Uberti/Cimarron - Richards/Mason Conversions

[TrafficMan]

anybody know anything about these? They have cartridge conversion replicas of the 1851 and the 1860. Apparently, you can't shoot +p ammo thru these...which isn't a problem for me considering i already have personal defense weapons. the 1851 comes in .38spl and the 1860 is chambered in .44colt and .45sch. mostly interested in the 1851 in .38 special.

it has come down to two with my future wheel gun purchase. one of these of the new model Vaquero. kind of leaning toward a Vaquero, but still interested in these...would it be possible to shoot factory ball ammo out of one of these conversion?

thanks in advance....

scott

 

[Old Fuff]

You are looking at an 19th century design where the barrel is held on to the cylinder base pin with a cross-key. No way do you want to shoot anything hotter then a standard 158 grain bullet at around 750 FPS. I would suggest the reduced .38 Special loads used in Cowboy Action Shooting. A better idea might be to go with .38 Special handloads made with black powder.

In fact these revolvers were created for CAS competitors. In their own way they are neat, and represent the bridge between Colt cap & ball revolvers and modern cartridges. However for general shooting you'd be better off with the much stronger Ruger.

 

[Jim Watson]

Agree with Fuff.
And moreso, the Italian cartridge conversion copies reportedly require a good deal of TLC and mainentance even at CAS load levels. Get a Ruger or SAA clone unless you just like to tinker.

 

[TrafficMan]

well, that answers my question. thanks.

will go with the Ruger, i was leaning toward that anyways. i think one of these days i'll just get an 1851 Navy (blackpowder) to curb my desire. I just like the lines of that pistol....

 

[Old Fuff]

That I think, would be a good idea. These old guns (or replicas of same) are a lot of fun. As for the Ruger, I see no reason you shouldn't have both.

 

[mec]

This one is labled EMF and was build ( I believe) before Uberti produced the model. We have the impression that it was made by ASM- but it has a superior finish and much better overall quality than ASM usually produced. Accurate and easy to shoot accurately. We stuck with wadcutter level loads

 

[TrafficMan]

that's a really nice pistol mec! love it!

 

[Onmilo]

These are Cimmaron/Uberti 1872 'Open Tops' in .44 Colt caliber.
They will also chamber and fire .44 Russian cartridges.
Good stuff.

 

[mec]

I strongly suspect the Ubertis are way superior to the EMF gun. That gun had a light mainspring which pretty soon broke. Easy enough to replace with a generic SAA spring though.

 

[Onmilo]

Since my Uberti open tops have the longer 1860 grip frames, I keep a couple Uberti mainsprings in the spare parts slot.
The bolt springs are Colt and these are the springs that break the most often in the import guns.
Replace them with Colt springs and it rarely happens again.