Uberti vs Pietta, Not the same old, same old.....This could be news.

Buy the pistol, not the story,

I used to go to skeet shoots at a little country gun shop. On the counter was a stainless steel 44 cap and ball. Had the price of $175. This pistol just set there for months. It was a strain, back in 1981 but I had saved extra enough to buy it. On the top of the barrel it had Uberti&Gardone. I had Armo san paulo and armo san marco pistols. First I heard of this brand name. Have not seen another, blued or stainless steel with Uberti & Gardone as a brand. Gardone is a valley in Italy and home to the proof house.

Pietta has been doing real quality work the past few years. My own range from 1996 to 2017 and they keep getting better and better in the fit, finish and action parts. I used to be hesitant to recommend them but I sure feel confident in them now. Going CNC did wonders for their products. My latest was a G&G (2017) and it was astounding what a quality piece EMF sent me.

I’ll have photos to follow...
The Dragoon came in.

The Uberti 3rd Model is an impressive firearm. It’s much larger than...say, it looks in photos. It’s also a blued and case hardened gun so these factors may make me a little biased towards it. The Pietta Dance is in the white.

Since I have it, I think a 3way comparison is in order.

The 2021 Uberti Dragoon vs the 2021 Pietta Dance vs my 1990s EMF “Hartford Model” 1851 Navy .44 by Amri San Marco...

The 2021 Pietta Dance and 2021 Uberti vs the ASM phantom.44 Navy...
By far this is the biggest gulf in quality. The best way I know to put is, both the 2021 Pietta and Uberti are “real handguns” whereas the early 1990s ASM is a decent replica.
The old ASM needs some work. It could use a tune up. Maybe it can be improved. The ASM has started to mark the cylinder leads. Although it’s old, it’s pretty much factory stock.
It functions but it’s just clunky, You know, like a replica.
The new Dragoon and Dance remind me of my off topic 1923 Colt PP and Smith M&P DA revolvers...you know...real guns.

2021 Pietta Dance Brothers
It’s very nice and it functions well. It’s in old Silver which unique or different. It’s not stainless, it does not feel stainless. It’s polished bright. Honesty it’s a little too bright. I wonder how it will age? It is a handsome piece.
Fit and finish is really good but the grips are slightly oversized around the inside grip frame. This edge of wood is sharp and it does catch the hand. So the grips will need to be sanded down and probably refinished to remove this sharpness.
The revolver has some type of hairy black grease in the nooks and crannies. When I removed the nipples some of this was in the cylinder pockets. I thought it was fouling at first but it’s some type of grease or greasy dirt from manufacture.
The Pietta cleaned up easily. The cylinders and bore are now clean as a pin.
The Pietta action ...,very nice.
The barrel wedge was rather tight. And the wedge screw would not retain so the wedge fell free. This may be a simple matter of tightening the wedge screw. We’ll see.
Really the only “issue” was the sharp edge on the walnut grips.

2021 Uberti 3rd Model Dragoon
Wow what an impressive pistol! It’s big. The fit and finish is really nice. The case colors are not over the top and all parts that are cased, look good.
It functions wonderfully.
It has the “Uberti” red grips. They look really nice and are fit well. There are no sharp edges and the big pistol feels great in the hand.
It broke down easily. The wedge screw retained the wedge.
The pistol was soaked in oil. It just bleeds oil. It’s the oiliest gun have I ever seen. It was just soaked.
The issues....
The cylinders were rusty in the cylinder bores. Whereas the Pietta was clean, the Uberti was....well, rusty. They are not pitted but the insides of the cylinders were rusty. The bore was also rusty but it cleaned up and is bright.
Despite all the oil, this gun was rusty in the box.
The biggest issue was the nipples. I was unable to remove 2 nipples. I do not think they are rusted. It’s just they are torqued down insanely tight. The four that came loose popped when they finally turned loose, suggesting they are simply torqued down too tight.
The two stuck nipples destroyed my new nipple wrench.
To clean up the cylinders, those nipples have to come out. I’m going to have to order tools and work on the Dragoon before I fire it.

In closing both new pistols are great quality.

The fact remains though....
The Pietta is ready to shoot.
The Uberti is going to require some work.

Nice! The Dragoon also has a short arbor (easy fix) but has the best action parts ever installed in an open top revolver!! They aren't cast parts like Pietta uses.
Congratulations!!

Mike

Just bought a Pietta 1858 Army today after reading this and other threads on these pistols. #11 caps seem a little loose. I will try some #10 caps this week.

Or change the nipples.

wm

Still no photos yet. I've been busy working on the Dragoon and the table is messy.

My pair of nipple wrenches came in from Track as well as new nipples for the Dance and Dragoon.

The nipple wrench from Track made short work of the two tight nipples on the Dragoon. So there's nothing to see here. The dinky Traditions nipple wrench is just not up to the task of removing a tight nipple.

I changed nipples on both revolvers.

