As far as historically correct, the "Pietta" is actually a larger frame than the original 1858, it is otherwise a very nice high quality replica and the newer versions have went to a progressive rifling HOWEVER for the best gun go with the UBERTI the action is so much smoother than the Pietta right outa the box, the fit is tighter at every level, the crosshatch checkering on the hammer spur feels much better than the serrated PIETTA hammer also the finish on the trigger feels alot nicer than the pietta which has more of a squared trigger with a slight upturn at the tip which I personally had to reshape as it drove me nuts.
The Uberti is a near perfect replica in every way to the New Style Remington old army (there are actually two versions of the new army remington) The Uberti grip frame is only slightly larger than the original 1858 new army we're talking 1/16" here its not noticable (unlike the 1/4" of the Pietta) unless ya happen to have access to an original new army remington and try swapping the grip panels.
My Uberti is actually a Lyman made by Uberti in 1971 for Lyman.
Nobody has mentioned the third contender, Euroarms now they are also very high quality and are a dead on exact replica of the OLD STYLE Remington New Army, they are closer in quality to a pietta but with the correctly dimensioned frame of the original in fact they are so close you can actually swap parts with original Remington 1858s with no problem something ya cannot do with a pietta, ya can swap "most" parts with a Uberti and an original the only exception being the grips everything else is a direct swap the Uberti Cyl. will work in an original Remington but must be retimed slightly a Euroarms is a dead on swap part for part I have a 1971 Euroarms that is great and very accurate they have an added benifit that is not historically correct but the front sighht post is dovetail mounted and can be drift adjusted to correct for windage.
As for brass frames.......... not if ya plan on doing much shooting ..... which I do, the 300 rnds mentioned in a previouse post... thats a single day shooting for me!! If ya read the sticky about the paper cartridges they are a must do but go to the last post I added it has one minor change to the recipe of adding 5 grns of cream of wheat directly behind the ball etc... and ya don't need to tear or pin prick the cartridges just trim excess paper and twist em tight they'l tear when rammed, but back to the brass framed guns, what people who don't shoot so much don't understand and part of it is due I suspect to a lack of meterological knowledge is that brass is a compressable metal, the way black powder works is that it blasts the ball outa the chamber and into the barrel unlike smokless powder which pushes the ball into the barrel when ya fire your revolver the cylender is slammed not pressed back against the recoil plate of the revolvers frame with steel there is no harm done as steel cannot be easily compressed brass on the other hand becomes work hardened which leads to stress cracks first, but before the cracks ya will notice more end to end play in the cylender this is because the brass recoil plate is being compressed with every shot the more ya shoot and the hotter loads ya shoot the faster it gets compressed ya have a hard STEEL hammer this being the cylender being slammed into a very soft brass anvil with each shot. Not only are Brass cap and ball revolvers totally NOT historically correct in any mannor (the south had more steel than they did copper, in fact they almost lost the war due to a shortage of copper for making caps to fire theire guns! They stopped making bronse cannons and went to steel to conserve copper a component in brass and evil melted down theire distilleries for the copper in the stills) but I've destroyed 2 brass framed 1858s in less than 2 months, I shoot at the very least every weekend both saturday and sunday my C&B guns get almost as much range time as my modern guns and as I have my own 500 yard range out here in the Arizona desert I do alot of shooting on weekdays as well...... there were less than 1000 rnds of 30 grns of fffg fired useing a hand cast 144 grn ball fired through each gun and one was so loose it was no longer safe to fire the other developed a mirad of work hardened fractures around the hand slot between it and the barrel pin hole it too was extremally loose, I was given the guns to do an evaluation of them which we never did complete as they were unable to even meet the first step of the challenge while the twin steel guns made by the same company went on to be torture tested for 5,000 rnds in the end with no ill effects what so ever, all 4 guns were meticulesly maintained as are all my guns, I cannot name the maker as they are still selling those same brass framed guns in a major major sporting goods chain of stores BUT with a disclaimer of liability............
well ya asked bout C&R and there ya go ;-)
that outa teach ya to be askin questions ever again huh hehehehe
Go with the 1858 first, ya won't be sorry, But do get into useing the paper cartridges as described in the sticky they will allow ya much more time for shooting at the range, I pre-crimp my caps at home and usually keep a thousand rnds of the paper cartridges loaded up and ready at all times, the two guns that ALWAYS accompany me, both 1971s described above the Uberti in a drop loop slim jim holster and the Euroarms in a left side cross draw slim jim, the Uberti is my main gun the Euroarms takes over when its empty unless I'm showing off for an audience in which case I'll draw the Euroarms cavalry fashion and play Jesse James ;-) with both guns fireing simultaneously the tricky part is....................... I actually can keep that soda can in the air till the last shot is fired!
BTW, the Remingtons have a safty notch cut between the cylenders thats were ya rest the hammer while ALL SIX chambers are loaded, another plus over the colts along with MUCH MUCH Extremally better sights than the colts and using the sights when ya first get started will keep ya happy which will keep ya shooting long enough to learn to shoot instinctivly..... then it gets really fun ...insert sinister laugh here....... the Remingtons are very capable of better accuracy than a smokless powder gun both of mine shoot inside of 1.5" at 25 yards using the sights took me awhile to find the right recipe for them to get em that accurate but once ya find it stick to it, The Uberti has over 8K balls fired outa it, still looks great other than holster wear and still runs like a swiss watch, the Euroarms just came to me and replaced a Pietta that was getting loose after the same number of rnds.....
