Does anyone have one of the 1860 Army Model from Cabelas? I believe that they are a Pietta and are on sale right now. If you have one or have experience with one from Cabelas, could you report as to whether you were satisfied with it or not? If you've had any problems with it?
I am happy with mine. However, there are some things that I improved on mine, but still I was satisfied with it on the whole as received from Cabella's.
The fit and finish are very nice, as is the overall quality. Here are the improvements I felt I needed to make once I got mine:
Sharp edges and corners- I beveled the sharp corners and edges of the stock where it meets the frame, and buffed the sharp edges of the trigger guard loop. I still need to hit the sharp edges at the rear of the recoil shield along the hammer slot.
Bolt roughness- I polished the ramp on the bolt cam (on the hammer), and the corresponding surface on the bolt, since I could feel quite a bit of roughness when I lowered the hammer.
Bolt timing- The bolt was dropping too late, peening the leading edge of the bolt slot when it dropped. I reshaped the bolt tine to get the bolt to drop in the lead. Now the three clicks are evenly spaced- half cock/bolt drop/bolt and sear engagement.
Loading lever latch- It was a bit hard to latch at first, so I polished the mating ramp surfaces so I could push the loading lever up to latch, as it should be.
Point of aim/impact adjustment- As received, the gun was shooting about nine inches high at 50 yards, so I removed .052" from the tip of the hammer (lowering the rear sight plane) and re-deepened the sighting "V". Shoots great now! And, I found out that the steel used is nice and hard. I ruined my file finding that out.
For the price, a little fine tuning is not so hard to swallow. I wouldn't hesitate to get another one. I would like to get an 1858 someday soon, since the one I have now is stainless and I always wanted to have a blue steel version like the originals.