Well...I had a little time on Saturday to sneak off to the range with the new member of my "family" for a little bonding time!
Although this gun is manufactured by Uberti, the fit and finish was definately a notch above the standard Uberti offerings. Perhaps the new Beretta nameplate ensures a bit more on the QC side. I have been eyeing some of the Cattleman SA six guns for a little while before stumbling unto the Stampedes.
Around in my neck of the woods, the Stampedes were in the same ballpark as the nicer Ruger's. I am a Ruger fan and know the strength of their frames and barrels owning GP-100's and SP101's. Still though, the Beretta felt a little better in the hand.
I began shooting Winchester .38 special cowboy loads in 130 gr, smokeless flavors and found immediately that this little revolver shoots well to point of aim, which made me very happy. I don't shoot nearly as often as I used to
but found if I did my part, I could obtain 2-1/2" groups consistently firing at a distance of 25 yards with a classic two handed grip.
Shooting single handed opened the groups up but wasn't at all extreme. This was a fun and very comfortable revolver to shoot.
I of course, had to "spice things up" some and began feeding some of the larger .357 magnum loads in 110gr, 125 gr., and 158 gr. offerings and came to a couple of distict conclusions that I am happy to share!
First off, walnut grip panels that indeed look real swell with that nice patina bluing doesn't do a whole heck of a lot to keep your rear molars in place and shock reverberation travels to a minimum when shooting hotter loads out of that small framed 4" barrel offering.
The 110 gr. loads was more manageable and accurate in all of the .357 offerings.
This revolver was purchased mainly as a fun plinker that I could shoot both 38 and .357 loads with but also use in SASS in the future. There were no hang-ups or ejector problems either. The larger loads definately rocked the frame though. The cylinder lock-up remains very tight and rotates to each chamber with an audible click and feel of a well tuned watch.
I enjoyed the single action very much and actually found myself concentrating a bit more between the ejecting and loading process. I will probably stick with .38 offerings or light .357 's for my set-up but was overall very pleased at this revolver's performance. I would reccmmend a longer barrel to those that may want to shoot hotter .357 magnum loads consistently.