Low Key and Loco Smith, The two 1858 Pietta's I have run as smooth as a babys butt. I have done an action job on them and alot of polishing of the works but the Ubertis need it to. A friend of mine tried to one-up me by buying the Ubertis and we had to do the same work to his.The only difference I could see is that the workmanship on the Uberti's is a little cleaner,
As for the 58 being the same as the 38 special I have heard the same thing but that would depend on what and how your loading it .As for penitration
mine will go through a 2x8 and stick another 6" in the ground on the other side when I load it with 35g of Goex fffg, a wad and a little grease over the ball.You can load this gun with 40g of fffg but I stop at 38g for in the woods and believe me it will drop a cow stone dead if you hit him right, not that I want to try it,
The killing power of the ball doesn't work like the modern loads. The ball will tear a jagged channel as it tumbles and turns and a modern load get's most of it's killing power from shock.
Many cowboys and lawmen stuck with the Remington C & B even after the cartridge came out because of it's accuracy and you have to figure that most of them counted on a one stop shot and not so much of a fire fight.
Mike