Cimarron six guns?

[Dantankerous]

I have an opportunity to buy a pair of brand new consecutive serial number 45 Colt 5.5" Cimarrons for what I think is a very good price. Gorgeous guns! Be kinda nice to have something new to cowboy around with.

 

As I have always shot Rugers I know very little about the Cimarrons as far as durability and longevity. These Cimarrons seemed smooth enough with pretty decent triggers out of the box. Much easier hammer and trigger pull than the new Vaqueros I also looked at. These are NOT the Evil Roy guns either. I have personally looked at an Evil Roy Cimarron and it was slicker than slick. A very nice action job indeed! But I am not sure that the tuned Cimarrons were noticably that much "slicker" over factory Cimarron guns when compared to the difference I have seen between factory and well tuned Rugers. Rugers Vaqueros, old and new models alike, just seem to be stiffer from the factory than the Cimarrons I have personally experienced. From what you all have noticed with your six gun experience is my observation accurate or could it be these Cimarrons I looked at are just factory very well made? A very good pair off the assembly line, so to speak?

 

Do the Cimarrons require tuning to overcome any factory problems that might eventually arise from shooting them stock over the long haul? Any timing issues? Will tuning them eliminate the cylinder ring that so many well used SA revolvers seem to get over time and use? Any other suggestions or comments on Cimarron? Either tuned or not?

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

The revolvers sold by Cimmarron, Taylor's, EMF, etc. are all made by Uberti or Pietta. The quality on both brands (Uberti and Pietta) is very good. Both brands out of the box are not bad. However, ALL revolvers need tuning if you are going to run them hard. Competition is hard on them.

[Jefro, SASS#69420]

The revolvers sold by Cimmarron, Taylor's, EMF, etc. are all made by Uberti or Pietta. The quality on both brands (Uberti and Pietta) is very good. Both brands out of the box are not bad. However, ALL revolvers need tuning if you are going to run them hard. Competition is hard on them.

What Larson said, I have both Cimarrrons from Uberti & Pietta and EMF GW II by Pietta. They have all had a little smoothing plus a Gunslinger spring kit, except the Frontiers. The Cimarron Frontier comes with action work and true CCH. Often the cylinder ring on Colt style revolvers is caused by the user by going from half cock to hammer down. Any time you go to half cock for loading, clearing, etc. you should then go to full cock before lowering the hammer. Good Luck

 

Jefro Relax-Enjoy

[Guest Jess Money]

I had some isssues to begin with. One was the kinking of the original ejector rod spring in one gun and the firing pin retainer pin breaking in the other one. Each piece of the broken pin slipped sideways and protruded from the sides of the hammer. When the hammer went down, the pin pieces caught on the outside bowl of the recoil shield and created indentations in it. I thought I had bad primers and tried to fire the gun through the entire cycle during a stage. I replaced the retainer pin I got from Cimarron in Fredricksburg and still have two as backup. I consider these marks as battle scars and have gotten over the incident. One thing you will want to keep an eye on is the screws backing out frequently. A screwdriver to fit both the hammer screw and the frame screws is a handy addition to your gun belt or cart.

 

I've replaced the mainspring, bolt and trigger return spring along with the ejector rod springs on both guns with Wolff srings and they run as fast as I can make 'em. The triggers still have an unwanted creep, sorta like the trigger sear is trying to climb a step before it disengages but I'm going to let time and wear take care of that. Over all I like the Cimarrons. The Rugers may be the better buy in the long run. My set of Old Model Blackhawks, 3 screw, have increased in value and I use them occasionally in matches. I enjoy shooting them, but, the Cimarron Frontier's fit better and point better for me. AND.... I just like the "look" of these six guns compared to any of the Rugers.

[Matthew Duncan]

We got 4 Cimarrons and have used them as main match pistols.

 

My pair is going on 13 years old, had to replace one flat spring during that time.

 

Son's pair are 12 years old. He's shot 1/2 of the matches that I have (college, marrage and work). About 4 years ago we had to send one of his back to Cimarrons to repair what a local "Gunsmith" had done. Took about 2 months to get the gun back, no charge!

[Tex Jones, SASS 2263]

As Larsen said, a little tuning and you're good to go. I switched back to a Uberti and an old ASM, both of which have been worked on, and put the Colts away for now. They will work but, the Rugers, once they're tuned, are still the strongest guns in this game.

[Pit Bull Tex]

I have 2 cimarron P model nickel from the custom shop,I put thruderstrom hammers in.They have been great.I have two AWA longhorns that are really smooth.I had there hammers turned down.

[Abanaki, SASS #34557]

I have a pair of Cimarron Thunderers and a pair of their 72 open tops. Been using both sets for years with very little trouble. The open tops needed to have their firing pins replaced with hardened units from VTI. These are my favorites and have had at least 8,000 rounds a piece thru them so I'm not really upset about that. I shoot duelest so I'm not beating the pistols too badly. If your shooting traditional and cocking the pistol with your off hand well they were never really designed to take that kind of beating and over rotation of the cylinder is very possible. A good action job with a stop screw installed to prevent over rotation is highly recommended.

