Cimarron/Uberti Thunderer - No Colt:

Now I'm not about to make any profound personal statements about historic Colt Revolvers - as there are more Colt experts around than there are All Blacks Rugby fans ready to seize by the throat any misguided 'non-fanatic' and tear him limb from limb.

Cimarron (Uberti) Thunderer S.A.(- The Gun That Never Was.)

However I do dare to repeat this quote from John Ford via the Cimarron website : "If this wasn't the way the old west six-guns were, it's the way they should have been."

'Texas Jack' Harvey founder of Cimarron designed the trade marked Thunderer in 1990 as a blending of the Colt SAA and Colts (dare I say it?) next to useless M1877 Double-Action Revolver that was only made for a year due to its unreliability.. The M1877 was described in Gun Digest of 2001(by J B Wood) as "The worst double action trigger mechanism ever made."

Nickel Colt M1877

Colt M1877 - Pretty but Useless (Well - pretty useless eh)

Colt "Double Action Army".(M1878)

Now - at risk of  (-or at pains to) further upset the "Colt Rules The World" Club - I would like to add that I read that Colts not once used the names "Thunderer" or "Lightning" for their 1877 guns in any of that period factory documentation and indeed - according to Wikipedia - these names and indeed "Peacemaker" for the S.A.A. apparently all originated from the very same source - Benjamin Ketteridge - who was the largest US distributor of that time.

Colt SAA "Peacemaker?" M1873

Ketteridge also coined the name 'Omnipotent' for that sad M1877s much better replacement - the more robust & reliable M1878 Double Action Revolver that was to remain in production up till 1907.

- So, what I am saying is that the current Cimarron / Uberti Thunderer is an inspired modern blending of the styling & appearance of the 1877 D.A Colt with the reliable historic SAA action.

But just why am I talking about this particular toy? - Well I'll have to admit that lately I've been thinking about spending too many dollars on a Ruger version of a SAA (a New Vaquero maybe) - but have now been offered (for a third of the price) a used .357" Magnum Uberti Thunderer with the 'birds-head" grips - one that I truly have been fancying for a while.. But now you see it .. now you don't and it's gone somewhere else!

Uberti Thunderer in .357"Magnum - NZ Target Length Barrel.

Well - I've already got my stainless Ruger 357 six inch barrel D.A revolver - plus reloading dies with plenty of brass - so I was all set to feed one and discover just how comfortable those 'Birdshead' grips are to shoot.

Marty K.

After researching & writing 1,036 blogs I've got something NEW to try .. I've signed-up to Patreon. - In over five years I've not made one cent from this .. NOW you can send me a wee support $ - starting from $1. to get all this stuff from New Zealand - over a year that's nearly the price of one Shooting magazine. - Am I worth it?

https://www.patreon.com/posts/24075745