What brand to buy?

[The Sunflower Kid]

Howdy, everyone. I am new to the forums, but have read a lot of the posts here, and thoroughly enjoyed what everyone had to say. I have decided to buy a Remington New Model Army, but the question I have for all you kind folks is what brand or company would you recommend? I have heard both good and bad (and a little ugly, too) about Pietta and Uberti. I have heard that Taylor's and Cimarron are good companies to buy from, but I am looking for a gun on a bit of a budget. If anyone would be so kind as to offer there opinions, I sure would be grateful.

Thank you very much for your time.
The Kid

[Marshal Will Wingam]

All mine are Ubertis I got from Taylor's. I'd do it the same way again, if the need was there. The guns are as good as they get and Taylor's has always treated me right.

[Tensleep]

I have a 58 Remington by Pietta and one by Uberti, the Uberti is better quality in my opinion.

I have also had two Uberti 75s and they functioned well, but not as well as my Hartford Armory 75s.

The HA's are definately NOT budget pistols.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Doggone, Frank. That's one informative post you did there. Two thumbs ups for that one.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Marshal, I just gotta help the new Remmie lovers find what they're lookin' for...just might earn me a cup o' Arbuckles!

I'll buy one for you, anyway. You goin' to Fernley this year?

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Sounds good. Maybe next year at 5-Dogs, then. We are unable to make it this year.

[Tommy tornado]

Also do a Google search for S & S Firearms if you want one by Euroarms (Armi San Palo).

[The Sunflower Kid]

Is Euroarms a good brand to buy? Is S&S a reliable place? They seem to have good prices but I would like to hear what experiences people have had with this brand and retailer. Thank you very much.

The Kid

[Cincy Slim]

Greetings All,

I got a Pietta 1858 Remmie from Cabella's for less than $ 200.00.

For the money it is a nice piece. External finish was good. Internal fitting and finish (where it really counts) was very good.
Especially bolt/cylinder lock-up; smooth and well fitted. Timing was really good, very little end-shake or cylinder play.
I used a stone to clean up the trigger sear surface and a polishing wheel on an Dremel to smooth off some burrs on the hand/ratchet nose. All these Italian revolvers need a little T.L.C. to smoth 'em out.

Action and trigger pull is nice now but hammer cocking effort is still really high compaired to my Colt clones.
Shoots good, never chokes on jammed caps like the Colts.

The Grips are a suprisingly attractive variety of walnut with pretty nice grain to them. There were some finishing shortcuts taken inside the "window" in the frame where the cylinder lives. plenty of machine marks and some missing bluing.  :-\This has no effect whatsoever on function.

One of the main differences between the Uberti and the Pietta is ergonomics. The Uberti grip curves down right behind the trigger guard while the Pieta provides a little more room and the grips themselves are longer. Grip panels for Pietta Remmies are almost 1/2 longer than the Uberti. I have really long fingers so the bigger grip frame of the Pietta was a deciding factor for me. I put 1860 Army grips frames on my Colt SAA clones for the same reason. I think one advantage of the Uberti version is it has a dovetail mounted front sight. (Uberti owners; correct me if I'm wrong here ! )This is a big plus for adjusting windage or changing the sight. I will probably have a dovetail monuted sight installed in my Pietta in the future.

I would base the decision on ergonomics. The Piettas seem to be a litle cheaper than the Ubertis right now but the cost of adding a dovetail sight makes that advantage disappear. Grip frame size can't easliy be altered. If you have big hands, the Pietta will feel better I'm sure.

Cincy Slim

[Brickhammer Hamilton]

I personally limited myself to a choice between Pietta and Uberti for one reason:  I wanted to be able to get replacement parts without hassle or fitting for the life of the gun.  I could have bought a near-new Armi San Marco cheap, but passed on the offer.  Others in this forum may be comfortable with maintaining a defunct  brand, but for a BP newbie like myself it doesn't make sense.

I chose Pietta, due to price and good reviews of recent models.  I got a good gun at a good price from Cabela's.   I also own a Uberti Colt 1851 replica-- I bought that from Taylor's & Co.-- They have good Uberti pricing, but high Pietta pricing.

Again, my recommendation for BP newbies like me-- Get Pietta or Uberti so you still have readily available parts, service and support.  We'll need it more than the 'smiths that post to this forum.

Cheers.

[sundance44`s]

ya have to learn to smith a little .. no such thing as drop in parts for any model ... its good to have at least 2 guns .. when learning to smith on one you`ll have a working one to do some compairson  with .

[Brickhammer Hamilton]

Point taken.  It's not the minor stuff that frightens me, but the major stuff.  A little filing here or there, or some sanding, or some re-bluing, or whatever other minor task is not intimidating.  I already had to do much of that to my new guns.  But fitting a barrel or a cylinder seems more difficult than a spring, for example.

I'm sure that the longer I own, shoot and maintain my BP guns, the more confidence I'll have with 'intermediate' smithing.

Cheers.