Does anyone here have one of these?  Has anyone here used one, owned by you or not?  

If so, please tell me about it.  It has caught my interest, especially because it comes in 357.

i own about 5 or 7.. or 8 uberti firearms. None have disappointed me.

Are any of those the Lightning?





I have spent some time searching for reviews of the rifle.  

I keep coming up with results indicating it is a jam-o-matic.  Apparently, it is difficult to load without jamming the action.  Apparently, operation of the rifle can cause serious jams.  It can happen, even if properly operated.  There is some indication it is due to the basic design.

I read a letter* from the Uberti's representative to a dissatisfied owner.  They admitted it is problematic and claimed they were developing a revised design which should solve the problems.  IIRC, they bought the rifle back from the customer.

So, unless someone can refute those findings, this rifle is a no-go.




*  Here's the text of the letter and a link to the thread.

Link to customer review on TFL

Ref: Uberti Pump Action

Dear Sir,

We received copy of your e-mail through Stoeger Industries regarding the problems you had incurred on your new Uberti Pump Action Rifle.

We are sorry you experienced so many problems and we apologize for any inconvenience. We certainly don’t want to lose a valuable customer like yourself.

However, we would like to make some comments. Yes, it’s true, there are some initial problems when someone is using this gun for the very first time It’s really important to familiarize oneself with the gun and to have an enormous amount of patience. This gun is fast but not as fast as the 1873. It’s important to load the gun correctly and, above all, cycle correctly. The forend has to be pushed all the way forward and all the way backward – if, by chance, you stop to cycle almost at the end but you haven’t fully completed the action, then you will have problems.

We are, in the near future, going to come out with a new PUMP ACTION N°II. This gun will be as fast, or maybe faster, that our 1873. At the moment I can’t say much more because I am waiting for the patent to come through. Please be patient and wait for one of these new ones.

We sincerely hope you will trust us once again. Please feel free to call us at any time – 011-39-030-8341824.

Very best regards,

Giacomo Merlino
Managing Director
A. Uberti Spa

From reading that; you have to realize that you only hear from folks that are usually having a problem. No matter the gun maker you can have a bad apple once and a while. Now if it becomes a firestorm on forums (think Marlin after Remington bought them) than i would worry.

Also that concern/forum post was from 2007... over 7 years ago!

If thats all you could dig up.. grab it! I honestly think you worrying about nothing. Unless you find a 5 page thread that was created within a year where a bunch of owners are having problems. Of course the lightening design is not the best so i am not sure it would be my first choice from anyone.

I have 7 or 8 uberti's and they are all quality and function excellent. I do not have the rifle in question though.


Edit-

2012 review

http://www.guns.com/review/2012/02/27/review-uberti-lightning-357-magnum-pump/

Save your $.....LOTS of problems with them cycling reliably.
Want a neat old gun?....buy a Uberti 1873 levergun.

What do you guys know about the Uberti Burgess rifle?  Is that one any good?

What do you want?!
A neat old rifle?
Buy a Uberti 1873 or a Marlin 1894!
They are basically the same product from "back then" with spare parts availability!!!!!
Leave the oddball rifles alone!

Just get a '73.  

2nd that

If you want one of the pump actions, remember that they were made for the tapered cartridges (32-20, 44-40, etc.).
People seem to be having problems mostly with the 45 Colt models, and it was never designed for a straight walled cartridge, like that.
Maybe .357 would work better, maybe not.
If you really want one, you may want to consider the Pedersoli models, and one other model, that I can't remember right now.
The reason is, those models have a modification from the original Colt design, that allows unloading of the rifle safely.  There is a button, in front of the trigger guard, that
releases the action, allowing you to continually pump the gun, until all cartridges are out of the magazine and chamber, w/o having to lay the hammer down each time.  This feature was not in the original design.

Although only manufactured by a couple of companies apparently, the pump models repros. have been available under the following brand names (at least):

AYA
EMF
Chaparral
Navy Arms
Cimarron
Uberti
Pedersoli
Taurus (not a good looking design to me)
and of course, the original Colt

I haven't had a chance to shoot one yet; hopefully next spring.

I have that same rifle in .357 mag.......run .38 specials thru it.......it's slicked and short stroked.......it'll run 10 rounds in 3.2 seconds!

that one pictured is in 44-40 - slicked up by the previous owner who was a cow boy action shooter. Its a blast. Love the rifle.

I do the same.  Love the gun.