During at least the late 90's and into the new century Pietta had a run of poor quality control and 'soft' internal parts (the parts problem started some time in the 80's, I think). They have corrected both and the current Pietta product is nearly on a par with Uberti.
Used Piettas are certainly a risk from the standpoint of being from that poor quality era. Replacing the internal action parts was pretty common on those guns (other Italian makers, including Uberti to some extend had similar problems). RJM's description of the timing problem and the wear on the hand really sound like many other anecdotes about Piettas from that earlier time.
My advice to him would be to first replace all the internal action parts with new ones from VTI Gun Parts or Dixie Gun Works. I would change out the hand/spring assembly, bolt, trigger and trigger/bolt spring. I would polish the wear surfaces and edges of the new parts with a stone before installing them (some filing may also be necessary). I would also polish the hammer face and the bearing area on the bolt cam on the bottom of the hammer. Also, check the full and half cock notches on the hammer for burrs and polish as necessary. Go very carefully with polishing any part of the hammer; it should be at least surface hardened but some of the poorer quality Piettas had hammers with soft surfaces, and it would not take much to remove too much material on one of those soft hammers.
Yes, gunsmithing these guns should not be necessary, but used guns from Pietta's 'dark ages' need it, and a little elbow grease is not a big investment to make in achieving an excellent weapon that should give years of service.
Last edited by mykeal; February 8, 2008 at 11:40 AM.
Reason: Terrible grammar...
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