Ya Wanna Know What Frustration Is?

[Chief351]

When the Mrs. agrees that I can spend my Covid-19 stimulus money on a toy, and here I've been hankering for a single action revolver is .357/.38 for several years now (not a Ruger 2-screw, and not a transfer bar gun, but a close-to-Colt 1873 as possible action), and NOBODY HAS 'EM IN STOCK! OK, I can see all of the Millennials that decide to buy a home defense gun buying up all of the .357/.38 double action revolvers.......but an 1873 Colt replica? Helluva situation!

[BISHOP]

https://www.gunbroker.com/All/search?Keywords=Uberti

What size barrel? 5.5"
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/883157708


BISHOP

[Wayne]

Buds in lexington had several last weekend.

[Chief351]

Buds in lexington had several last weekend.

Thanks, but I won't do business with Bud's any longer. I got burned by them once, when I ordered a pistol from them over the phone, made sure it was in stock because it was a popular gun that was out of stock most everywhere else, then never got it. I found out later that Bud's practice is that, when a popular item goes low in stock they starting selling to the highest bidder, and the regular customer can go to you-know-where.

Anyway, I found it in stock at a place called "Sportsman's Warehouse Superstore" over in Ohio. It was at the same price as everywhere else (except a direct order from EMF themselves, where it was $50 more), and my usual FFL was already on file with them. They're saying that their shipping on firearms is delayed now, due to the holidays and the pandemic, but I've got a confirmation from them so I can just sit tight.

Found a bunch of CCI 500 small pistol primers, and I've got a metric boatload of .38 Special and .357 Magnum brass, plus a supply of scrap lead, a couple cans of Unique powder, and a few bullet molds, so me and my old tong tool can get reacquainted.

[Wayne]

You could have it sent to the Sportsman's warehouse off Buttermilk. I think they do that for free.

[Chief351]

Oh, heck. I forgot about them. They took over the Field and Stream store, didn't they?

OK, I just checked, and I think they're a different outfit from Sportsman's Outdoor Superstore. Totally different web page and everything. (My bad! In my above post I mis-named the place I bought from. I called it Sportsman's Warehouse Superstore, but it was actually Sportsman's Outdoor Superstore. Put it down to a senior moment, I guess.)

Anyway, I checked the Sportsman's Warehouse, and they don't even appear to carry the Great Western II line.

Of course, Great Western is now just a Pietta imported revolver - as a matter of fact. EMF is actually owned by Pietta, and has been for several years. From what I've read, Pietta is setting up EMF to be their importer, distributor, and customer service provider. The same basic revolver is sold under the Pietta name, as the Great Western II, and as the Heritage Big Bore, and possibly one other that escapes my mind now (there's that senior moment stuff kicking in again), but I spent some time looking at info on the web, and it appears that the Great Western II has the minimum of roll marks, and has the original style of 4-click action as the Colt 1873, and no transfer bar so it demands that you be a big boy to be safe.

[Chief351]

I did have a little scare this morning though. Sportsman's Outdoor Superstore sent me an order confirmation and order number yesterday, and a link to their e-commerce page so that I can check on my order. Not expecting to see any progress yet, I logged in to my order and looked at the product page, but saw that it was no flagged as out of stock, not available, etc. I thought "Uh Oh, I bet they oversold these and I'm not going to get mine"! So I called their customer service line, and got to talk to a very nice young lady, told her my concern, and she checked my order. It went like this:
- OK, let's see.....None available for allocation.
- One in stock in the warehouse but it's allocated to an order.
- Good news, it's allocated to your order, sir, so it looks like you got the last one! The way things are going it should ship next week!

So once in a while even a blind pig finds an acorn.

[Wayne]

Yep, they took over for field and stream almost a year ago. They are out of primers, but they still have powder and bullets.
They had a nice selection of black rifles but inventory is way down for them. If you reload 50BMG, they did have primers for that.
they even had 9mm last week at $20 a box. That's half of what everybody else wants.

[Chief351]

Actually, I'm pretty well set up. I was straightening up some shelves down in the man cave, where my married son has a bunch of old obsolete computer stuff stashed, and I found honest-to-God cartons of CCI primers - small and large pistol and small and large rifle - that he put up back when he was single and still living at home, and used to go to the range quite frequently. He says I can use what I want. He's also got a bunch of 9mm FMJ bullets, as well as some .30 cal rifle bullets. I have some cast and lubed .45 ACP bullets, as well as some cast .38 Special bullets, and I have a bunch of .38 Special and .357 Magnum brass all cleaned, de-primed, and sized. Also have some scrap lead (from plumbing roof vents), and an electric crucible, and .38 bullet molds. And don't forget some cans of Alliant Unique. I'm all set up

I have more .357 Magnum revolvers than just about any other calibers, but I prefer shooting .38 Specials in them anyway. Beats the guns and my arthritic wrists up less. So I think I have my work cut out for me.

I'm really looking forward to taking this Great Western II to the range. There's nothing more relaxing than shooting a single action revolver. The process of putting it on half-cock, ratcheting through the chambers and cycling the ejector rod one by one, then doing the old load one, skip one, load four routine just sets my mind at ease. I also have an old Ideal Tong Tool with dies for .38 Special, and I modified a Lee powder dipper to be adjustable by means of a brass screw, so I see some pleasant times at the range coming up.

[Chief351]

Great Western II shipped today! About a week earlier than the Customer Service girl promised. Great job to Sportsman's Warehouse Superstore!

[Chief351]

Picked up the Great Western II this afternoon. Initial impressions is that it looks really good. Bluing on the cylinder, back strap, and trigger guard is great, and the color case hardening on the frame is beautiful. The wood one-piece stocks look great as well. Fit and finish is good, and the detailing such as the beveling at the front of the trigger guard is way better than that on my Cimarron/Uberti. Also the action is very light and crisp - the Uberti is like driving a truck in comparison. As to downsides, I really don't like the "Swissafe" 2-position base pin, which, when inserted in to it's second notch, blocks the hammer. (The Uberti had the same kind of thing, and I disabled it by dremelling-off the "extra length" at the rear end.) The base pin latch is really stiff and hard to work, also. The base pin is also kind of weird in that, instead of the latch working in a groove that extends all of the way around the base pin, it has just a pair of notches. You have to be careful to get the pin oriented properly for the latch to catch. One final thing is that the trigger appears to be a MIM part, and there are visible sprue marks on both sides.

I looked up the date code stamp, and my revolver was made in 2018.

I'll try to post pics tomorrow.