5,000 rounds

In May 2015, I bought a Uberti Hombre, a basic single action revolver for use in Cowboy Fast Draw.  The Hombre is the bottom of the line.  Matte black finish, brass grip frame, just a basic shooting gun.  I talked about buying it in this post.

Top: New Vaquero  Bottom: Uberti Hombre

I promised a review when I wrote the post, and I guess that I failed to do that.  So here's the review.  I changed the bolt/trigger spring about six months ago.  That's it.  Other than that, I've shot it.  A lot.  We shoot wax bullet loads, but the cycling is the same as for standard loads.  In the past year, I've bought about 12,000 wax bullets, and I figure that fully 5,000 of those have gone down the Hombre barrel.  It has become my go-to race gun.  Other than that bolt spring I haven't done anything to it.  It's bone-stock.

I like the Hombre so much that this past August, I bought another Uberti.  I have been shooting the Hombre for about 15 months, and we were planning a trip to a match in Kentucky.  I wanted a back-up to the Hombre, and I started looking around.  I setttled on a Uberti Cattleman Brass.  It is much like the Hombre, with a better finish.  Blued barrel and cylinder, case-hardened frame, and that brass grip frame that I like so much.

1873 Cattleman Brass

When the new revolver came in, I basically gave it a function check, made sure that the screws were tight, and dropped it in the bag.  It went with us to Kentucky and stayed in the bottom of the gun bag while I shot the Hombre.

Last weekend, we were at the club and a new member was asking about guns and action jobs, so we started dragging out the spares.  I handed him the Hombre and the Cattleman, and told him to try them.

He cocked both revolvers and looked at me quizzically.  "This one is smooth, the other is a little rough.  What did you do to the smooth one?"

"5,000 rounds," I answered. "If you put 5,000 rounds through a gun, it will smooth up, or break, or both."

My review of the Uberti Hombre is that I've put over 5,000 rounds through it, in competition and practice.  I've replaced exactly one bolt/trigger spring. I've kept it cleaned and oiled and except for that one spring, it's bone-stock, just like it came out of the box.  After 5,000 rounds, it's smooth as glass.

The Cattleman Brass is still in the bag.  I've shot it a couple of times, but it hasn't replaced the Hombre.  I'll keep it clean and oiled and it will be in the bag when I need it.