chaparral lever guns?

[RDB]

Prices are good @ CDNN....

Anyone have any experience with the "current" CDNN guns?

Dismal reputation on the Internet from '08 back. But a 1876 is a rifle I'd really like to have.

[Jeff Quinn]

Some of the Chaparral guns were very good.
Some really sucked.
Seems that quality control was not paying attention.

[Hobie]

Mine, not through CDNN, is good. Some others had problems...

[Mike D.]

I have had ZERO problems with my '76. One thing I have found, though, is that the screws holding the side plates on don't remove. I have tried every gunsmith screwdriver at my disposal, to no avail. my plan was to polish the links and stone the trigger a bit.

[Grizzly Adams]

I would pass on them, unless you just want a "project." Parts are NOT available on this side of the pond. Save your pennies and buy the Uberti. Just my .02.

[RIHMFIRE]

I would pass on them, unless you just want a "project." Parts are NOT available on this side of the pond. Save your pennies and buy the Uberti. Just my .02.

+1
have not heard too many good things about them....
hence the cheap price.....

[Lastmohecken]

+1, on staying away from them, I have not been that impressed the ones I have handled, and like others have said, "they have had their problems"

[Ysabel Kid]

I also got lucky with mine (which I didn't buy through CDNN). I agree with the others though - if you are going to shoot it any decent amount, save up and get the Uberti.

[coyote nose]

I shoot the stuffing out of mine, it is one of my most accurate (have it averaging under 2 1/2" at 100 yards from a bench) lever guns altho it took a lot of fiddling (with LDPE wads, different alloys, 2 different molds, etc) until I found what it took to make it shoot. Have posted pictures of groups this gun has shot before. Is also my most beautiful rifle. The bluing is superb, the case colors vibrant. Got it back in 2008, have no idea what they are like now. I too have heard horror stories about them but either they are getting all the air time (ie: you'll hear about the 3 or 4 bad ones but wont hear about the 1000 good ones), or I was lucky. Notice of the people that replied, 4 of us own them and 4 of us like them and say "maybe we were lucky", and those that (perhaps rightly) advise to stay away from them, only 1 actually handled them, the rest were going from hearsay. The problem with mail-order is you cant hold and examine the darn thing before you part with your money. The final decision is yours. I know if mine was stolen I would not hesitate to order another one and take my chances.

[bdhold]

mine shoots as well as yours - excellent barrel and excellent trigger.
But it's still been frustrating.
They made some parts look case-hardened, that needed to be case-hardened:

the carrier here is galled by the spring and I spend about half as much time fighting jams in the mechanism as shooting the rifle.
The ultimate solution will be to have the frame and a carrier from a real 1873 refitted to each other - I'll get there - but yes, it's a project.

pretty thing, though, and it really shoots.

[Sixgun]

I have tried every gunsmith screwdriver at my disposal, to no avail.

Mike, Get the proper bit that fits perfectly, then chuck the bit in a drill press. While holding down on the drill press handle, exerting downward pressure, keeping the bit & screw at a perfect 90 degree angle, turn the chuck by hand.

I have unscrewed stubborn screws like this many times.------------Sixgun

(sorry 'bout the hijack )