Pietta Dance cap pop test with Track nipples...
The revolver capper is a breeze on the Dance. It does not have a recoil shield, so it's super easy to cap. After capping the Dance, on popping the first cap the revolver had to be cocked to half cock and back down then cocked again to full cock. I had to "double cock" the pistol to cycle the cylinder.
This is a nipple issue as it did fine with the Pietta Nipples.
The caps were as far down as I could get them by hand. The #11s are tight on these new nipples and they need to come down a little more to seat. I'm going to use a dowel and I may polish the nipples to see it that helps.
This was just a cap test and as said, it malfunctioned with the new nipples.
The Dance remains unfired.

Uberti 3rd Model firing test with Track nipples.
I'm clumsy with the revolver capper on the Dragoon. It's a learning curve.
I fired the Uberti 11 times and I had to completely disassemble the revolver twice to clear cap jams out of the action. Fortunately it jammed after the last shot on both shooting sessions.
It locked up after the first 5 shots.
I had to disassemble the revolver to clear cap pieces out of the action. While it was apart, I polished burs and I worked on the hammer face to reduce "cap suck" by the hammer.
I loaded the pistol and fired 6 shots. Again after the 6th shot the Dragoon locked up again required disassembly.
I noticed a lot of fouling on the inside of the hammer, this was just after 6 shots. The Track nipples are larger with a larger hole under the cap. I was shooting benign load in the Dragoon, 25 grains for the first 5 shots, 30 grains, for the last 6 shots.
The good news is the lever stayed up on the dragoon.
The spent caps from the dragoon are pulverized.....like you hit them with a 10lb sledge.

At the moment, I'm not real happy with the performance with both of these with the Track nipples. The only improvement I see is the #11s fit tight.

The next step is to try both revolvers with their factory nipples.

I put the original nipples on both pistols.
I tested both revolvers by "firing" caps on empty chambers.
With the factory nipples, all the caps split at the bottom and rolled to the right with the cylinder. There was no cap sucking by the hammer.
Now this was with no charge in the cylinder. Shooting will tell the tale.

I have not given up on the Track nipples. I consider them unfinished parts. I may have to chuck them in a drill and polish and tweak the shape some. Also I'll fit them for a #11 cap and see how they do.

54ball said:

Well, (in my best Reagan voice)

To give a unbiased, yet qualified opinion on this, I ordered a Uberti 3rd Dragoon toady. I have wanted a dragoon for a long time.

It was almost a Walker but my future plans for the revolver means solving the load lever issue.... I mean really solving it.
So, the Walker was not really a candidate.

When the pistol comes in I'll give a side by side review with the new Uberti Dragoon vs the new Pietta Dance.

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An unbiased, not a unbiased. Someday someone is going to shoot me in the belly.

Mike in FL said:

An unbiased, not a unbiased. Someday someone is going to shoot me in the belly.

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You is an very picky person on grammar.

I find no merit to the story the dealer told. Typical gun shop myth & legend. Both Uberti and Pietta have improved their products immensely over the last decade. I've bought twelve Uberti and Pietta guns in just the last year with fifty in total. The newest guns are the nicest.

Cimarron is not exclusively Uberti, they import many Pietta, Pedersoli and Chiappa made guns.

In fact the Colt SAA is the best it's ever been and has been for quite some time, at least ten years. Their new DA's are also very good.

I own and shoot both, there are pros and cons to both brands

TrapperDude said:

You is an very picky person on grammar.

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Don't feed the troll,, a year olde thread,, clocked for a grammar correction?

In the Dark Ages when I was in Catholic grade school the nuns taught us proper grammar at the end of a hardwood pointer. Have to admit it has stood the test of time as I can read and write well.

My wife was a High School teacher for 40 years, taught History/Gov't dual credit courses with English thrown in occasionally. I still find opportunities to correct her grammar, in spite of the mortal danger involved.

Don

Going around the internet correcting bad grammar, poor punctuation and pitiful spelling would be a thankless full time job with no profit or end in sight. Can't imagine a bigger waste of time.

I proof read, edit and just try to be a good example.

Nazgul58 said:

In the Dark Ages when I was in Catholic grade school the nuns taught us proper grammar at the end of a hardwood pointer. Have to admit it has stood the test of time as I can read and write well.

My wife was a High School teacher for 40 years, taught History/Gov't dual credit courses with English thrown in occasionally. I still find opportunities to correct her grammar, in spite of the mortal danger involved.

Don

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My wife taught the same things. She left grad school something like 12hrs short of a PhD in history. I never miss an opportunity to correct little Miss Perfect. I like to live on the edge!

In a very small amount of time I've spent around machining equipment I've learned that the equipment is only as precise as the people programming and operating it. They might think they can dump the skilled labor from other parts of the factory to save money, but you need to rehire that skilled labor in the form of people who can operate those new machines, properly and efficiently.

Felonious said:

In a very small amount of time I've spent around machining equipment I've learned that the equipment is only as precise as the people programming and operating it. They might think they can dump the skilled labor from other parts of the factory to save money, but you need to rehire that skilled labor in the form of people who can operate those new machines, properly and efficiently.

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And "CNC" is not a guarantee of anything. I think people assume it means more than it does. It still depends on how the machines are operated, how well they're maintained and how often the cutters are changed. Both Uberti and USFA are/were manufactured using CNC machinery, to very different standards with very different results.

I've been more than happy , for the $$ , with the 6 new Piettas I've recently bought