The less expensive Cattleman have the brass gripframe, and it holds up just as well as a steel gripframe. The rest of the gun is the same as other Cattleman revolvers. If the gun is old enough to have leaf spring for the hand then that will be the weakest point of the gun. Most newer guns have a coil spring for the hand. If it does have a coil hand spring, the weakest point will be the Italian trigger/bolt spring, but that is easily changed. The brass gripframe is not historically authentic for the Colt SAA, but a lot of people like them.