Unique Dragoon…

The Dragoon is nice imo. I have the Uberti reproduction. A bit big and bulky but also suites my needs. Started out with 18.5 grains b/c of the reputation but 36 g now with confidence. Best way to recycle cardboard boxes. etc imho. I'm 5' 1" so the recoil took some getting used to for me.
 
1KPerDay said:
Gorgeous. Did USFA make any of the parts or is it a tuned/proper finished Uberti?
Click to expand...
As I understand it, early guns were made by Uberti and sent to USFA "in the white". I'm not sure how much if any fitting was done by USFA. Some folks claim that later guns were made entirely in the U.S. I'd like to believe that, but have my doubts. If nothing else, gearing up to forge frames, etc. would have been a huge expense, and I can't imagine the bean counters would have OK'd something like that, considering how many guns - at that price! - would have had to be sold. I've been wrong before, of course - and after all, the company did run itself out of business, so...

Beyond that, for the cost of the guns on today's market, I suspect a fellow could buy an Uberti, send it out to one of our resident specialists for the full Monty, and then send it to Turnbull and still come out ahead!
 
.38 Special said:
As I understand it, early guns were made by Uberti and sent to USFA "in the white". I'm not sure how much if any fitting was done by USFA. Some folks claim that later guns were made entirely in the U.S. I'd like to believe that, but have my doubts. If nothing else, gearing up to forge frames, etc. would have been a huge expense, and I can't imagine the bean counters would have OK'd something like that, considering how many guns - at that price! - would have had to be sold. I've been wrong before, of course - and after all, the company did run itself out of business, so...

Beyond that, for the cost of the guns on today's market, I suspect a fellow could buy an Uberti, send it out to one of our resident specialists for the full Monty, and then send it to Turnbull and still come out ahead!
Click to expand...

I talked to USFA before I purchased my Rodeo. I wanted a shooter, and was told the Rodeo's they were making did not have the period skinny front sight and tiny rear notch. So I ordered one, and it had the period skinny front sight and tiny rear sight notch. Called USFA again, was told my Rodeo was an early Uberti frame rodeo.

eH7wq2Y.jpg


The gentlemen I talked to remembered my first call, and told me to send the pistol in and USFA would install the correct fat front sight and a wide rear sight notch. I was told that at the time I first talked to them, they no longer were using Uberti frames, and the whole pistol was now 4140 and made in the USA. I have no reason to doubt any of that. The whole adventure appears to have been a vanity project of a hugely wealthy owner. I am sure USFA lost money on each SAA it built I would have purchased more had I known they were going to fold, I would have loved to had a flat top Colt. But, I did not ask if the frames were drop forged, if that is the point of disbelieve. They could have been, if USFA outsourced the forging of frames. Which they could have. Not that it matters much to me, drop forged or machined from billet, given the low cartridge pressures, and 4140 steel, I am sure frame machined from a billet is more than adequate for a 45 LC.

I am also going to claim, even if the blackpowder version was mostly Italian parts, that will not affect the accuracy or reliability of the pistol. Uberti makes excellent firearms.
 
Slamfire said:
I am also going to claim, even if the blackpowder version was mostly Italian parts, that will not affect the accuracy or reliability of the pistol. Uberti makes excellent firearms.
Click to expand...

Except for probably half the price of a USFA you can get a Colt 2nd gen which is the same thing except that Colt did the final fit and finish.
 
