New Kid on the Clone Block....

 

by Paco Kelly

photography by Paco Kelly

September 25th, 2005

 

 

 

Beretta, by way of its famed subsidiary, A. Uberti, has finally started delivering to stores the single action revolver it has been promising for some time.

They call it the STAMPEDE ...and it is a very nice firearm. The sample I have is a 4 and 3/4 inch barreled model in, what else, 45 Colt.

The grips came with the hard black composite types with a buffalo on the sides. I immediately swapped them out for a pair of grips I made out of a piece of unknown type of modern ivory like plastic that I had on hand...  I like sixguns with white ivory like grips.

The Stampede has an excellent transfer bar system. The hammer reminds me of the Ruger Flat Top hammers of the 1960s. Clean, straight and attractive.  The transfer bar itself is in the frame channel the hammer goes into, and rises when the hammer is cocked and is still unobtrusive. Not like a number of clones now on the market.  I like it better than the Taurus Gaucho, whose hammer has an ugly nose on it.

The cylinder mouths are with in 1/5000ths of each other at .4535. Uberti obviously used the old Colt specs for the 454 Colt 45 size bullets.  Since the barrel is .452+ the accuracy is good.

The frame and loading gate feature imitation case coloring, as most do today. But it is very attractive with the very deep blue/black of the rest of the gun, it is a very handsome package. 

The Stampede has the wide trigger like the Ruger single actions and that helps the accuracy, with the ability to ‘feel’ the breaking of the sear much better. 

I have one of the older spring based trigger weight testers from RCBS, and it tells me the trigger breaks at a very clean four and a quarter pounds. Because it is so clean a break it feels much less. The hammer style is the same as the older Colts as far as the spur (thumb extension) goes.  This is another area where some of the clones fall short... I’ve seen some strange changes, to make the clones more ‘Western’! The short Colt like hammer makes the gun easier to cock in a fast and positive manner. Some of these other wing-ding hammers on clones with long spurs, have much too long a draw to cock, to make up for the length of the spur. And too long a hammer drop for good accuracy.

The Stampede has a solid steel frame, including the grip frame. And that’s very welcome with me because I don’t like aluminum anywhere on my guns...but it is a fact of life with many, like some models of the Ruger S/As. And this gun loads and unloads just like the old Colts. Pull the hammer back two clicks and the cylinder can be turned. It has the overall feel of the 1873 Colt single action. The size of it and my 1873 model Colt are almost exact in every measurement.  Another reason I think the Uberti designers used and older Colt to design the Stampede.

At the range, which in this case consists of the open high chaparral around the area of my home,  Winchester’s standard soft lead 255 grain load went into 2 inches at 25+ yards.  This has always been less than an accurate load. And at 702 fps I’m not sure what it is good for...with me.  My load in this gun (and it is my load, so work up to it, if you are going to copy it, and only in modern, strong, safe guns) consists of 20 grains of 2400 under the 255 grain Keith cast bullet put out by RCBS molds (45-250K) and just near 1100 fps, into 1 and a quarter inches at 25+ yards.

After nearly 100 rounds of my load and 75 rounds of the Winchester stuff, I can report only that the accuracy potential is very good. I didn’t have time to test a number of other brands of 45 Colt ammo... And I don’t go with gun writers that test guns with 50 to 100 rounds and then pronounce them accurate...but the potential is surely there.  I think with a little reloading work it might be the 45 I take with me  to Africa in March 2006. See www.leverguns.com for information on the African trip if you want to come with me. I have a Rossi ‘92 short rifle in 45 Colt that is also going, so I will be working on a cross over load for both guns.

This little Colt Clone by Beretta / A. Uberti for me is a keeper.

Paco Kelly

NOTE: All load data posted on this web site are for educational purposes only. Neither the author nor GunBlast.com assume any responsibility for the use or misuse of this data. The data indicated were arrived at using specialized equipment under conditions not necessarily comparable to those encountered by the potential user of this data.  Always use data from respected loading manuals and begin working up loads at least 10% below the loads indicated in the source manual.

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Beretta's "Stampede" .45 sixgun, made by A. Uberti.