Question of strength, six guns

[Sinbad]

Interested in obtaining a .357, to pair up with my lever gun. Not intending to shoot (abuse) it in CAS shootings, just paper punching, self D, and hunting. Your opinion as to the durability of EMF, Taylor, Cimarron, Uberti et al. Any advise will be appreciated.

.............Ken

 

[Confederate]

Don't know about most of the ones you mentioned except I know that Cimarron makes a good, solid product. Nice finishes, too. I assume you're after single-action only.

 

[.38 Special]

I would buy a Ruger Vaquero. It will be stronger and better made than any of the Italian guns, IMO.

 

[Jim March]

Unless you handload "right to the bleeding edge" and try to duplicate, say, Buffalo Bore ballistics, you're not going to seriously hurt these guns even with a steady diet of 357 versus 38spl. With modern metallurgy, the SAA sized platform in 357 isn't at all "marginal".

What's more likely to break first is springs, followed by various small "inner bits".

A tight-fitting base pin and minimal end shake are one key to protecting those, by reducing the amount of "extra clanking around" that happens when you fire.

And that's why I own a Ruger New Vaquero in 357. Same size, same heft gun as what you're talking about but all coil springs inside versus flat. And if I need to tighten the action up with a Belt Mountain base basepin.

And as a bonus, three different sizes/shapes of hammers are available and a ton of different grip frames, stock and aftermarket. The Ruger can be customized to any hand size. Mine now sports a SuperBlackHawk hammer that dropped straight in.

No other SAA clone or near-clone offers that flexibility.

The Ruger New Vaq is a "near clone" of the SAA because while it's physically similar to an SAA, it has a modern transfer bar safety (also present in the Taurus Gaucho and Beretta Stampede). These "transfer bar SAAs" are more expensive by a bit than the Italian no-safety guns but in my opinion are worth it, esp. the Ruger for it's flexibility and aftermarket parts/upgrades available.

 

[dairycreek]

I have had some experience with Cimarron and Uberti. Both make nice SAA clones and, as long as you don't abuse them, (true with any gun) they will perform quite well for a long time. But, if you have questions about strength and durability, the answers all end up being Ruger.

 

[Jim Watson]

Cimarrons ARE Ubertis.
There are two main makers of SAA replicas in Italy; Uberti and Pietta.
Pietta makes the Great Western II and the Charles Daly, nearly all the rest are Ubertis no matter whose name is on the box. They will tell you about special selection and American springs, etc., etc., but the main structure of the gun is out of the Uberti factory.

The Beretta is a different design, gimmicked to allow loading six, but bear in mind that Beretta owns Uberti and I doubt they duplicated complete production facilities when they could get basic parts from a factory they already own.

Taurus is Brazilian of course, and USFA is now American made.

 

[Jim March]

Mr. Watson is correct, however I would argue that some of the "American hand-tuned Italian guns" are quite a bit better than straight-up Italian pieces. Cimmaron, AWA and (formerly) USFA tune up Italian pieces stateside by checking/tuning clearances and replacing springs, sometimes with better flatsprings and in some cases switching to coil (not the mainspring though, if it's a real SAA clone it needs a flatspring).

Spring quality matters, esp. on flatsprings.

In addition, Uberti is known to produce different "grades" of piece at different price levels for different customers. The higher-end American importers such as Cimmaron spec the highest possible and then tweak 'em.

 

[moewadle]

I really like my Ruger New Vaquero

in 45 Colt. Of course they are available in .357. Mine has a 7 1/2 inch barrel which is not available in 357. I really love it, it is the stainless version.