New Cimarron Questions

C

Crazy88Fingers

New member
There's been some buzz about Cimarron here lately, and I decided to pick one up. Pre-war Model P, 5.5" barrel, .45 Colt.

I took it out to the range the other day, put about fifty rounds through it, and have a couple of questions:

1) Is it normal for the edges on the ejector rod housing to be razor sharp? I've managed to slice my finger open on more than one occasion. This can't be right.

2) After only 50 rounds, all the bluing on the front face of the cylinder seems to be gone. I wouldn't expect that from a $500 gun. Is this normal for a Cimarron/Uberti?

So far this seems to be a gun that isn't holding up very long, and I'm afraid to unload it without a band-aid handy. :(
 
Assume you got the gun directly from Fredericksburg. I own several Cimarrons and love 'em all. I prefer them to Taylor's (both being made by Uberti), but that probably is because the Cimarron shop in Texas will get custom work done for me before shipping. The Taylor Smoke Wagon looks great, too. Evil Roy's guns are Cimarrons and I have three of his - all are perfect. The only issue I ever had with a Cimarron was the loading-gate screw issue on an open-top, but that is an easy fix. As for the complaint in a different post about the Cimarron 1897 shotgun, I think it is unfortunate Cimarron felt obligated to offer the gun. I will bet is is a China-made Norinco or EMF, whereas Cimarron handguns are made by Uberti and selected and spruced up by Cimarron.

As for the ejector-rod housing question, are you shooting full-power loads most of the time? With light loads, the fired cases should just fall out of the cylinder with no need to use the ejector rod. Granted, I asked for mine to be slicked up, which included polishing the chambers, and Evil Roys come that way, but the .45 cases are heavy enough that if you haven't run heavy loads through the gun they should not have jammed themselves in the cylinder and required the use of the rod.

With regard to the bluing question, beats me. Sounds like you are saying that you are down to bare metal, not just powder coating the cylinder face? Is your bluing the traditional dark type, or that new lighter one which I guess they call "charcoal blue." I asked a shooter who has a pair of those and he told me the finish is supposed to turn into an old-fashioned patina with wear, but I haven't seen the results of that nor do I know how long it should take.

Anyway, have you written to Cimarron about these questions? I would. You can ship them the cylinder and the ejector rod housing without any FFL involvement.
 
If it's the bright (colorful) charcoal blue (a minority of Cimarrons/Ubertis) like this:
GMP512C00.jpg

it's my understanding that the finish is mostly for looks and will not hold up as well as the "regular" blueing. If not, no it shouldn't rub off that readily...and even if so, I'd think that's darned premature. Give them a call.
 
The edges of the slotted area of the ejector rod housing of most single actions are sharp and will slice your finger tips if you ride your finger along that surface when ejecting.

As to the face of the cylinder, sounds as if you have a build up of lead and lubricant, which should wipe off fairly easily. Most revovlers get this build up on the cylinder face when using cast bullet loads. Nothing to worry about.

Bob Wright
 
Spent some time with Hoppes and a brush, turns out it was lead build up on the front face. Just occurred to me I've never fired lead bullets from my blued revolvers before. Woops. :o There are still some small spots on the side, near the front edge, where the bluing is gone, but I can live with that.

And I suppose I'll just have to practice not cutting myself on this darn thing. Thank you all for the input.
 
Redhawk5.5+P+ said:
"gak That is true blue. It reminds me of a header pipe on an air cooled motorcycle engine. That bluing is hard to remove."

All the folks I've known with that colorful "fire or charcoal" blue have significantly more wear after approximately the same use versus the normal (grey-black) "blue." Nature of the beast.
 
i have bought two cimarrons online & both needed action jobs. badly. really sticky hammer pulls. i thought all cimarons were supposed to be better in fit than average made ubertis. the factory produces them at an very fast rate, running heir machines high volume, which ends up producing sharp edges on the parts. that's likely what happened wit hyour ejector rod, and why action jobs involve de-burring internal parts. i hear that cimaron is not doing business with pietta, which come with smoother actions out of the box. i think that, from what i have heard, some cimarons come smooth & slick, while others come all rough around the edges & need de-burring. just a matter of luck i guess. better to buy a cimarron in a retail shop so you can handle & inspect it first.
 
2) After only 50 rounds, all the bluing on the front face of the cylinder seems to be gone. I wouldn't expect that from a $500 gun. Is this normal for a Cimarron/Uberti?
Click to expand...

The color you are seeing could be lead deposits. The color of the cylinder face is going to be nasty, one way or the other.
 
"I wouldn't expect that from a $500 gun."

Realistically, $500 doesn't go all that far theses days. A genuine Colt will cost at least 3x that much.

In my experience many new guns have sharp edges in various places. Result of quick and dirty manufacturing.
 
Uberti takes shortcuts in some areas.
There's a reason for their low pricing.

You can remove the ejector housing and use a small specialty honing stone to dull those edges.
Look on Amazon or the Brownells website & order one that's thin enough & fine enough. Should not be expensive.

That'll leave white steel showing, you can fix that with cold bluing if it bothers you.

Cimarron contracts out for special treatment on SOME models, but most are sold just as they come from Uberti.

The bluing is not gone from the outside front areas between cylinder flutes, if that's what you're referring to ASIDE FROM THE CYLINDER FACE ISSUE you already corrected.
What you see there is also burned carbon/lead deposits.

The issues regarding what you thought was bluing loss are common to lead bullet use.

And re expectations from a $500 gun- they should not be, as mentioned above, too high. :)
Denis
 
If it were a 44 special, I would take it off your hands in a minute...I buy everyone that I run across.

I shoot the crap out of mine and have never had a problem with them.
 
A few minutes with a flat stone or a file should break that sharp edge and let the Band-Aids ® stay in the first aid kit. Most makers tumble sharp parts to round edges and remove burrs, but some either skip that step or don't do it for long enough.

Jim
 
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