.357 Single Action Replicas strength

[last]

For those of you with experience with SAA revolvers: do you think the italian Ubertis and Piettas 1873 are ok with full power .357 Magnum?

I mean, are they strong like any other large modern revolver or just because evrybody use weak loads these guns are not made to handle full power loads?

I'm looking for a cheap but fair SAA to shoot a lot and I'm wondering if it's better to use 38 special more...

[Bob Wright]

These .357 Magnums are certainly strong enough for factory equivalent .357 Magnum cartridges. They don't need to be babied any more than any other quality gun.

For that matter, NO .357 Magnum is above letting go when excessive pressure handloads are used. Try hard enough and you can even blow the cylinder of a Ruger!

Bob Wright

[T. O'Heir]

Any manufacturer and/or importer/distributor who marketed a firearm in a chambering said firearm was not safe to shoot regularly would be sued into next year.
There's no such thing as full power and not full power. A .38 148 grain WC target load will hurt just the same as a hot .357 125 load. If you want to use hot loads all the time, buy a Vaquero or Blackhawk.
.38's are used because there are few .32-20's or less around for the CAS game players.

[mavracer]

I wouldn't shoot a steady diet of Buffalo bore in one or my similarly loaded reloads, but they'll handle most other off the shelf ammo

If you want to use hot loads all the time, buy a Vaquero or Blackhawk

+1

[last]

ok thanks everybody, in fact I'm not planning on shooting only hot loads, just I like to keep guns for years.

Should I consider to use these guns also for home defence what load do you suggest to be used in a city flat?

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

The Colt Single Action Army was chambered for 357 Magnum way back in the 1930s, shortly after S&W developed the round. A SAA sized revolver, such as the imports, chambered for 357 Mag will have a lot of steel surrounding the chambers. They will be fine for any SAAMI spec 357 Mag ammunition. Shoot all you want, just be ready for some healthy recoil.

[Dragline45]

Should I consider to use these guns also for home defence what load do you suggest to be used in a city flat?

When I used to keep a .357 for bedside duty I kept it loaded with .38 specials for a couple reasons. Firstly, I want to minimize as much overpenetration as possible, and secondly, the .357 is an extremely loud ear piercing round especially indoors.

[James K]

"The Colt Single Action Army was chambered for 357 Magnum way back in the 1930s, shortly after S&W developed the round."

Yep. And they shot loose pretty fast with .357. All the grip strap and trigger guard screws unwound, usually with under a box of .357. There was no Loctite in those days, and there were a lot of "solutions", like shellac or nail polish on the threads. When Colt recommenced manufacture after WWII, they used Nylon inserts and plastic lock washers in an attempt (not always successful) to keep the guns together.

Jim

[Jim Watson]

My .44s loosen screws with CAS loads, too.
I bet they did with black powder, too.
My neighbor the gunsmith put raw linseed oil on screws, pre-Loctite.

[Driftwood Johnson]

My .44s loosen screws with CAS loads, too.
I bet they did with black powder, too.

I shoot nothing but Black Powder through my 2nd Gen Colts. I have to remember to tighten the screws every once in a while. Not a big deal.



P.S. The little plastic washers were missing on the gun at the bottom of the photo when I bought it, they were still in the gun at the top. They did not help much.

[Drm50]

I have Ruger SB, 1964 vintage. The only gun I have that I have to shoot hot
loads in. 240gr. JHP/ 22 1/2 gr. 2400. This load causes grip frame screws to
loosen. Have to keep checking them
I have had a lot of experience with import SAs in mags. Other than screws, the
biggest problem I ran into was the cylinder axel "peening" from the rear. With extended use of heavy loads this will shorten the axel until it binds the cylinder.
When this occurs you have to take gun apart and drill the axel out or if lucky
drive it out the rear. Make new axel out of drill rod and solve problem. I got
smart enough to replace axel before this happened.

[last]

precious info guys! apparently the design itself is prone to stress the screws, no big deal though.

I think 38s are better for indoor, I used to carry a Smith 60 in 38 and the sound is manageable indoor, with the longer barrel of a SAA it can only be better.

I'm wondering why the new vaquero is told to be stronger, shouldn't it be the same size of a regular SAA?

[steelbird]

I have loosened screws shooting BP loads out of my 45 Uberti Chisolm ( a version of the Cattleman - steel in place of brass ). I look for that now......

