Talk with Cowboy Action shooters to see if Ubertis hold up.
Howdy
I am a Cowboy Shooter. I have owned two Uberti Cattleman, still own one. I have an Uberti Remington 1858, an Uberti replica 1860 Henry and an Uberti replica 1873 Winchester.
I also own real Colts and real Winchesters for comparison.
With an Uberti replica revolver or rifle you are getting a relatively well made production gun. However it is not the same quality as a real Colt or real Winchester. Sorry, it just is not.
Uberti uses castings for many of the action parts in their revolvers and rifles. Colt and Winchester used forged and machined parts. This is not necessarily a shortcoming, but it is a way to make the gun in a less expensive manner.
Here is a photo of a Colt 2nd Gen SAA hammer and an Uberti Cattleman hammer. The Uberti is in front, the Colt is at the rear. Notice the knurling on the hammer spurs. The knurling on the Uberti is a cast in feature on the hammer. The knurling on the Colt is done the tradional way, with a separate knurling tool after the hammer has been machined. Notice how the Uberti knurling looks a little bit crude compared to the Colt knurling. When cocking either hammer, I can tell the difference. The Colt knurling is crisper and less likely to slip out from under my sweaty thumb on a hot summer day.
Colts have a hardened insert pressed into the recoil shield where the firing pin protrudes through, Uberties lack this insert. The purpose of the hardened insert is to prevent the firing pin from peening metal over and raising a burr on the hole. Both the Ubertis I have owned have had this problem.
But these are actually minor issues. My real complaint about Ubertis, and all the other Italian imports I have owned is the CNC machinery is always run too fast to yield a smooth surface on the interior parts. Both revolvers and rifles. There are always rough surfaces and burrs left inside. Yes, always. The problem with these rough surfaces and burrs is that they cause internal friction inside, which means stronger springs are installed to overcome the extra friction. Simply installing lighter springs does not solve the problem, a lighter spring may mean the hammer does not fall smartly enough to reliably fire a primer. The lighter spring may not be able to overcome the friction caused by the rough parts. The reason Uberti pushes the CNC equipment too fast is to keep the cost down. If they took the time to produce a better finish inside, the guns would have to cost more.
Getting back to Cowboy shooters, many do shoot their Uberti revolvers stock. But if they want to compete and run their Uberties hard and fast, they need an action job to smooth out the action and install lighter springs. As one famous Cowboy gunsmith likes to say, you can take the family sedan out to the racetrack once and run it around the track, but if you make a habit of it you are likely to see your transmission in your rear view mirror bouncing down the track behind you.
But for casual shooting, most Uberties are just fine.
P.S. The reason I only have one Cattleman now is because I sold one off. It had the worst trigger pull of any revolver I have ever owned, and the barrel was installed crooked so that the front sight leaned to one side. I sold it and used the money towards a Ruger Vaquero. But that Cattleman was much worse than most.
P.P.S. Now that the hand spring in Uberti revolvers has been replaced by a coil spring and plunger, the most common failure is a broken trigger/bolt spring. Like this. Actually, these are Colt parts, but the Uberti spring is just as vulnerable. Way back a bazillion years ago the trigger/bolt spring on my first C&B revolver, a Uberti, broke the same way. That does not mean the part will break the first day you take the gun out, but it is a weak point of the design. Today you can replace it with a wire spring.
