The Making of the Western Replica

[red rick]

I saw a TV show last night and it was about how things are made . One of the products was a Italian Colt SAA clone . They didn’t name the company . It showed them testing the clicks and it had 3 clicks . I was surprised to see the way that they tightened the barrel to the frame . They use a big piece of wood inside the frame and then a worker eyeballs it to see if he got it straight . It also showed them test firing the revolver in a testing room to see if it could withstand 3 times the normal pressure . They said that it must meet that standard . That makes me feel a little better about the strength of the Italian clones .

 

[45 Dragoon]

That's not "across the board". 3 clicks = Uberti. Don't shoot high pressure loads in Pietta copies.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

You are probably talking about the video about how Uberti assembles a single action revolver. The narrator makes several mistakes in that video, for instance those revolvers are not proofed at 3 times normal pressure. That is simply wrong. Uberti proofs all their revolvers in government proof houses, and as I recall, the proof loads are on the order of about 1.25 X typical maximum loads. The narrator makes several other misleading statements in that video, but watching the frame forged from a single bar of steel is very interesting, and is exactly the way Colt, and Uberti do it.

 

[.45Coltguy]

That's not "across the board". 3 clicks = Uberti. Don't shoot high pressure loads in Pietta copies.

Curious as to why the concern for the Pietta copies. I don't load hot at all, just curious. Thank you.

 

[halfmoonclip]

Red Rick, I suspect that what you were seeing isn't terribly different from how the guns were assembled in the 19th Century. There was plentiful hand fitting.
Driftwood Johnson is exactly right regarding proof testing in Europe; there are government proof houses, and prescribed proof loads. An examination of any Italian Stallion, or a German PPK, will show a particular stamp, showing proof.
We don't need to play Elmer Keith with current SAA; we have strong, modern guns for hot loads.
Kept to the loads they were meant to handle, current SAAs should endure a bunch of shooting.
Moon

 

[Slamfire]

Red Rick, I suspect that what you were seeing isn't terribly different from how the guns were assembled in the 19th Century. There was plentiful hand fitting.
Driftwood Johnson is exactly right regarding proof testing in Europe; there are government proof houses, and prescribed proof loads. An examination of any Italian Stallion, or a German PPK, will show a particular stamp, showing proof.
We don't need to play Elmer Keith with current SAA; we have strong, modern guns for hot loads.
Kept to the loads they were meant to handle, current SAAs should endure a bunch of shooting.
Moon

Buried in book boxes is a book I have about 1930's Colt's and the Colt plant. What I remember was, the barrel installer initially screwed the barrel till it stopped, observed the orientation of the front sight, took the barrel off, used a file to remove material from the barrel shoulder, and torqued the barrel up. The writer claimed the front sight was always plumb.

I will comment, on a vintage, on the plain carbon steel pistols, which may go into the 1960's for all I know, do not use a block of wood in the frame opening to loosen or tighten barrels. I bent a New Service revolver frame doing that. There are frame vises which support the frame, use one of those. Also, put an exact fit metal bore dowel if using a barrel vise. Without something supporting the inside of the barrel, you will flatten the thing. Old revolvers were made of dead soft steels.

 

[halfmoonclip]

do not use a block of wood in the frame opening to loosen or tighten barrels.

I've used a hammer handle, and my trusty Shop Fox (with thick, leather jaws) to true up S&W sights, and I've been given hell about it, here and elsewhere.
So far, no harm, no foul, but it likely isn't a great idea.
Your comments about older guns/softer steel are no doubt well taken.
Moon

 

[Slamfire]

I've used a hammer handle, and my trusty Shop Fox (with thick, leather jaws) to true up S&W sights, and I've been given hell about it, here and elsewhere.
So far, no harm, no foul, but it likely isn't a great idea.
Your comments about older guns/softer steel are no doubt well taken.
Moon

You can get away with things, till you don't. Don't splat like the bug on the windshield, understand the risks.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

If the video we are talking about is the one about assembling an Uberti replica of the SAA, I have seen it, and yes a wooden stick was used through the frame to torque the barrel in. The assembler eyeballed it to make sure it was plumb. Not saying it is a good idea, but that is exactly how Uberti was doing it. By the way, that video is at least ten years old, so not sure how they are doing it today.

 

[red rick]

The title of the show was How It’s Made . It was a 30 minute show and it only showed about 10 minutes on the gun . The sub title making Western Replicas . I just looked it up and it was first aired October 2009 . It also showed how other things were made , but I was interested in watching those . I saw it Sunday night on the SCIHD channel .

 

[Choctaw]

That's not "across the board". 3 clicks = Uberti. Don't shoot high pressure loads in Pietta copies.

Don't shoot high pressure loads in Ubertis either. Or medium frame Rugers like Flattops for that matter.

 

[45 Dragoon]

Curious as to why the concern for the Pietta copies. I don't load hot at all, just curious. Thank you.

The cylinders in the Pietta are the same dia. as Colt and I believe the top strap is the same width and thickness of the Colt. The Uberti has larger cyls (Ruger size), thicker top straps. They'll handle +p's.

Mike

 

[45 Dragoon]

Don't shoot high pressure loads in Ubertis either. Or medium frame Rugers like Flattops for that matter.

Didn't say anything about "Ruger onlys" (Don't know why anyone would) but they're definitely safe with +p ammo (higher pressure).

Mike

 

[.45Coltguy]

Thank you Mike for the reply. Appreciated.

 

[Jim Watson]

Everybody wants to muck around with .45 loads, the Rugerites load them heavy, the CAS load them light.
When I was still in SASS, I shot .44-40 at factory equivalent. Did that make me a "warthog?"

When FLG was adjusting my Cimarron ASM .44-40 to zero, he first milled the V notch rear sight to square, taking most of the metal off the right side. Then he "tweaked" the barrel in its threads for the rest of the correction. I had measured the sight height above bore centerline and figured how many degrees rotation to move the tip of the front sight the required distance. He improvised a frame wrench that supported the receiver rather than depend on the traditional hickory hammer handle. The sight is visibly off plumb but it shoots where it looks.

Strangely, my Colt .44 (Special with WCF cylinder from Eddie Janis) is zeroed pretty well. With 7.5" barrel it shoots both calibers about the same. Just the same when I had some 240 gr WCF bullets. But when I went one season with a 4.75" barrel, it did not. So I had Eddie put the 7.5 back on.