I have a bunch of both in various designs and calibers. Uberti's are better finished, especially going back a few decades, but Pietta has narrowed the gap. Mechanically, surprisingly enough, the Pietta's have always been better in my experience. Just seems like my Uberti's always have some weird things going on. My favorite cap and ball is a standard, unmodified Pietta 1851 Navy in .36. It is worn and haggard after many thousands of rounds, but still shoots clay birds at 50 yards when I do my part. I keep a lot of parts on hand for both Uberti and Pietta, springs, hands, and such break regularly, but can usually be fixed in 5 or 10 minutes if parts are at hand. I firmly believe original antiques had better metallurgy than modern repro Italian guns.