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repro SAA. Standard or Bisley?
Wehrmacht_45
Member Posts: 3,377
What is the most ergonomically and naturally pointing? I am considering a SAA or a 1875 Remington repro and if I go with the Colt style I want to know my variations better.
Comments
The Lightning bird's head grip on some repros appealed to me until I tried one. In drawing the SAA my hand doesn't have to readjust when bringing it on target. With the bird's head grip, it does.
It's fine on a Lightning but not on the bigger SAA frame.
Fit is an individual thing.
-From what you said in your initial post regarding possibly buying a reproduction SA revolver, it sounds like you might want to try Cowboy Action Shooting (CAS). If so, you left out the Ruger New Vaquero, which has grips similar to the Colt SAA. The earlier Vaquero is a little bigger in the hand and you might like that. Anyway, here's my advice:
It is impossible around here to find a gun dealer that would have all three models you discussed, Colt SAA, Colt SA Bisley and the 1875 Remington reproductions. So I couldn't try out the Bisley and the Remington. If that's the case where you live, try to contact a local Single Action Shooting Society (SASS) affiliated club and talk to a few of those guys. They can probably set you up with guns that you can handle and get the feel of.
As was said earlier, the fit is the thing. And, it is an individual thing.
Personally, I tried to shoot the Rugers and found them to be frustratingly uncomfortable in their fit and function. I didn't care for the balance in the 1875 Remington and the Bisley did not fit my hand well. I picked up the Colt SAAs and I was home. I wound up buying (for CAS) a pair of consecutively-numbered U. S. Firearms, 5 1/2-inch Colt SAA reproductions, but other folks buy Uberti SAA clones.
Incidentally, I shoot with a guy that carries a matched pair of stag-handled original (not reproduction) Colt's Bisleys in caliber .32-20. He's a big guy with big hands and he likes them. He has fired a minimum of 15,000 rounds through those two guns with nary a stutter. He does shoot CAS rounds, which are lighter loads than most factory loads. However, in caliber .32-20, I am not sure that the factory loads are much, if any, more powerful than his handloads.
For looks I love the Remmy, but the dominance of the SAA says someting to me. I dont know it its partially nostalgia or if the Colt is so much better than the Remington design. How close is the feel of the 1875 Remington to the 1858 Remington? If so I have a friend with a Pedersolli? clone I can try out.
You mean a black powder, percussion gun that you can try for deer hunting? That's an interesting idea. Generally the percussion revolvers have 7 1/2" or 8" barrels, but you can by shorter barreled versions. If you were to hunt with one, I'd suggest a Dragoon variant or a New Army model, all in caliber .44. They'll fire a round ball or a conical, hollow-base slug. I believe they make special bullets, some saboted, for black powder hunting, but not sure if they make one for the revolvers. I have heard that the old black powder Colt Walker model in .44 was the most powerful handgun in the world until the advent of the .44 magnum smokeless round. Can't say this is fact, and only state it to point out that some of those old guns packed a wallop. Of course, too, the Walker Colt weighed between 4 and 5 pounds. More of a horse gun, really, in my opinion (i.e. the holster would be saddle-mounted). That's why I mentioned the New Army and the Dragoon, both a bit lighter.
In my opinion, the Remington 1858 black powder percussion revolver is different enough from the 1875 Remington centerfire revolver to make a good comparison with the other centerfire revolvers impossible.
A lot of people do like the Remingtons, however. Several of the old-time bad guys carried them in preference to the SAA.
Another thing. There are conversion cylinders available for the black powder percussion guns. These conversion "kits" allow you to fire modern smokeless-powder cartridges in the percussion revolvers. You can't/shouldn't use them with brass-framed percussion revolvers. Generally, the conversion cylinder kits are available in caliber .38 S&W Special. When using them you must remove the cylinder from the gun, remove a heavy back-plate from the conversion cylinder, poke out the empties, reload the cylinder, put the back-plate back on and reassemble the gun for another go. I've seen them used in CAS and those guys that use them seem to like them. And, interestingly enough, these conversions are all for the reproduction Remington revolver, due, I'm sure, to the enclosed frame. I'm not familiar enough with them to tell you more about the the conversion cylinders, but the Black Powder Forum probably has some experts in that area. Personally, however, I would not use one of these assemblies for hunting, because I wouldn't want to put a full-on hi-power factory load through one of them, and the CAS loads are generally light in comparison.
Having said all that, if I were to use an "Old West"-type revolver for hunting, I would get a good clone, either a caliber .45LC or .44-40, 7 1/2" barreled gun from one of the good Uberti distributers (Taylor's or Cimmaron...my opinion) or buy a U. S. Firearms gun, which I think the world of.
P.S. Uberti also makes a S&W Schofield clone in several calibers, including .45LC. Interesting gun.
As for the makers of the SAA I am looking at. I was looking hard at an Uberti or a Beretta. For the Remington I was looking at EMF as a source. I would not use a black powder gun for hunting, I could always stick with my 12in 44 mag Taurus Hunter, but sometimes I would like to have something a little smaller when really hiking a long ways in the woods to a good spot.
Of the possibilities cited only the Bisley target model had a flat top moveable rear sight. There was a flat top SAA with a moveable rear sight and target front sight but I don't think anyone makes a repro of that.
As to caliber, 44 Spl hot handloads and a 5 1/2" barrel would be my choice for what you want to do.