In the image of. Colt’s Model 1878 was the inspiration for the new double-barreled Model 1878 Hartford 12-gauge shotgun E.M.F. F.lli Pietta. This heavy double-barrel has 20-inch barrels, a steel buttplate, slightly shorter hammer spurs placed much higher (than the Colt model), and a painted, unadorned, Turkish walnut stock and forend.
It is neither cheap nor overpriced, priced at $1,095 compared to E.M.F. Pedersoli’s “Wyatt Earp”-equipped weapon, which for a hefty $1,600 offers an attractive castle, highly polished finish, and luxury walnut stock and forend. The Pietta model has burnished and polished barrels, with the Hartford name capitalized on the back of the right barrel, and a burnished steel lever and receiver-the only colors are on the dogs.
This model has round gun grips, and very accurate clamps and trigger configuration. The Pietta model is clean, severe, and simple but lacks Colt’s fine checkerboard and wrist contours found on the more expensive Wyatt Earp model.
Pietta’s Hartford model works effortlessly and uses a boxlock action from the Anson and Deeley design, which was originally developed in 1875 for the Westley-Richards Company. Pietta’s welded steel barrels mount with a monoblock with two wings that engage a horizontal wedge mounted on the frame. The wedge is removed to allow the barrels to be mounted using the release lever and is used when the action is closed: the barrels are secured with a splinter rod.
The opening lever is easy to load/unload right and the rifle so well balanced and smooth in action that you can close and open the action with one hand. The dogs, while slightly shorter than Colt’s, and with a slightly lower curvature at the top of the checkerboard spurs, are still fairly easy/simple to cock together with a light sweep of the hand. Weapons equipped with a low-priced hammer and double barrel are rarely so easy to handle.
Reduced shooting range With a maximum length of 37 inches (14-1/2 inches shooting length), 20 inches of 4140 steel barrels with choked cylindrical bore, and a weight of 7 pounds, 2.5 ounces (empty), we are looking at an ideal CAS rifle. With this well in mind, the test was done at a competition range of 16 yards (48 feet) using 2-3/4-inch Ten-X black powder ammunition distributing 1 ounce every 7-1/2 rounds. For a final test, I used a pair of 00 buckshot bullets to see how it modeled at that distance.
In the Wild West, a shotgun in the city would have been used at a much closer range. In the SASS championship the smallest shooting range in rifle competitions is 8 yards (24 feet) so at a maximum of 16 yards with the double barrel we are reducing [il raggio di tiro] by half. The target is a cardboard IPSC silhouette, which is slightly wider than the target used in SASS rifle championships, averaging 16×16, the IPSC target is 18 inches wide by 24 inches high (to the shoulder).
The Model 1878 Pietta uses a sliding tang safety lever similar to the design seen on the late Model 1883 Hammerless Colt. The guns equipped with Colt’s original hammer did not use a safety tang: on the Pietta the sliding safety lever must be triggered manually. The rifle has manual extractors, and triggers to fire forward on the right and backward on the left, averaging 8 pounds and 2 ounces, and 7 pounds and 6.4 ounces to trigger, respectively.
From 48 feet onward, one shot with two 7-1/2-inch blasts hit two-thirds of the top of the target with the highest concentration of shots in zone A, with shotgun blasts in zones B and C. The two shots with 00 buckshot put more than half of the 00 bullets in zone A with the rest extending left and right into zone C. Most of the bullets, starting with the two Ten-X birdshot rounds and the two 00 buckshot rounds all hit a 12-inch circumference at a distance of 16 yards.
Whether it was to bring home the bacon or to save one’s own skin, in the Wild West era a double-barreled shotgun was the best weapon one could grab for almost any situation. The advent of shotguns in the 1890s rewrote the books [della storia] for law enforcers and likewise for a lot of hunters, but for sporting competitions, even in this century, a double-barreled shotgun remains an appropriate option, and the new Hartford E.M.F. Pietta 12-gauge is a worthy competitor in the market for dog-equipped weapons.
For more information visit the website emf-company.com or call 800-430-1310.
Specifications
E.M.F. Hartford 12-gauge Double Barrel Hammer Gun
Gauge: 12
Reeds: 20 inches
Overall length: 37 inches
Weight: 7 pounds, 2.5 ounces (empty)
Kick: Turkish walnut wood
Sights: brass front
Action: dual triggers
Finish: burnished
Capacity: 2
Retail price: $1,095