Pietta 1858 Remington

[Dave Markowitz]

I had a Cabela's discount card that was burning a hole in my wallet, so last week I ordered a 5.5" barreled Pietta 1858 Remington sixgun from them. It came today.

My first impressions are very favorable. I noticed one small ding from handling on the back of the frame to the left of the rear sight notch. Also, the bottom edge of the trigger has a little roll of metal that appears to be left over from a grinding oepration, but otherwise it looks great. The fit and polish of the brass triggerguard is superb. Wood-to-metal fit of the grips is excellent. The grips themselves are nicely-grained and finished walnut. Overall fit and finish is definitely better than my Euroarms 1858.

The Pietta's action is quite smooth, more like my Uberti 1851 Navy than the Euroarms 1858 Remington, which is rougher. The Euroarms gun seems to have a heavier hammerspring than the Pietta, but the latter still feels like it should ignite caps just fine.

Two inches less barrel helps the balance quite a bit. My Euroarms hangs well and works great for offhand shooting. The Pietta is less muzzle heavy and in general is faster handling, but still hangs well.

Unfortunately I'll have to wait a week and a half before I can get it to the range, since I'll be out of town this weekend. I'll post a follow up after I've shot it.

 

[Smokin_Gun]

Congrads on the new 1858 sixgun Dave...I know you must be itchin' to pull the trigger on it and let the recoil rock it in your hand with a real Boom and a cloud a smoke. Have fun!

 

[Dave Markowitz]

Range report

Along with RON in PA I got to shoot the Pietta last night. Overall I am very pleased.

We shot at 7 yards, one handed. Loads were Hornady .457 balls, 28 grain by volume of 3Fg Goex, CCI No.10 caps, and Dixie wads between powder and ball. Except for fliers, our groups were all one ragged hole.

I had a couple of instances where when loading the chamber must not have been perfectly aligned with the rammer, so I couldn't seat the ball flush. I had to remove the cylinder and smack the ball in with a mallet, then replace it and resume loading. I've never experienced this before. I think I'll chamfer the chamber mouths so if the rammer isn't quite aligned it'll be funnelled in.

I popped a cap on each nipple before loading and I experience no ignition failures.

The gun was lubricated ahead of time with Ballistol. After a few cylinders it was starting to drag, but I'd forgotten to bring a bottle with me. So, I wiped down the base pin and put a couple of drops of FP-10 on it. For BP, FP-10 is definitely inferior to Ballistol.

The gun hangs very nicely and in general, handles a bit better than my more authentic 8" barrelled Euroarms 1858 Remmie.

Cleanup was quick and easy with Windex and hot water. I've come to favor Windex for BP cleaning. I think the surfactants in it do a great job of getting the fouling out.

I give the Pietta two thumbs up.

 

[Gatofeo]

Yep, Pietta's quality has gone up markedly in the past few years.
I bought a Traditions Colt 1860 Army two or three years ago. It was made by Pietta and marketed by Traditions.
I looked it over before I bought it, and couldn't believe it was a Pietta. Fit and fiinish were excellent and the price ($140) was certainly good. So I took a gamble and bought it.
It's proven to be a very good shooter, accurate and reliable.
From what I've seen the past few years, I'd recommend a Pietta to any shooter. Some may not be quite as a good as an Uberti, but I've seen a few that rivaled the Uberti. I think Pietta is closing on Uberti's heels.
Interestingly, a few years ago --- about the same time --- Uberti guns experienced a marked decline in quality for a bit. That seems to be over now.
The bottom line: don't discount Pietta and don't praise Uberti until you've personally inspected the gun.

 

[Plastic Cowboy]

The best part is when you are at a public range. After you touch that thing off the loud roar and giant cloud of smoke will always bring spectators. The will walk up and say "WOW-- what the HELL is that thing....cough..cough??"

 

[Dave Markowitz]

We were shooting at the indoors range at Lower Providence Rod & Gun Club in Audubon, PA. Since we had the place to ourselves I fired 3 shots with the fans off. Nothing like standing there in a cloud of smoke and fuzz from the wads.

 

[Low Key]

And it looks so cool when one emerges from a big cloud of smoke with the sixgun held down in one hand...kinda like Clint in his old westerns! People always stare at the BP guys at the range anyway!