Better shooting Colt out of the box?

[Crawdad1]

Straight up comparison, between the Colts, which is a better shooter, accuracy wise, the Pietta or the Uberti?

Comparison between the most popular of the Colts meaning the 51' Navy, 61' Navy and the 60' Army or others??

 

[Willie Sutton]

Whatever one has a better fitted arbor...


Willie

.

 

[tpelle]

I believe that would be the Pietta, then. Every Pietta I've handled that was made in the last ten years or so has had the arbor PERFECTLY fitted.

However, Pietta does fall short in other areas:

• Cylinder bolt is too wide to fit the locking notches
• Bolt is timed to drop way too late and must be retimed to drop into the lead-in groove

But those items are easy to fix.

 

[Skinny 1950]

I have a lot of the open top Colt design revolvers, Colt,ASM,Uberti,Pietta and several unidentified makers. The most accurate of all of them is a Robert E. Lee commemorative 1851 .36 cal. which was used in competitions before I bought it, it may have been tuned up by the previous owner.

 

[Crawdad1]

Great information, thanks guys!!!
Skinny, speaking of that General Robert E Lee commemorative, wasn't that the initial set of the second generation Colts or the 'C' series (tan and later the wood grain box)?

 

[kituwa]

My most accurate gun is a 51 colt brass frame that i bought used.I cut the barrel to 5 1/2 inches, timed it, added a bolt block, a trigger job, recut the forcing cone and added a steel ring on the recoil shield.Last week a 20 year old friend of my son that stays with us, shot a off hand group at 25 yards that was under 4 inches and he has almost no experiance shooting handguns. That was with 30 grs of goex and a round ball. The 5 1/2 inch barrel makes it really handy to carry too. To add the steel ring on the recoil shield i had to cut down at the back of the barrel to set the gap right again, this leaves more room between the back of the cylinder and the frame and now it rarely cap jams. This thing is so slick i need to get a steel frame 51 and shorten it like this one. A lot of folks dont like the short grip on the 51 compared to the 1860 but with the shorter barrel it balances out great with the short grip. If i can find a 51 then i may shorten the barrel on the brass frame to 4 inches and do a birdshead grip on it for a real pocket gun.

 

[swathdiver]

Too many variables to make such a blanket comparison. Chamber diameter to groove diameter is also important. As is twist (Pietta's are slow for round ball performance) and cylinder to barrel gap among others.

 

[BowerR64]

I believe that would be the Pietta, then. Every Pietta I've handled that was made in the last ten years or so has had the arbor PERFECTLY fitted.

However, Pietta does fall short in other areas:

• Cylinder bolt is too wide to fit the locking notches
• Bolt is timed to drop way too late and must be retimed to drop into the lead-in groove

But those items are easy to fix.

I think that might be true with the steel frame ones but i dont know about the brass frames.

The last 2 steel frames ive bought are timmed good and the arbor is good but i cant say that about the brasser i just bought.

Some one mentioned the luck of the draw but i think they put more time into the higher end models then they do the cheaper ones.

just my opinion though.

 

[CraigC]

Bolt is timed to drop way too late and must be retimed to drop into the lead-in groove

I've got six Pietta Colt replicas and none of their bolts rise late. They all rise into the leede.

 

[tpelle]

I've got six Pietta Colt replicas and none of their bolts rise late. They all rise into the leede.

Huh! Every one I've bought always drop the bolt right on top the locking notch and hammer the snot out of the cylinder until I fix 'em. All of mine came from Cabela's - I wonder if that has anything to do with it?

 

[BowerR64]

Again steel or brass frame?

i swear i see a patern with the steel and brass frame.

IMO brass frame sloppy QC always on sale, steel good fit and finish never onsale.

 

[Crawdad1]

I think it does. I won't buy from Cabela's regardless of price. You can have em and their problems. I buy from Taylors & Company and Cimarron Arms. Never had a problem with any revolver I bought regardless of it being a Colt or Remington. Great triggers also!!!!!!!!!!

 

[CraigC]

Four from Cabela's in the last year, two from elsewhere.

 

[Skinny 1950]

Great information, thanks guys!!!
Skinny, speaking of that General Robert E Lee commemorative, wasn't that the initial set of the second generation Colts or the 'C' series (tan and later the wood grain box)?

Here is a picture of the Robert E. Lee:
I re-timed the gun and restored the blueing on the drag line on the cylinder.

 

[Crawdad1]

That's it. Back in 1971 with the Ulysses S. Grant commemorative, the first two of the 2nd generation Colts to be offered, I believe. Thanks Skinny.