Slamfire said:
I talked to USFA before I purchased my Rodeo. I wanted a shooter, and was told the Rodeo's they were making did not have the period skinny front sight and tiny rear notch. So I ordered one, and it had the period skinny front sight and tiny rear sight notch. Called USFA again, was told my Rodeo was an early Uberti frame rodeo.

eH7wq2Y.jpg


The gentlemen I talked to remembered my first call, and told me to send the pistol in and USFA would install the correct fat front sight and a wide rear sight notch. I was told that at the time I first talked to them, they no longer were using Uberti frames, and the whole pistol was now 4140 and made in the USA. I have no reason to doubt any of that. The whole adventure appears to have been a vanity project of a hugely wealthy owner. I am sure USFA lost money on each SAA it built I would have purchased more had I known they were going to fold, I would have loved to had a flat top Colt. But, I did not ask if the frames were drop forged, if that is the point of disbelieve. They could have been, if USFA outsourced the forging of frames. Which they could have. Not that it matters much to me, drop forged or machined from billet, given the low cartridge pressures, and 4140 steel, I am sure frame machined from a billet is more than adequate for a 45 LC.

I am also going to claim, even if the blackpowder version was mostly Italian parts, that will not affect the accuracy or reliability of the pistol. Uberti makes excellent firearms.
Click to expand...
There always has been a market for high-end SAAs. Percussion revolvers, not so much. So I doubt anyone is willing to tool up to make first-quality cap-and-ball revolvers: they'd have to sell for what a first-quality centerfire costs, and the market for such things is tiny. (I bought a top-drawer custom for $1500 a few years back. It is serial number 25, and the maker told me he was not going to make any more, as even $1500 didn't represent enough profit, and anyway he was pretty sure he'd already saturated the market!)

As for Uberti, their SAA copies may well be fine; I have very little experience with them. Their cap guns, however, are little more than toys as they come from the factory, and require significant work to make them into useful, reliable firearms. Which, of course, is to be expected on guns that retail for $300, which appears to be all that most people are willing to pay for them.
 
USFA did not go broke making SAA's and percussion revolvers. They went broke because the owner Doug Donnelly who was a bit of a kook came up with a God-awful plastic .22 cal semiautomatic pistol call the USFA Zip and used all of the company's resources trying promote and manufacture it at the expense of the rest of his products. His SAA's were about the finest Colt clones ever made and in some cases considered superior to the current Colt versions. That's why they bring such high prices these days.



USFA also reproduced some beautiful Colt Lightning pump action rifles. I wish I had bought one when I had chance but today they are scarcer than hens teeth.

Cheers
 
1KPerDay said:
Gorgeous. Did USFA make any of the parts or is it a tuned/proper finished Uberti?
Click to expand...
I’ve heard both ways. Also that the parts were rough castings finished by USFA. In any event given the quality of the SAA’s these folks produced I would really like a shot at one.
 
forward observer said:
USFA did not go broke making SAA's and percussion revolvers. They went broke because the owner Doug Donnelly who was a bit of a kook came up with a God-awful plastic .22 cal semiautomatic pistol call the USFA Zip and used all of the company's resources trying promote and manufacture it at the expense of the rest of his products. His SAA's were about the finest Colt clones ever made and in some cases considered superior to the current Colt versions. That's why they bring such high prices these days.



USFA also reproduced some beautiful Colt Lightning pump action rifles. I wish I had bought one when I had chance but today they are scarcer than hens teeth.

Cheers
Click to expand...

They also got weird with SAA’s from time to time, made a Forehand & Wadsworth replica, a short barreled .410/.45.
 
Yes, the owner did announce some other off beat and crazy projects most of which never materialized.

However, the salient point is that they totally suspended their SAA's and any associated production in favor of this stupid ill-designed plastic 22 monstrosity. The owner sold off the tooling for his SAAs to help finance the production of the new gun, which then failed miserably in the marketplace. The company finally declared bankruptcy because of this. Skip to the end of Ian's video
to hear his comments on this.

Cheers
 
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Captain*kirk said:
Those are beautiful! Actually, I am privy to own 3 Goons, including a Walker convertible. Those are the ones that won't be sold on my watch...ever.
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He's done four others for me and has my Robert E Lee 2nd Gen as we speak.
I also have a Jackrabbit Uberti Walker, 1860 Pietta Sheriff and 1862 Colt 2nd Gen Police.

I always have fun shooting!
 
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