[John Ray Davis]

The Cimarrons should be good to go, as is. If you want a little easier action, swap in a Wolff spring kit. A little polishing never hurt anything, or you could just go shoot them.

[Phantom, SASS #54973]

Cimarron makes guns????

 

Wow - learn supptin every day.

 

[Boon Doggle]

Cimarron makes guns????

 

Wow - learn supptin every day.

 

 

Just because you didn't get to shoot yesterday is no reason to be all grumpy and irritable.

[Nate Kiowa Jones #6765]

Expecting to be competitive with an out-of-the-box stock gun is not likely to happen. I've said this many
times. You can take the family sedan to the track once or twice and run hell out of it, but if you do it on a regular basis, you gonna look up and see you crankshaft in the rear-view mirror.

 

Race cars have to be tuned to race, so do guns that are raced.

If you want tuff out of the box, Ruger is the way to go, but I don`t
consider it to be a clone. The Ruger lock works were designed in the 1950's. It
is nothing like the colt style lock basically unchanged since 1836.

 

Comparing Rugers to a colt SAA or Colt SAA clone is like
comparing 60`s muscle cars to model T`s.

The Colt style gun will race, but like the model "T" you will need to do more to it to make it hold up for the long haul.

 

The # 1 thing that most smiths miss with a SAA is the bolt finger to bolt cam fit. If this is not set up correctly the gun will go out of time much sooner than need be. "ring-around-the-cylinder"

The second thing most missed is firing pin protrusion. I can't begin to tell how many SAA's have been brought in because the owner installed a spring kit and one or both no long pop the primers consistently. The reason the guns come with heavier springs is because they mask poor fit. think of the man-hours the makers save by just using heavy springs rather than spend the time properly fitting.

[Nate Kiowa Jones #6765]

I would add, too. I prefer the Pietta made SAA's. Like the colt, they come with pressed in hardened bolt cams and firing pin/recoil bushing. Plus the bolt finger is round on the tip end so it is much gentler on the cam.

[El Mulo Vaquero, SASS #55942]

I would add, (with all due respect) I prefer the Uberti's over the Pietta's due to issues of front sights coming off, hammer notches breaking off, trigger sear tips breaking, worn parts from soft metal, etc. I have just seen more problems with the Pietta's. Again, your mileage may vary.

[Phantom, SASS #54973]

Just because you didn't get to shoot yesterday is no reason to be all grumpy and irritable.

yes it does...

 

[Guest Jess Money]

Now here's a real kick in the patootie! I wrote this a couple of days ago in this same thread:

 

"...I had some isssues to begin with. One was the kinking of the original ejector rod spring in one gun and the firing pin retainer pin breaking in the other one. Each piece of the broken pin slipped sideways and protruded from the sides of the hammer. When the hammer went down, the pin pieces caught on the outside bowl of the recoil shield and created indentations in it..."

 

Well, today as I dry fired my Cimarron that did not have the broken firing pin retaining pin, that gun decided to shear a pin, also. I have an extra pin because I ordered three from Cimarron when the first one sheared. I'm using production made Snap Caps so It's not like there is no cushion in the primer area for the firing pin. I'm upset because it happened again and both revolvers have similar marks on the bowl of the recoil shield. Is there an average number of strikes the Pietta retaining pins are good for... or am I just snake-bit?

[Marshal Slim Chisum SASS #15622]

I am a bit of an odd ball, I shoot a mismatched pair... a Ruger Old Model Vaquero 357 and a Cimmarron Model P 357. I love them both!!! I use the Ruger on my strong side and the Cimmarron in my crossdraw. In my experience so far... I am very pleased with the Model P... I am actually considering buying another one and retiring the Ruger! I really like the way it feels and shoots.

[Gen Lew Wallace]

I have a pair of Pietta Custer cavalry models from Cimarron that Cody Conagher tuned up and they run like a dream.

[Guest Jess Money]

I don't have any issues with my Frontier model Cimarron's other than the retaining pins. Just venting my disgust with the situation. As I said in my original post, I prefer to use the Cimaron's.....when they go bang! Kinda leery of them at the moment.

[Phantom, SASS #54973]

Uberti's...

 

Cimarron.

[Abilene, SASS # 27489]

Now here's a real kick in the patootie! I wrote this a couple of days ago in this same thread:

 

"...I had some isssues to begin with. One was the kinking of the original ejector rod spring in one gun and the firing pin retainer pin breaking in the other one. Each piece of the broken pin slipped sideways and protruded from the sides of the hammer. When the hammer went down, the pin pieces caught on the outside bowl of the recoil shield and created indentations in it..."

 

Well, today as I dry fired my Cimarron that did not have the broken firing pin retaining pin, that gun decided to shear a pin, also. I have an extra pin because I ordered three from Cimarron when the first one sheared. I'm using production made Snap Caps so It's not like there is no cushion in the primer area for the firing pin. I'm upset because it happened again and both revolvers have similar marks on the bowl of the recoil shield. Is there an average number of strikes the Pietta retaining pins are good for... or am I just snake-bit?

 

Howdy Jess. I talked to the 'smith at Cimarron and you may be the only person who has reported this problem. And since it has done it with both your guns, well, that is very strange. What kind of snap caps are you using and do they have any "give" in the primer?