Uberti Hombre: An American classic via Italy with some liberty in Mexico

Guns.com is about to take a look at a more “budget” priced single action revolver made by Uberti called “Hombre,” a Spanish word for “copy of an American gun made by the Italians.”  Or maybe it is Uberti marketing to the Ruger Vaquero market using a Spanish name.

The Uberti Hombre on desk on top of holster

The Uberti Hombre. (Photo credit: Sam Trisler)

The original design

In order to talk about the Uberti Hombre we need to visit the gun it is a copy of: the Colt 1873. There are almost as many names for this gun as there are clones of it.  Let’s get this out of the way first: M1873, Peacemaker, Model P, 1873, SAA, Single Action Army, and Colt 45.  Whatever you chose to call it, this revolver is the most recognized handgun of Wild West Fame.  This alone is why there are so many copies still being produced today.

The Colt 45 is a single action six-shot revolver.  It was introduced in 1873 and soon became one of the most popular handguns of its time, actually of all time.  Original Peacemakers are highly valued and with any antique firearm there can be safety issues involved.  But have no fear, our friends in Italy make some great reproductions — and some that are kind of like the originals.

The Uberti Hombre

The Uberti Hombre field stripped. (Photo credit: Sam Trisler)

The Italian gun makers originally got into the business of reproducing iconic American guns for use in the Spaghetti Westerns.  Some of them are almost identical to the originals and some they took a few liberties with, i.e. The Man With No Name revolver is a great example of one that had liberties taken with it. The Uberti Hombre falls somewhere in the middle of this.  The internals and the function are very close to the Colt 45, the finish however…. 

The Hombre

The Hombre is the least expensive pistol in the Uberti Cattleman line with the MSRP at $429, but really they can be found for about $250. It has a matte blued finish and a brass trigger guard, and is available in .357 Magnum and .45 Colt.

This offering from Uberti is a nice gun.  It is not fancy in the least bit.  If you want a fancy Colt styled single action Uberti makes some very good ones, the Hombre is the barebones model.

The fit and finish on the example I have is interesting.  The fit is good and the finish is what they call “matte blued,” but to me it looks and feels more like a black parkerized finish.  It is well applied and should provide a lasting, durable protection.  But it is in no way a historic finish found on the originals.  This is how Uberti saves money on the Hombre so they can sell it for a lower price.  Matte finishes take a lot less labor to apply than a polished blued or nickel finish.

The Uberti Hombre

You load the Uberti Hombre one at a time. (Photo credit: Sam Trisler)

So the Hombre is an historical gun in a non-historical finish.  If you are looking for a true reproduction of a Colt .45, this is not the gun for you.  It is however a good shooting pistol with a durable finish.  But, again, it all depends on what you want.

Performance

The Hombre functions well enough.  Uberti might have saved money on the exterior but they didn’t skimp on the interior.

The trigger pull is good and light at about 3.5 pounds, would be my guess.  There is a tiny amount of creep, but is acceptable out of the box.  It would benefit from an action job but so would most pistols.  That is one of the great things about this style of pistol: there is a metric ton of aftermarket parts available if you are inclined to “trick” it out or pay someone to do it. But you don’t have to, the gun is perfectly fine without any work.

The accuracy of the Hombre is decent.  I haven’t done much true target shooting with it, but I can say that it does shoot minute-of-tin-can at 50 feet pretty well.  It would also be up to the task of dispatching silhouettes of bad guys at a Cowboy Action match.  Or a snake on the farm.

The recoil is manageable with a bit of muzzle flip.  I like to shoot it one handed and it does bounce a bit when I do that.  It is a single action.  Muzzle flip isn’t much of a problem when you have to cock it before your next shot anyways.

The Uberti Hombre

The Uberti Hombre is half Italian, half Mexican, but all American. (Photo credit: Sam Trisler)

Final thoughts

The Uberti Hombre is a great pistol for the price.  Sure, it doesn’t have the fancy finish of some of the other Ubertis but that’s okay.  It shoots as good as the more expensive ones for a lot less.

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