I'd say the previous posts area all pretty much right on. Although I don't have the long and varied history of working on various brands of cap and balls as Coffinmaker and Pettifogger, two fine gunsmiths, I have been around cap n' ball revolvers, shooting, and working on them for a good spell. I've seen enough of Uberti's and Pietta's that I have yet to see a Pietta that had the metal to metal and metal to wood fit, bluing, and overall external appearance that Uberti's have. Pietta's do have more colorful looking case hardening on the frame most of the time, but realize this isn't true casehardening either, rather a chemical process applied. Better frame color IMO doesn't make for a better gun. As previous posts mentioned that the Pietta's have better internal mechanic's (most of what has been posted over the years has to do with the arbor fit), Uberti's can be timed to rectify that or anything else. Pietta's aren't immune from needed tinkering. I'd rather fix the internals on the Uberti's than have to either put up with the less than desirable external fit and finish or have to fix up the Pietta's. Most of my pre-1900 era revolvers are Uberti, but I do have two Pietta's, a '58 Remington and the wonderful model that never was, a 44 caliber '51 Navy model (one of my favorites). Glad there are two major companies manufacturing and making available the guns of yesteryear, no matter what the pro's and cons of each are.