1851 Navy

i have a 1851 navy yank pietta .36 that i have had no problems with. and have shot it several hundred times, still looks just about new./
 
With Uberti you have the short arbor but if you're not going to shoot it all that much it won't make much difference. Accuracy will suffer some. Pietta has their name and black powder only on the side of the barrel. Uberti is under the loading lever. Pietta grips are bigger than Uberti but overall fit and finish is about the same. The original navies only came in .36 caliber but Pietta makes a .44. For histories sake if you want a .44 get an 1860.
 
Some differences to note: Pietta internal parts are not finished as nicely as Uberti but are extremely hard. This makes them a bit difficult on the tuning and modifications. Uberti starts to tune their pistols and then stop about a 3 rd of the way through. Then there's the short arbor, it needs to be fixed, especially on the big horse pistols. With the smaller frames the issue becomes not being able to reassemble it and have the same gun each time. I want my pistols to be as accurate as I can shoot or more and not getting the same gun each time I put it back together irritates me. Fixing the arbor and doing a good precision tune adds greatly to the enjoyment of shooting these pistols. By the way my bench is currently clear so if anyone's looking to improve their pistols let me know.
 
For my money, both brands are mostly good, and both really want some fixing before they can do their best. I've come to prefer Uberti, primarily because - as @hawg notes - Pietta has a tendency to write all over everything.
 
I got a Pietta 1851 Navy yesterday. I haven't shot it yet but timing and lockup are good. The trigger is light and crisp. For the price it's pretty darn good. So is my Pietta Remington 1858... The only Pietta I had trouble with was an 1873 SAA with bad timing. My way of thinking now is that if I get a bad one I just send it back and get another one. The risk of getting two bad ones in a row is pretty low. I thought about Uberti but the short arbor issue, though easy to fix, bugs me... Some people say that Uberti uses softer steel too, but I don't know if that is true. I might get another Pietta SAA, now that a decade has passed. Pedersoli makes an 1851 too, but I wonder if it is really better than Uberti, and it's pretty expensive...

Gil.
 
gilgsn said:
I got a Pietta 1851 Navy yesterday. I haven't shot it yet but timing and lockup are good. The trigger is light and crisp. For the price it's pretty darn good. So is my Pietta Remington 1858... The only Pietta I had trouble with was an 1873 SAA with bad timing. My way of thinking now is that if I get a bad one I just send it back and get another one. The risk of getting two bad ones in a row is pretty low. I thought about Uberti but the short arbor issue, though easy to fix, bugs me... Some people say that Uberti uses softer steel too, but I don't know if that is true. I might get another Pietta SAA, now that a decade has passed. Pedersoli makes an 1851 too, but I wonder if it is really better than Uberti, and it's pretty expensive...
Gil.
Click to expand...

I would say Uberti steel is every bit as good as Pietta if not better. With the arbor length corrected, you end up with a better quality revolver imo. All my open-top platform shooters are Ubertis and all of them are converted to cartridge. All of them shoot smokeless +p loads in 45C or 45acp.

I have one Pietta '58 Remington converted to 45C and my latest open-top is a Pietta '60 Army ( it's not a shooter yet) in 45C as well. I haven't shot anything but tier 1 ammo in the Remington and that's probably all I'll shoot in the new ( to me) Army as well. Haven't decided if these will be "test beds" or not.

Mike
 
I can definitely say Pietta uses a harder steel in their hammers, harder doesn't mean better. Just a quick heads up, check the wedge slot in the arbor , I have seen several lately that were too narrow and the wedge wouldn't go through and seat properly.
 
Jackrabbit1957 said:
Just a quick heads up, check the wedge slot in the arbor , I have seen several lately that were too narrow and the wedge wouldn't go through and seat properly.
Click to expand...
Hi, thanks, mine is fine, but I understand at that price there is a bit of a luck factor at play...
Gil.
 
I have both and don't see much difference between them. Have seen both good and not so good ones of each. The odds are good that you will get a good one of either but it is luck of the draw. Usually any that exhibit a problem can have the problem remedied easily.
 
My bench is currently clear, shoot it when ya get it then send it to me for tuning, especially if it's Uberti!
 
The frame cut on the Pietta for putting the caps on is too shallow, I found it impossible to use both my inline and snale capper on mine once I put SlixShot nipples on it. It was hard enough to cap just by hand! I ended up removing some metal here for better clearance.
Pietta-1851-Navy-Yank-36-Cal-Black-Powder-Revolver-YAN36-cylinder_949x633.jpg

On the Uberti, the cut is deeper, and even has that little guide track in the middle to help center the cap when putting it on just like on the original gun. This alone convinces me that the Uberti is the better of the two.
maxresdefault-1.jpg

I'm curious why this big difference is never pointed out.
 
Ethan Verity said:
The frame cut on the Pietta for putting the caps on is too shallow, I found it impossible to use both my inline and snale capper on mine once I put SlixShot nipples on it. It was hard enough to cap just by hand! I ended up removing some metal here for better clearance.


I'm curious why this big difference is never pointed out.
Click to expand...

Probably because it's immaterial. I never had a problem capping any of my Piettas. I don't use a capper tho. I can't remember anybody else saying they had a problem capping them.
 
I've got an Uberti and I quite like it. They seem to have fixed the short arbor problem in recent years as mine is a 2020 production and doesn't have it.
 
Uberti has the strange notion that if they make the arbor a border line press fit into the barrel lug it fixes the short arbor problem.... it doesn't. I just fixed one for a local retailer that was new in the box, never been fired and was locked up. The arbor was a border line press fit, very difficult to separate the 2 parts. Once that issue was solved the short problem was resolved and the gun tuned. It took a lot of time and effort to get this one right.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

F
  • Locked
Dixie Gun Works Navy Options
Replies
2
Views
806
mykeal
M
M
  • Locked
Pietta 1851 London and 1861 Navy - same frame?
Replies
5
Views
840
Mictlanero
M
G
  • Locked
Wolff Springs on my replica's...what do I need?
Replies
16
Views
869
gtrgy888
gtrgy888
C
  • Locked
.44 Navy Cyl. the same as a .44 Army Cyl.?
Replies
14
Views
980
catfish33
C
C
  • Locked
1851 Navy vs 1860 Army: which is it and parts interchangeability?
Replies
9
Views
5K
mcneill
M
Back
Top