Ruger, Uberti, or Pietta?

It seems that's the question in Cowboy Fast Draw, and if you follow my posts you know that I have all of them.  Basically, it boils down to personal preference, and it's interesting to see what people prefer on the line.

The Ruger New Vaquero is probably the dominant fast draw revolver, and there's good reason to like it.  There are Ruger spare parts everywhere, it's rugged to a fault, it's made in America, and lots of shooters like them.  But, don't take the idea that it's rugged to mean it won't break.  Cowboy shooters of every discipline are hard on firearms, and everyone has their little tuning tricks.  Rugers break, though maybe not as often as the others.

I like Uberti and there are those who agree with me.  My go-to short gun is a Uberti Hombre, the one with the brass grip frame.  Recently, I gave my son-in-law a revolver to give him a leg up on the initial cost, and I laid two guns onthe table.  One, a Ruger New Vaquero and the other a Uberti Cattleman.  After shooting both on our backdoor range, consulting with my sons, and weighing the pros and cons, he went with the Cattleman.  It was a good choice, but the Ruger would have been a good choice too.

Last summer, we were in a Bass Pro Shops and Milady decided to look at cowboy guns.  She fingered several of them, and settled on the Pietta.  This particular Piettta is imported and marked by Traditions, but it's a Pietta, through and through.  The owners manual is in both English and Italian.  She likes it becuse it fits her hand better than the Ruger or the Uberti.  For her birthday, I bought her another one, the Rawhide edition of the same gun.

Folks ask me, sometimes, "what should I buy?"  I don't have a clue.  I've got Rugers, Ubertis and Piettas in the battery, and I'm happy to let you try them, but in the final analysis, the individual shooter has to make the decision.  Your handgun is as personal a choice as your underwear.  I'll not make either of those choices for you.

Some might tell me that they shoot a Taylor's and Company, or a Cimarron, but basically, both of those companies use either Uberti or Pietta as their base gun.  They do some fine tuning, and they make guns available to the shooting public, but trust me; they're either a Uberti or a Pietta.  Both Taylor's and Cimarron provide great value and good products for the shooting public, and they support the shooting sports.  I like them both.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the company that started this craze.  Yeah, Colt Model P revolvers are still available, but they're rare as hens teeth in the gun counters around here.  When you see one, the price is through the roof.  I personally don't recommend shooting an historically significant firearm on the cowboy race line.  If you have Grandpas old Colt, take it out, maintain it, but don't race it, please.  We're tough on our firearms, and I'd hate to see a valuable old gun abused in our game.

Colt still makes new revolvers.  The last price I've seen is well north of $1500.00.  As much as I like the original, they're pretty much our of my price range.