I finally gathered up the new Citadel M1-22 along with a few ARs, handguns and my son-in-law and 11 year old grandson and we all had a great time shooting up the desert. The little M1 Carbine reproduction in .22lr performed like a champ! One magazine had feeding issues but my five other magazines kept the rifle busy peppering plastic bottles and beer cans.
We put over 300 rounds of Federal valuepak through the Citadel with about 10 malfunctions, 5 due to the bad magazine. The other five malfunctions that I blame on the rifle were two misfeeds and three light strikes. All ten rounds fired after a second try. Chiappa recommends using 1200 fps ammo but the slower Federal cycled fine and locked the bolt back on the magazine follower after each last round. With the sights at mechanical zero we were hitting pop cans at 30 yards. It was windy so we didn't try to do a real zero on paper targets. I marked the bad magazine and will check it out later.
Anyway, we all loved the little rifle. All six firearms we took worked fine but the Citadel was the most fun. It looks so much like a real M1 Carbine but is so much cheaper to shoot. I know Chiappa is hit or miss and the first production of this Citadel M1-22 was recalled but they got it right with this redesign. The wood stock was drab out of the box but a coat of Tung oil brought out the grain and it actually looks pretty good now. For about $244 out the door I'd say it's a winner!
We put over 300 rounds of Federal valuepak through the Citadel with about 10 malfunctions, 5 due to the bad magazine. The other five malfunctions that I blame on the rifle were two misfeeds and three light strikes. All ten rounds fired after a second try. Chiappa recommends using 1200 fps ammo but the slower Federal cycled fine and locked the bolt back on the magazine follower after each last round. With the sights at mechanical zero we were hitting pop cans at 30 yards. It was windy so we didn't try to do a real zero on paper targets. I marked the bad magazine and will check it out later.
Anyway, we all loved the little rifle. All six firearms we took worked fine but the Citadel was the most fun. It looks so much like a real M1 Carbine but is so much cheaper to shoot. I know Chiappa is hit or miss and the first production of this Citadel M1-22 was recalled but they got it right with this redesign. The wood stock was drab out of the box but a coat of Tung oil brought out the grain and it actually looks pretty good now. For about $244 out the door I'd say it's a winner!
