Hi Kenneth,
I have recently been looking at SAA clones. The EMF Hartford Models are made by ASM. I compared a Hartford Premier and a regular Hartford Model. The case-hardening on the Premier was much more attractive than the regular Hartford Model. However the lockup and cylinder fit on the 2 Premiers that I looked at didn't particularly impress me. I bought the regular Hartford Model, as the lockup was much tighter. I expect to use this pistol quite a bit, so the difference in the finishes wan't my prime concern. In general, I think the Uberti's tend to be better fitted than the ASM's. Cimmaron in particular does a very nice job of fitting and finishing their Uberti's. I couldn't find a Cimmaron or Uberti in .45 Colt, so I bought the best fitted ASM I could find.
The other SAA I got was a US Firearms .45 Colt. It was much more expensive than the ASM's or Uberti's, but I am VERY impressed by this pistol. The cylinder lockup has no discernible movement or endshake at all. The case-hardening is exquisite, and the stocks are a perfect fit. I believe the US Firearms are the closest thing to an earlier generation Colt built today. I am very pleased with mine, and will buy another from this company.
Hope this helps.
Doug Penrose
P.S. I see you are right up the road in Flag. Email me at dpenrose@simatics.com and we can make arrangements if you want to shoot and compare my Hartford Model and my US Firearms SAA. I have some friends in Flag and get up there fairly often.
[This message has been edited by Doug in PHX (edited March 15, 2000).]