El Patron Competition

[James K2020]

New purchase and plan to fire this Thanksgiving week. It was a really good price at Bud's ($542 and free shipping to FFL) so I couldn't resist. My understanding is that these are hand tuned at the Uberti factory in Brescia.
The comparable units are Taylor's Smoke Wagon and Cimarron's Evil Roy Comp with the same Wolf Springs but their internals are polished/tuned by the distributors in the US. In fact the Evil Roy is close to identical with the same checkered grips and Low Wide hammer and wide sights. Both the Smoke Wagon and Evil Roy run $650+ so El Patron seems like a good deal.
The low wide hammer and sights really sold it for me. It does feel very smooth dry-firing with Zooms. Fit and finish looks perfect and the grips are very attractive. May become my favorite 1873 after shooting.

 

[45 Dragoon]

Yep, the E.P.Comp. is an excellent platform for tuning a S.A. Mine was my fav. but a friend talked me out of it!! That's OK though (I can do another one!! Lol!)
The wire springs in them are what one would expect with that setup and that's pretty much the scope of the "tuning". The parts in Uberti's revolvers are some of the best ever put in a mass production SA.

Of course, I changed the springs out of mine for my torsion coils and a larger coil and pushrod for the hand. The hammer draw was/is less than 3 lbs with a 2 3/4 lb trigger pull. I also fitted a .45 acp cyl for some inexpensive shooting as well. Now that i think about it, my buddy has a really nice revolver !!!!!

Congratulations on a fine revolver James!

Mike

 

[ontarget]

You won't be disappointed.
I love both of mine. 45 Colt and .357.

 

[Speedo66]

I’ve got a run of the mill Uberti Cattleman, still a great gun.

Only change I made was replacing the small flat (trigger?) spring with a more modern wire spring as I’d heard they were a weak point.

Good luck with your new gun!

 

[Crunchy Frog]

The low, wide hammers were first embraced by Cowboy Mounted Shooters who shoot one handed, the other hand being busy holding the reins.

The hammers have gained popularity in cowboy action shooting over the last 12 or so years. Especially popular with those of us who shoot Duelist or Gunfighter style.

 

[James K2020]

Just shot it today for the first time. Pretty close to wonderful. Only ran about 20 rounds through it, mostly 38 special and one cylinder of 357. Had issues with another SA that shortened my time.
Very accurate- much more than me but did surprise myself a bit. Really nice. Will get lots of use.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Mine was pretty perfect right out of the box, I wouldn't change any springs on it. It's really nice to say the least. Mine is a stainless
.45 Colt, I shoot black powder loads in it, (250 grain lead RN over 42 grains of fffg) and also a light load (smokeless) with a 230 grain lead, .45ACP bullet. I have one heavy smokeless load with the 250 grain RN lead bullet, but seldom shoot that, but that's what she's loaded with when I hit the wilderness trails.

I also have an older "Harford Model" in .357. With full power loads the primers crater up and jam the gun a bit. Hole in the frame for the firing pin is on the large side I believe. But it shoots a hot .38spl load really accurately. Anyhow, it's a very nice pistol, with a nice smooth action. I don't care that it doesn't shoot a full power load, because I have other .357's that will do that.

 

[Old Dog]

Dang, and I thought this thread was about premium Tequilas ...

Seriously, though, as my local Sportsman's Warehouse has little left on the handgun wall except some of these, I was closely examining both the El Patron and the Evil Roy quite recently, and plan to pick one of them up soon (when I can sneak them into the safe). Obviously, I want one in .357.

 

[springfield30-06]

Does it have the retractable or fixed firing pin?

 

[NeroM]

Mine was pretty perfect right out of the box, I wouldn't change any springs on it. It's really nice to say the least. Mine is a stainlessView attachment 958334
.45 Colt, I shoot black powder loads in it, (250 grain lead RN over 42 grains of fffg) and also a light load (smokeless) with a 230 grain lead, .45ACP bullet. I have one heavy smokeless load with the 250 grain RN lead bullet, but seldom shoot that, but that's what she's loaded with when I hit the wilderness trails.
/QUOTE]

Your black powder load, 250 gr Pb RN over 42 gr FFFG ?
Wow, how do you fit that much in a case?
What sort of velocity does this load yield ?
Thanks!

 

[Ugly Sauce]

If you compress the powder before you seat the bullet, you can get 40-42 grains of black into a modern cartridge case. From my 5.5" barrel I get around 900+ fps. I believe that from a 7.5" barrel the old 40grain load will crack 1000fps with a 250 grain bullet.

It's somewhat of a myth that the old balloon head cases would hold 40 grains, and that modern cases will not. The old black powder factory loads were compressed loads, be they .45 Colt, .44-40, .38-40, .45-70, etc.

 

[jdavis123]

While browsing in a local shop, I spied a new El Patron .45 Colt with a sale price so low that it caught my attention. Needless to say I bought it on the spot. Although it lacks the wide hammer and trigger of the competition model, it is a well balanced gun and the action is light and smooth. I really enjoy this gun and I am certain that James K2020 will enjoy his.

 

[Armored farmer]

My el patron .45 came out of the box shooting x's.
Personally, I like it better than my Rugers.
Don't tell anyone that I said that.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Wow that is nice. Yeah, I wouldn't pass one up at a sale price. I'm sure the competition hammer is nice, but I'm pretty sure I'm just as happy with the one on my pistol.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

If you don't tell that I like my El Patron better than my Rugers, I will stay silent. But I do too. Which does not mean I like them any less..........just not as much.

 

[NeroM]

If you compress the powder before you seat the bullet, you can get 40-42 grains of black into a modern cartridge case. From my 5.5" barrel I get around 900+ fps. I believe that from a 7.5" barrel the old 40grain load will crack 1000fps with a 250 grain bullet.

It's somewhat of a myth that the old balloon head cases would hold 40 grains, and that modern cases will not. The old black powder factory loads were compressed loads, be they .45 Colt, .44-40, .38-40, .45-70, etc.

BP loads need some compression.
In my opinion, squeezing 42 gr FFFG into a 45 Colt case is overdoing it a bit.
Especially FFFG.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

If you go by volume, as a black powder load "should" be loaded, the proper volume can be anything from, say, 38-39 grains, to 40-42. Depending on the lot, or density of the powder. However, squeezing 42 grains, by volume, into a 45 Colt case results in a very clean burning, and consistent load. Not sure how that is over-doing it. ??? Are you concerned that that extra two grains of fffg will blow up the gun? However, perhaps you are right, and I am wrong.