EMF/Pietta .45 Colt

[ontarget]

Just found a Dakota 2 for a touch under $400.
It's the matte finish with brass grip frame.
It's NIB. Smooth action and seems like a decent gun. My only SA experience is with Uberti. And several different rim fires.
Any opinions on these.?
And yes I know it's not a Ruger.

 

[Viper1357]

My EMF story for what it's worth, and just to keep in mind I'm typically the magnet for certain (lemon type) issues with new guns.
About 6 months back I had my lgs find me a new EMF Californian .45 LC 5-1/2", which he found at his typical distributor. A week later or so it came in, and I fondled it a bit and while the hammer/trigger action was a little gritty I wasn't overly concerned I couldn't do whatever if need be. So after getting it home and really working it (just before it's good cleaning I always do) the hammer and trigger locked up... okay... somehow I freed them up and then the cylinder stopped rotating... okay... Now about this time I'm saying to myself, with my luck this was of course bound to happen. So I didn't panic and just decided the first cleaning was going to be pretty much a total tear down to see what's up with my new EMF revolver.

So after tearing it down, and being far from any expert I found that 1.) nearly every screw was loose meaning not even really snug. 2.) while the outside finish was really near perfect bluing and case hardening, etc., the inside action trigger spring, upper trigger area, lower hammer cam, strut, all inside was the most rusty crusted mess I'd ever seen in my whole like of many hundreds of new and used pistols I've dealt with. It was like rusty oily sand. 3.) There is a spring and ball detent that goes in a tiny hole in the back of the frame to keep pressure on the hand/pawl to index/rotate the cylinder properly that was missing. while looking for it moving the frame around it fell out of the left screw hole for the grip frame!!! Yep, some bozo put it in the wrong hole, omg!! But at least it was included. That concludes my bad luck with my new EMF.

On the really good side, all the grungy rust cleaned up/off real nice although the flat spring lost it's original finish (but no biggie when properly lubed) and the action has the nice 4 clicks, smooth as silk, excellent timing, with a smooth light trigger pull. It's seriously really nice after super cleaning and reassembling it properly. Not sure what happened to the poor thing before I got it, but all in all I really like it. I used it for my "Man With No Name" Eastwood Snake Grips mod.

I'm sure you'd have no issues like I had, as I got the bad one out of the way, but I thought I'd share my story since you asked.

 

[Catman42]

sounds more like a used gun to me but what happened should not of happened to you. your like me in that you have no problem taking a colt apart and putting it back together. i had a ubeti colt sheriffs model which was a really nice gun. my friend liked it so much and after a years of him asking to buy it from me i sold it to him. it also has the small spring through the frame instead of on the thing that rotates the cylinder. sorry i dont know the term. when i took the gun apart to put some after market springs in it i could not no matter what i did get that screw back in over that little spring. then i thought, let the frame hold the spring in and thats what i did and it works just fine as that tiny screw was very short anyways.i even used a magnetized screw driver to no avail. any ways it is a good way to build them now instead of a spring on the part. had one come off on a opentop. would not press in so bought a 3 of those parts so if it happens again i have spares. i put locktight on the new ones where the part and spring come together. as to your grips, i surprised the ubeti grips fit the pietta. looks nice. i have a man with no name with walnut grips. i took the varnish off the walnut as i like the soft oiled look instead. my uberti/s all have the oiled walnut grips or ive bought the checked walnut grips from them as i like those also. as you remined me of my no name 38 special, think i shoot some gongs with it today. its a good shooter. thanks for your post, have fun with your gun. oh yes, i dont own a pietta but have handled them and find they lock up real tight. so every thing must fit well inside them. some times the finish isnt as good as a uberti but some of their guns match a uberti. my favorite is my cattle man uberti in stainless steel. 45 long colt and a 7 and 1/2 inch barrel. i polished the gun and took out every tiny cachine mark. could not get the shine on the cylinder as i wanted so i polished it as high as i could and then sent it away to have it high glossed nickel plated. now it matches the rest of the gun. the stainless steel in the cylinder isnt the same kind of stainless steel as in the rest of the gun. stronger i suppose.a magnet even goes to it.

 

[ontarget]

That's a good looking gun. The one I found has a very smooth action. No gritty feel at all. Not sure I like the matte finish though. Overall it seems pretty good. The finish is evenly applied and the fit and finish seems good especially for the price point.

 

[Dudemeister]

I'll put my $0.02 in here as well.
EMF has been an importer of Italian clones for a long long time. I have a EMF New Dakota in .45Colt I bought in the early 2000's. It's made by Army San Marco. It has very nice case coloring, nice bluing and the weird part, it has a brass grip frame that was black chromed.

Really nice gun, I fired hundred of round through it, nice action, although the cylinder pin has a tendency of working its way out a bit after a 25-30 round. No big deal, just push it back in. I too put a set of snake medallions on mine, although on mine I actually carved up the original grips to inlay the medallions.



FWIW, Pietta guns are just as nice, although their bluing seem pretty fragile. I have a Cimarron Tunderball with 3" barrel and Colt Thunderer style grips, which is a pleasure too shoot, but as I said the finish is a bit fragile.

 

[Reinz]

Dude, nice looking inlays! You have skills.


This is a New Dakota by Uberti imported by EMF that I got 20 years ago. I even used it for Cowboy Action, so it probably has over a lifetime of use compared to the average bear. It’s never given me a problem.


I didn’t inlay because I wanted more gripping action, plus the snakes also act as palm swells.
Sorry about the tarnish. I’m not into polishing silver.

Reloader is an old Belding and Mull.

 

[Dudemeister]

Thanks. On mine you can still feel the medallions, it's just that it's recessed enough so it doesn't add any thickness to the grips. My medallions are not silver, they're pewter, so they can't be polished, they have a satin finish, even now, they look the same as they did when I took that photo.

 

[bannockburn]

I have an old ASM Hartford model imported by EMF. It's their U.S. Cavalry model and I bought it used at a gun show many years ago. Supposedly it's a very close copy of the Colt SAA but I have never tried to interchange any parts to find out. Overall the gun is fairly well made and has a decent finish to it.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

I bought two EMF New Dakota Models made by ASM, back In 1998. I used them in Cowboy Action matches and have never had an issue with them. I did the German Silver inlays so that I could keep track of which was left and right.

 

[Reinz]

Cool inlays Gunny! Very nice.

 

[Catman42]

how do you get the inlays to stay in with out nails ect?

 

[MTNSTRYDER]

I’v bought 3 over the last 30 years all suffered from light hammer strikes

 

[Dudemeister]

how do you get the inlays to stay in with out nails ect?

In my case, the medallions had studs, and I used epoxy in the stud holes as well as some epoxy under the rest of the medallion underside. I'm pretty sure they're in there for life.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

In my case, the medallions had studs, and I used epoxy in the stud holes as well as some epoxy under the rest of the medallion underside. I'm pretty sure they're in there for life.

I used epoxy also.

 

[Catman42]

thanks guys.