Pietta Remington vs. Uberti Colt: Who Will Win?

 

My Pietta Remington New Model Army with Johnston & Dow cartridges.

My Colt New Model Army with bullets cast from an original Colt mold!

Today was really just going to be a plinking day, and I don't usually write blog posts about plinking days, but the results were interesting and the day was just so enjoyable I thought I'd share.

I had originally had my Remington NMA modified to accept paper cartridges, but I was using Kerr bullets at the time.  I have since acquired a Johnston and Dow mold from Eras Gone Bullet Molds and I really love them because the heels make for very nice paper cartridges, so I sent my revolver off to Gary Barnes again to have it opened up a bit more to accept the taller J&D bullets.  He opened the loading port just slightly and cut out the sides of the rammer slightly and now they fit perfectly and are easy to load.

This made me think it was time for a shoot-off between my beloved Pietta Remington NMA and my less-loved Uberti Colt NMA using exactly the same ammunition.  I can't deny that I really enjoy the balance of the Colt, and since Mr. Barnes completely reworked it it shoots somewhat better, but it's still only an Uberti, so it isn't very reliable.

I shot nearly 100 rounds today, and won't bore my readers (if any) with all the results (which, by the way, support the results I show here), but I also shot off a few cylinders of Hazard compressed-powder cartridges from my Remington, and a few cylinders of paper cartridges using bullets cast from an original Colt bullet mold I got from my friend Keith Katschke, so I thought I'd post those as well.

Hazard compressed-power cartridges with 25 grain of Swiss 3F.

Cartridges made with bullets from an original Colt mold made into paper cartridges using the Colt one-piece pattern and packed in Colt split-style packages with 22 grain of Swiss 3F.

All shooting was done at 15 yards using a full sight with a 6:00 hold without aiming off.  For reference, the black disks are 3 inches in diameter.  The cartridges used in Tables of Fire 1 and 2 were identical: 25 grains of Swiss 3F with a Johnston and Dow bullet.  The loads for the other two tables of fire are as shown above.

Table of Fire 1: Remington.

Table of Fire One: Remington
Position: Fired from rest.
String; 17.5 in.
Rounds: 12
String Test: 1.46 in./rd.

Table of Fire 2: Colt.

Table of Fire Two: Colt
Position: Fired from rest.
String: 25.5 in.
Rounds: 11 (I clumsily broke one before loading it)
String Test: 2.32 in./rd.

Table of Fire 4: Colt NMA with Colt cartridges.

Table of Fire Four: Colt with Colt cartridges
Position: Offhand
String: 23.75 in.
Rounds: 12
String Test: 1.98 in. rd.

Table of Fire 5: Remington with Hazard cartridges.

Table of Fire Five: Remington with Hazard cartridges
Position: Offhand
String: 22.25 in.
Rounds: 12
String Test: 1.85 in./rd.

Bottom line: Even ignoring the typical Uberti problems I have with this Colt, it is not as accurate as my Remington--1.5 inches/round versus 2.3 inches/round when fired from a rest to take the shooter out of the equation as much as possible, and the rest of my shooting today reinforced that conclusion.

That being said, the String Test with the Colt using the original Colt bullets was the best score I got with the Colt all day, despite being fired offhand--nearly as good as my Remington offhand results.  That is extremely interesting and worthy of deeper study.

Note for the Remington haters:  I fired around 48 rounds through the Remington today without having to clean the base pin and never experienced cylinder lock.  Personally, I find that criticism of Remingtons to be ridiculous since it is purely modern concern having nothing to do with the revolver's intended use, but regardless, it was absolutely not an issue.