Dave,
First- Colt has NEVER used Italian parts in the Colt Peacemaker. Period. EOS. TASW.
I don't know who wrote whatever you saw, but neither the part about the Colt sourcing nor the "high quality" of the early Italian clones was true.
As I said, the early Ubertis were not built to be fired much, and the guts were often problematical.
The clones were built to a certain level of function & pricing, and that was it. Before CAS, most casual shooters were happy with what they got.
Besides the hand spring I mentioned breaking on my replica percussion, Italian mainsprings in Peacemaker clones were also known to break on occasion. It's not exactly a rare occurrance on the older guns, Phil Spangenberger commented on it more than once in his old Guns & Ammo days.
I've personally seen an Opentop with a trigger so soft the tip curled back progressively with use, first lightening the pull (which the owner initially liked), then getting to the point where it was dangerously so with a pull measured in ounces rather than pounds. The trigger had to be replaced.
I knew a gunsmith who couldn't keep his wife's Opentops running for her CAS uses. I saw a local competitor here who had problems with his Opentop.
Hammer notches wore quicker than corresponding Colt parts, the cam frequently did too.
Again- Italian parts were NOT used in Colts & were NOT the equal of Colt parts.
There's been improvement in the new Uberti factory with CAS demands that the guns hold up longer, but the older guns had known problems and while not every one was a clunker, percentages were high enough to indicate certain trends, such as the soft guts, sight regulation, and spring issues mentioned above.
The Italians took certain shortcuts with the design, why do you think there's such a price difference between them & the real thing? (And before somebody jumps in to say "You're just paying for the Colt name", let me say that gun is genuinely an expensive one to build, the way Colt does it.)
There's a marked difference in quality.
The lack of a firing pin bushing in earlier clones was a shortcut. Fired relatively little, not a problem. Fired a lot, you see why Colt included that bushing. The bushing is far cheaper to replace than the frame in high mileage guns.
I've owned & fired Italian clones since 1969, I've owned Colts for several years.
I've been involved with people in the industry at Colt and among clone importers for a long time. I've been at many CAS events. I've seen clones break down. I've talked to clone owners & I've seen clone problems myself.
(Yes, Colts can break too, but not as often & they don't wear in the same ways that the older Italian clones did.)
Eddie Janis at Peacemaker Specialists will ONLY work on genuine Colts, and it's not snobbery.
He says the Colts are more consistent, more responsive to work, last longer after work is done, and he doesn't get the same results from standardized procedures in clones that he does in Colts.
None of this is calling Ubertis junk, they aren't. Just trying to advise that the older guns were known to have their weaknesses.
Current quality is much improved. The Italians, and not just singling Uberti out, are taking their single-action clones more seriously today, and it shows.
How would an original Colt from the 1880s hold up to CAS?
Poorly.
Heat treating as we know it today didn't begin at Colt till the 1920s. Heat treating began to spread at S&W and other manufacturers at about the same time period.
Today's Peacemaker is vastly better than an 1880 gun, in terms of overall longevity and in relation to the high-volume demands of CAS shooters & events.
The originals were never intended to fire hundreds of rounds a month, for years at a time. Or, to be fired rapidly on a regular basis.
Modern CAS use on a regular basis would destroy an 1880s Colt in short order.
Many people do shoot those older Colts, mostly on a limited basis & mostly with relatively low-pressured loads.
The man who fixed my busted repro hand spring years ago had an original blackpowder-framed Colt Peacemaker inherited from his father who'd inherited from his. Great shape, he fired it rarely, but did do an occasional short "nostalgia" session with it. I respected his judgement, and that type of use doesn't bother me. Trying to use it in CAS certainly would.
Colts from that area had no heat treating, older Italian clones did, but not quite the equal of today's Italian clones.
Saying an 1880s Colt would be roughly comparable to a 1970s Uberti in that respect wouldn't be entirely accurate, but heat treating isn't the whole issue, anyway.
Colts in that era (and after) were hand fitted at the factory to a greater degree than the Italians did when your Uberti was built.
The internals on the Peacemaker design will eat themselves up sooner if not well-fitted than they will if they are.
How much sooner depends on the quality of the parts to begin with and the degree of usage.
Denis