[Jim Watson]

The New Vaquero may be smaller than the .44 Magnum frame Vaquero but it is still slightly larger than a Colt. It's lockwork is still the beefed up Ruger coil spring system.
People talk about it like it was made out of wrought iron in 1874 and should be babied, but its only real limitation is to avoid the gross overloads in .45 Colt that the Vaquero and Blackhawk can stand.

[WIL TERRY]

My Cimarron 3 3/4" 357 and my Uberti 5 1/2" 357 SA sixguns have well OVER 10M rounds through them with nary a problem.
The Uberti was a presentation gun from Aldo Uberti himself [ this almost caused a meltdown in the Italion national gun registry computer...long story ..] and I've put over 7M rounds through it over the years just for the sheer joy of shooting such a fine accurate sixgun; ITSA DOOZY !!
It is more accurate and is faster than my Ruger 4 5/8" NM 357.
It is not more accurate than my old warn ugly Ruger 4 5/8" OM 3-screw 357.
And so it goes...

[Model12Win]

Ten MILLION rounds?? Wow... that's incredible!

[Bob Wright]

Model12Win said:

Ten MILLION rounds?? Wow... that's incredible!

M is 1,000. Roman numerals. 10M is short way to write the figure 10,000. Basic grammar school, C=100, L=50, X=10, etc. This pre-metrics.

Bob Wright

[44 AMP]

It's incredible to me that our print media regularly uses a capital M to mean million. And no one seems to think its wrong!

ALL revolvers will loosen screws, as will semi autos and everything else, if the vibrations are just right. IT seems to be most noticeable in high intensity and/or large bores, but it can happen to anything. That's why we have screwdrivers.

The SAA clones have enough strength for any SAAMI spec load. That's not an issue. Sleep well, over that.

What CAN be an issue is point of aim vs point of impact. Often a gun will shoot most loads to the same general point of impact, but sometimes, a gun does not. I shot an extreme case of this back in the 90s. I forget the brand, but it was an SAA clone from Italy. Beautiful gun, shot very accurately to point of aim at about 25yds, with 158gr .38 Specials. You couldn't hardly miss.

However, EVERY .357 load we put in it shot low, left, some as much as a FOOT! This isn't a common thing, a few inches is more usual, but it can happen. With a fixed sight gun, like the SAA, you only have two options.

Either permanently modify the sights for the load you want to use, or only use the load(s?) that shoot to the sights as they are.

[last]

didn't know about aim issues.
I can't afford two guns, I'd like to use a revolver to do anything... the SAA clones are the cheapest option I think, my second choice being a GP100 but man, no passion in these modern revolvers...

[Hunter Customs]

SAAMI list the 357 mag at 35,000 PSI, CIP (which is the European version similar to SAAMI) list the 357 mag at 44,000 PSI, so I would believe the Italian SA clones will easily handle any factory 357 mag loads.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter

[last]

that's interesting, so in theory a a standard 357 may be too much for a SAAMI spec gun...

[Driftwood Johnson]

that's interesting, so in theory a a standard 357 may be too much for a SAAMI spec gun...

Not at all. All Italian guns are proofed in government proof houses using proof loads that develop about 1 1/2 times the maximum pressure. Any 357 Magnum revolver made in Italy or the USA is perfectly fine with SAAMI spec 357 Magnum ammunition.

[Hunter Customs]

that's interesting, so in theory a a standard 357 may be too much for a SAAMI spec gun...

I would not want to feed some of the smaller American made 357 mag revolvers a steady diet of CIP standard loads(44,000 PSI), as a matter of fact a steady diet of SAAMI loads (35,000 PSI) may be harmful to them.

CIP proof loads are 30% stronger then their standard listed loads.
As I said earlier, CIP requires all Italian revolvers to be proof tested before they can be sold, so I don't believe the Italian SA clones will have any trouble handling SAAMI spec 357 mag ammo.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter

[deerslayer303]

Just to solve it all. Buy a SAA clone chambered in what the pistol was designed around. 44-40, 45 Colt, etc. I promise anything that BIG OLE heavy slow moving slug hits WILL DIE, cans, milk jugs, paper, 5 gallon buckets, or anything living or breathing for that matter . I understand the allure of the .357 mag chambered SAA though, being you can shoot the cheaper 38 specials.