Italian SAA Clones Question

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Aguila Blanca

Staff
I have a Pietta clone of an 1873 SAA, with the 7-1/2" "cavalry" barrel. I'm not happy with the barrel length and I'm considering swapping it to a 4-3/4" barrel. Looking around the Internet, it seems that Uberti parts (such as barrels) are both more available and less expensive than Pietta parts. Do they both use the same barrel thread? If I find an affordable Uberti barrel, can I use it in the Pietta frame?
 
D

Driftwood Johnson

New member
Howdy

This information is somewhat dated.

According to Jerry Kuhnhausen's The Colt Single Action Revolvers, a Shop Manual, published in 2001, Pietta uses a Metric thread, 18mm X 1.0mm. Uberti uses a 11/16" (.6875) - 20 thread.

Just in case you were thinking of it, 1st and 2nd Gen Colts used a tapered thread, 3rd Gen Colts use a non-tapered .695" -24 thread.
 
S

SaxonPig

New member
Sell the gun you have and buy the gun you want. I have learned the hard way. Modifying a gun is never the cheapest, easiest or fastest way. Buy the gun you want.
 
A

Aguila Blanca

Staff
Driftwood Johnson said:
According to Jerry Kuhnhausen's The Colt Single Action Revolvers, a Shop Manual, published in 2001, Pietta uses a Metric thread, 18mm X 1.0mm. Uberti uses a 11/16" (.6875) - 20 thread.
Click to expand...
:banghead: I have Kuhnhausen's book but it never occurred to me to look in it for information on the Italian clones. Thanks.

Too bad they are different, because the Uberti barrels are significantly cheaper than Pietta's barrels.

I could just chuck it in a lathe and chop it off, but then I'd have to do something about remounting the front sight.
 
B

Bob Wright

New member
Aquilla:

Why replace the barrel at all. Just have you 'smith shorten the barrel to the length you want. Not too expensive a job.

Bob Wright
 
F

fourbore

New member
Cut and crown the barrel might be an easy $50 job. No idea? Then the front sight is brazed and that probably means the barrel has to be reblue. I think at the end of the day, I would look for an Uberti.

I used to know a great gunsmith. Local. Fair. Skilled. No shipping, 10 minute drive. He is gone now. If you know a guy it is a lot different than if you dont.
 
J

James K

Member In Memoriam
I don't know about the Italian guns, but most SAA front sights are either soldered or press fitted, not brazed. Still, installing a front sight is not a job for a amateur with a Dremel tool.

Jim
 
A

Aguila Blanca

Staff
Driftwood Johnson said:
According to Jerry Kuhnhausen's The Colt Single Action Revolvers, a Shop Manual, published in 2001, Pietta uses a Metric thread, 18mm X 1.0mm. Uberti uses a 11/16" (.6875) - 20 thread.

Just in case you were thinking of it, 1st and 2nd Gen Colts used a tapered thread, 3rd Gen Colts use a non-tapered .695" -24 thread.
Click to expand...
According to VTI Gun Parts, both the Pietta and the Uberti are 20 threads per inch, and are the same as Gen 1 and Gen 2 Colts.

VTI Gun Parts said:
The threads are the same for the Pietta Great Western II and the Uberti - both 20 tpi, like an old Colt 1st or 2nd gen.
Click to expand...
 
D

Driftwood Johnson

New member
Well, like I said, the information in Kunhausen dates from 2001, so maybe Pietta and Uberti are using the same thread now.

But nothing has changed with 1st and 2nd Gen Colts, they used a tapered thread. Just like a pipe thread, the further you tighten a tapered thread the tighter it gets. That's why Pietta and Uberti use a thread locker to keep the barrel from loosening. Not necessary with tapered threads.
 
J

Jim March

New member
A few points here from the craziest revolver modder on this forum :).

Unscrewing barrels is a "female dog". Do it wrong and you can bend very important bits. I've done it and the effort involved was...well, crazy. I did succeed.

If the gun shoots well right now AND you're not also doing a caliber swap, I'd highly recommend chopping the factory barrel. This is possible to do yourself. And there's a cheap and easy solution for the front sight, as long as you're OK with going slightly non-traditional - a "barrel band" front sight:

http://americanhandgunner.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/TAFFIN-3.jpg

You'd have to run the barrel a bit longer than 4.75" because you need some contact area out in front of the ejector rod. If you have access to a lathe you could spin one up yourself...and if you went that route, you could have it cover the re-crowned barrel so you don't even have to re-blue that. You attach whatever front sight you want to the band, blue the band, stick it on.

If you don't want to do a band and you're OK with drilling and tapping two holes, something like this would allow you to use whatever 1/8th rifle dovetail front sight you want, and now chopping it to 4.75" or even shorter is plausible:

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/384942/marlin-front-sight-base-marlin-882ss-39a

You'd have to cold blue the new crown but that's no big deal. You'd gain windage adjustments.

In an early state of modification my "Maurice" had something like this, with the rear sight (on a New Vaquero) hogged out some to match a Novak front:

http://imgur.com/hEc87Wl

This level of mod means the gun was no longer SASS/CAS legal except they might have let me run it against Blackhawks. Maybe. That's what the gun looked like as of...lemme think, maybe 2011 or so?

Of course, NOW if I tried to take it to a SASS shoot the only answer to the question of "which SASS rules does it break?" is "all of them!":

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2014/03/03/maurice-frankenruger-magazine-fed-revolver/
 
S

SaxonPig

New member
I was quoted $200 by a smith to R&R a barrel. If he cuts it add more. Will require refinishing so add more. How much more do you want to add? Very soon you've nearly spent the cost of just buying a gun.

Like I said, I strongly recommend selling what you have and don't want and buying what you don't have but do want.
 
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