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Advice needed: Uberti 72 Open Top .45LC 7.5"
dblshock
Member Posts: 19 ✭✭
really like the look, any negatives associated with this model? I'm thinking the Army version, already bought a El Paso '49 holster..after a couple boxes of ammo this would see very limited firing.
tia
tia
Comments
An advantage to the design is that you can use a feeler gauge to set the barrel-cylinder gap to anywhere you want it. I set mine to .003-.004, but if you are shooting black powder and have heavy fouling, you can open it up.
.44 Colt ammo is available from several makers, at about $35 or so per box. I load my own, using Starline brass (you can also use shortened .44 Special or .44 Mag, or shoot the Russian round).
I use 200, 215 and 240 grain bullets of different designs, all at velocities of around 650 - 700 FPS. The .44 Colt uses the standard .429 - .430 diameter bullets, so there is a really wide choice.
Open-Tops are a hoot, and I think they are the most graceful cartridge-gun ever invented. [:)]
Ordering the .45 Colt 7.5" Army
Cimarron has started having Fratelli Pietta make them a line of 1873 SAA's, in addition to Uberti, and so they may soon have Pietta start making Open-Top copies, too.
Besides the problem with .45 caliber Open-Tops forcing metal out of the bottoms of the locking bolt cuts, I've read that there is a substantial problem with the .45's splitting their forcing cones at the bottom, where the metal is severely thinned for gas ring clearance.
The first time I saw Open-Tops and Richards conversions in .45, I was a bit astonished that anyone would make a revolver with cylinder walls that were that thin. That was when I decided to look into end-user experiences, and I hadn't yet thought of the closeness of the gas-ring cut in the bottom of the barrel, to the forcing cone. I suggest that you cruise the cowboy action forums for user reports on these specific gun/caliber combinations.
The .44 Open-Tops that I bought are both chambered for .44 Colt, which is .050" shorter than .44 Special. The guns in .44 Special will fire .44 Colt (but not vice-versa), but I did not intend to fire any .44 Specials, anyway. Conventional wisdom is that guns are a little more accurate if the case length is exactly matched to chamber dimensions, but it is a certainty that fouling will accumulate in the chamber at the mouth of shorter cases, which may present difficulty in chambering a longer case unless the fouling is first removed.
Historically, the Open-Tops were never made in .45 Colt. That cartridge was developed for the 1873 SAA.
Could very well be some yoyo blew his .45 OT with +P and it went viral on the forum circuit, again, I'd think Uberti would have had these pulled off the market asap had it been systemic and the fact that their only offering it in .45 & .38 just doesn't square with the rumor.
I'm ok with .45LC and I'll keep updating this tread as I break this one in.
BTW, there are several Uberti-Cimarrons OT's in .44 on the auction side.
Georgia Arms G45LE 200gr. JHP speer bonded unicore 1100fps.
both really accurate at 75ft.
That;s sounds a little hot for an open top gun????
How can you even talk about +P's with a 150 year old designed pistol with no top frame.
Your hand, your eyes.
http://www.georgia-arms.com/45-long-colt-1/
http://www.georgia-arms.com/new-45-long-colt-250gr-round-nose-flat-point/
Again, your hands, your eyes.
Shoot what ever you what.
Open Top seems well composed firing this round, I'm not a plinker or hunter so very light use..thx for the heads-up I'll keep an eye on for stressed parts.