Howdy Again
As the owner of two 1st Gen Colts and two 2nd Gen Colts, I of course have great fondness for real Colts. I have also owned a couple of Uberti Cattlemen in the past, still have one, so I feel I am qualified to comment on them too.
But besides that, I do not fall into the 'nothing is as good as a Colt' camp.
Certain legal issues regarding the state where I reside prevented me from buying a USFA revolver while they were still in business, other wise I would have grabbed one in a heartbeat.
I have never been inside a USFA, I do know the insides of a Colt and an Uberti by heart, and I could name several reasons why I think a Colt is better than an Uberti. Everything I ever heard about USFA was they were at least as good, if not better, than a Colt. Sadly, I doubt I will ever own one so I will not be able to report first hand.
As some of you may know, I am an active CAS shooter and have a chance to talk to a lot of shooters. I also attend auctions fairly often, and I can attest there is plenty of demand for Colts. I see them at auctions all the time, 1st Gens, 2nd Gens, and 3rd Gens. The bidding for them is always brisk, and they always go for a lot of money. Granted, the bidders may not be the same folks who frequent this board, but there is plenty of demand for Colts.
Until quite recently, Colt was only producing the SAA in their Custom Shop. As I understand it, there was a supervisor and maybe two employees building all the Single Action Army revolvers. That's it. The output was very low with so few people turning them out, so the backlog was high. Maybe three years. Very recently, Colt laid off the supervisor of the Custom Shop, so now there will probably be fewer produced every month.
For those of you who are complaining about $1600 for the new USA made single action revolver, good luck. I am betting he will be able to sell everything he produces at that price. If you want a real Colt, get in line, they are backed up through the wazoo. Or start beating the bushes and attending auctions.
For the gent who said he would like to see them priced at $1000 - good luck. I'm sure the new guy is in business to make money, just like old Sam Colt was. I would be willing to bet that this new venture will produce some top notch pistols. And they will be priced so the company can make a fair, not exorbitant, profit.
P.S. let's be sure to separate quality from collector's value. They are not the same. What a collector is willing to pay for something sometimes has nothing at all to do with the quality of the piece. Other things such as rarity and provenance enter into collector's value.