Uberti’s El Patron in .45 Colt is ideal for all-day packing in a quality rig like this one from Kirkpatrick Leather.

El Patron is basically a handtuned, custom-shop offering. Uberti's gunsmiths precisely fit Wolff springs and meticulously tune each action. The result is a smooth, reliable revolver with a great trigger and reliable ignition. To ensure those handfitted parts stay together in the assembly process, each cylinder is numbered to match the frame to which it was fitted. Other features include a steel trigger guard and backstrap as well as a new set of fitted, checkered walnut grips. El Patron is available in all stainless steel or blue steel with a color-casehardened frame, with a 4¾- or 5½-inch barrel, in .357 Magnum or .45 Colt.

The revolver I used for testing is my idea of the perfect packing piece: a 5½-inch, stainless-steel number in .45 Colt. Low-maintenance stainless steel is ideal for all-day packing in the environment I call home, and 5½ inches is the perfect length for a packing gun. It's long enough to give me the sight radius and accuracy I require for hunting but short enough to wear on my belt as I bump around the ranch. And, as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't get any better than the .45 Colt for plinking, hunting, and defense.

Hornady's Flex Tip .45
I shot several loads out of El Patron. Several shot well, but based on my experience with it in the field in other calibers, I went with Hornady's 225-grain FTX load, which produces a muzzle velocity of 960 fps and 460 ft-lbs of energy at the muzzle. It's not the stoutest .45 Colt load on the market, but it's safe to use in El Patron, and it's more than adequate for whitetails.

For those who aren't familiar with it, the FTX was designed with lever guns in mind. The jacketed bullet has Hornady's patented Flex Tip design. A pointed, elastomer tip improves the bullet's ballistic coefficient and is safe to use in tubular magazines. The jacketed, lead core design expands nicely yet holds together for deep, bone-crushing penetration. I've used .45-70 and .30-30 LEVERevolution loads on game with great success, and they've always shot well for me.

I had always wanted to try the FTX in .45 Colt, but the Flex Tip design makes them too long to chamber in my Freedom Arms Model 97. I was pleased to see them chamber with just a hint of room to spare in the cylinder of El Patron. On the range, they shot as well as good loads from such a quality handgun should; 25-yard groups averaged right around 1.5 inches, and I had no trouble smacking a 6-inch gong at 50 yards with the slick little sixshooter.

The trigger, which broke at a crisp, clean 2 pounds, 10 ounces was a joy to squeeze and a great help in the accuracy department. Fit and finish were first rate, and the action was every bit as smooth as advertised. Though that smooth action isn't essential in a hunting revolver, it sure is nice. And it makes it awful easy to shoot El Patron at warp speed on the plate range. I don't compete in cowboy action shooting, but I can see why savvy sixgun competitors rave about the race-tuned Uberti.

It's September as I write this, so I've yet to venture afield with El Patron, but based on its performance on the range and my experience with Hornady's LEVERevolution ammunition, I am confident it will prove to be one deadly combination.