1851 .36 Cal. Pietta

How is the fit and polish of the .36 cal. 1851 Pietta nowadays? I'm thinking of getting one from Cabbella's. Any problems with the cylinder not lining up with the barrel or the half cock not working?.

The one s that I have work great, and fit and finish is fine. I just bought their lazer ettched Remington in.44, comes with a extra cylinder, and 150 bucks off. paid 250 for it. I havn't real fired it yet, but have used it in a civ war reenactment.

I have bought 6 new Piettas over the past few years and found the fit and finish to be excellent. This doesn't address the mechanical issues, they all could benefit from a tune up to meet my standards though I don't see any issues with them that would prevent anyone from putting them to work right out of the box. Having extensively reworked a couple of Piettas back in the 90's I can say the new ones are head and shoulders over their past offerings. At one time I could only recommend Uberti but today I wouldn't pay the extra except to get something that Pietta doesn't make. Cabellas prices are very good and they often put their revolvers on sale if you have a little patience though the .36 '51 Navy doesn't go on sale very often.

Pietta has a good reputation for quality nowadays.
Be aware of the " Pietta Flare " of the grip frames on their Colt copies that gives them a bugle - shape at the bottom which the originals did not have. Most people are okay with it, I suppose. I don't care for the looks of them myself and the flare makes them point high for me.
If possible you might want to handle examples of a Uberti and a Pietta before making a decision.
You may be perfectly happy with the Pietta.
Whichever you pick, shoot them as much as you can and have fun.
Too many people make the shooting and cleaning percussion revolvers such a chore that they soon lose interest in shooting them because of the hassle of the cleaning process, which they think must take 45 minutes or longer to be effective.
Not True.


Your shooting will be a much more pleasant ( and cleaner ) experience if you omit putting grease in the chamber mouths when loading.

I have a .36 Pietta 1851 that was plumb scary silly in the way the factory mangled it. Bought it a lot of years ago new in the box from somebody on the interseine. Rework gradually brought it around to good shooter status.
So now I have a 1851 with politically incorrect flag grips that will never be made again.
Yippee!

The quality of Pietta's recent manufacture is generally somewhere between plumb purty and pretty darn good.

Thanks guys, it makes my decision a lot easier. Personally I like the octagonal barrel on the Pietta better than the round one the Uberti.

"the octagonal barrel on the Pietta better than the round one the Uberti"

The Uberti '51 Navy has an octagonal barrel too, are you possibly confusing it with something else?

hawkeye2 said:

"the octagonal barrel on the Pietta better than the round one the Uberti"

The Uberti '51 Navy has an octagonal barrel too, are you possibly confusing it with something else?

Click to expand...

I reckon I was looking at the Colt reproduction of it, it has the round barrel, the others have the octagonal barrel.

Unless your looking at a Walker or one of the Dragoon models, no other Colt prior to the Colt 1860 Army had a round barrel.

The Colt 1861 Navy, 1862 Police also had a round barrel with the creeping loading lever like the 1860 Army.

Most of the Confederate copies of the Colt 1851 had round barrels and Uberti made a copy of the Leech & Rigdon .36.

The Colt 1848 Baby Dragoon, the 1849 Pocket Pistol and the Colt 1851 Navy all used the octagon barrel.

You must have been looking at a 1861 Uberti which does have a round barrel. Uberti makes an 1851 also but it is octagonal.

Bob

There were 1851 type frames with .44 round barrels marketed quite a while back before the Dance & Bros came out. Kinda wish't I'd a got one.

The Uberti does not have a round barrel.

Yea, I need my eyes checked I was seeing the 1861 Navy! :surrender:

I have both the Pietta and Uberti cap guns. The Uberti to me seemed better as far as finish goes but smoothness of the internals are about the same.
They all can benefit from polishing the hand slot and all internals.
BTW... Mine are all 1860 .44 cal

My Piettas, purchased from Cabelas around Christmas of last year, are very nice.
They are precise, meaning that groups are small, but they shot low enough out of the box to endanger worms in the soil. I filed down the front site and it now is right on target.

The 1851 Navy was very heavily discounted at Cabelas. I paid around $199.

My 1858 Pietta Remingtons and 1860 Army are also very nice and shot to point of aim.
Ron

I have both old & new Pietta and Uberti percussion handguns. The older Pietta's (pre 2000 approx) were not very well finished and needed internal clean-up of frame & parts. The parts were also "soft". The pre 2000 (approx) Uberti's were VERY nice. The post 2005 Pietta's are very well finished but have poor wood for grips (my opinion). The post 2005 Uberti's quality is just a bit less than the pre 2000 Uberti's but not by much. Both new production runs are good guns but I like Uberti's just a shade more. I have over 12 of both makes & models to compare with :v .

I got a Pietta 1851 in 36 last year and the fit and finish were just fine. There was no need to modify anything for accuracy although it could be smoother like most C&Bs. I've picked up two Remmy 1858s and one of those brasser 44s all from Pietta and they have been fine guns. Certainly on a par with my Uberti C&Bs.

Jeff

Pietta has come a long way in the past few years, both in fit/finish and lock work.