powder fouling is not as corrosive as many think, now that we no longer use corrosive caps or primers. A good cleaning within a few days of shooting is all that is required to keep a blued blackpowder firearm from rusting. Been doing it for years.