Hello everybody, I struck out on a question at THR, so I'll try picking the brains of the fine folks over here. (Nice forum, BTW, you've even got a manually-operated-rifles section )
I'm interested in a couple of the lever guns made by the Italian company Chiappa, but they seem to have very little (and recent) market penetration in the US, so hardly anyone's heard of them or experienced their leverguns first hand. Most comments I found consisted of RFID tin-foolery(tom-foilery?), bashing/praise for their 22LR 1911's, and bashing/praise for the Rhino six-shooter, regardless of whether those guns were even being discussed (they're not ). I'm willing to give a new-to-the-US company like Chiappa the benefit of the doubt if I can find even a short positive rep for their products (especially since their offerings are pretty unique and innovative).
I did find a couple more-helpful opinions; there is widespread praise for the lever-actions Chiappa makes under the Puma label (used to build for Cimarron as well, I believe), and several folks had good things to say about the Mare's Leg thing they make. But others said the 1886's, 1876's, and some other models had stiff actions that required some minor work to get running well. There were good and bad things said about their Sharps repros. Everyone agreed that Chiappa's longarms are gorgeous and faithful reproductions of the originals
I am interested in their rubberized-walnut/matte-nickle 1886 Kodiak Trapper in 45-70, and their 1892 Alaskan Scout in .357mag (if you're gonna copy a 120 year-old design, why not improve the materials?) I'm not confident that the reviews I've read so far are representative of this particular gun's quality or function, and even if so, they are pretty inconclusive
1886 Kodiak/Trapper 45-70:
http://www.chiappafirearms.com/product/2083
1892 Alaskan Scout .357:
http://www.chiappafirearms.com/product/2451
If you have seen (in person), handled, or bought one of these handsome guns, please tell about your experience.
It'll probably be a while before I can save up the requisite 1200$ for the rifle, but if it's quality is top-notch (or 3X better than a Marlington), and half as elements-proof as Chiappa claims, it's a bargain.
Thanks for the input, everyone, I really appreciate it!
TCB
I'm interested in a couple of the lever guns made by the Italian company Chiappa, but they seem to have very little (and recent) market penetration in the US, so hardly anyone's heard of them or experienced their leverguns first hand. Most comments I found consisted of RFID tin-foolery(tom-foilery?), bashing/praise for their 22LR 1911's, and bashing/praise for the Rhino six-shooter, regardless of whether those guns were even being discussed (they're not ). I'm willing to give a new-to-the-US company like Chiappa the benefit of the doubt if I can find even a short positive rep for their products (especially since their offerings are pretty unique and innovative).
I did find a couple more-helpful opinions; there is widespread praise for the lever-actions Chiappa makes under the Puma label (used to build for Cimarron as well, I believe), and several folks had good things to say about the Mare's Leg thing they make. But others said the 1886's, 1876's, and some other models had stiff actions that required some minor work to get running well. There were good and bad things said about their Sharps repros. Everyone agreed that Chiappa's longarms are gorgeous and faithful reproductions of the originals
I am interested in their rubberized-walnut/matte-nickle 1886 Kodiak Trapper in 45-70, and their 1892 Alaskan Scout in .357mag (if you're gonna copy a 120 year-old design, why not improve the materials?) I'm not confident that the reviews I've read so far are representative of this particular gun's quality or function, and even if so, they are pretty inconclusive
1886 Kodiak/Trapper 45-70:
http://www.chiappafirearms.com/product/2083
1892 Alaskan Scout .357:
http://www.chiappafirearms.com/product/2451
If you have seen (in person), handled, or bought one of these handsome guns, please tell about your experience.
It'll probably be a while before I can save up the requisite 1200$ for the rifle, but if it's quality is top-notch (or 3X better than a Marlington), and half as elements-proof as Chiappa claims, it's a bargain.
Thanks for the input, everyone, I really appreciate it!
TCB