Home Forums Lever Action Central Cowboy Levers Chaparral 1866

I picked up a Chaparral 1866 and have been shooting it for sass. I have also been reading posts about older Uberti 66 and 73's coming apart during shooting and coming back into the shooters face. My question is how safe/strong are the Chaparral's?

wow, did I buy the only one?

I've never seen one. How do they compare to the Uberti clones?

My concern is aftermarket parts and action jobs. All that has been worked out with the Uberti's. Not sure how much different you gun is.

Picture?

DF

I haven't heard anything since about 4 years ago, but the Chaparrel never got really good reviews. Lots of complaints about it cycling really rough, less than stellar accuracy, and one report (that I've read) of a chamber being too tight straight out of the box. I've never heard of parts coming flying off. The one Chaparrel I've handled actually seemed fine to me. But I didn't get a chance to shoot it and I really don't know if they guy had work done to it. Was just shootin the sh*t with a guy at a local CAS event.

thanks for the replies,mine seems to be fine, very accurate,smooth and fast. beautiful fit and finish, no short stroke kit though, bummer, I just hope it holds up to C.A.S. If I can gegt my wife to help me I'll post some pics.

used it at a local shoot today without a hitch, 6 rounds, all the missed targets were not the guns fault...opreator error!!

What Caliber did you get?

I got it in .45 LC, I wanted the same caliber as my pistols. If I eventually get a 73 I might get it in 357, and I'll shoot 38 spcl in it. But that's a long way off.

A lot of CAS guys and gals start with the .45's. Some stay, most graduate to .38 spec's.

Certain classes require <.40 cal. and bigger cases do well with black powder. If I was going to the dark side, it would be with the .38-40, reportedly John Wayne's favorite round.

Those thinner walled cases do a better job, sealing against the rifle chambers with little or no blow back. Can't say that for the .45. Also, those rounds (32-20, 44-40, 38-40) were made to cycle thru a repeating rifle and seem to do that better than the straight walled cases. This is even more evident with the Win. '92's. The '66/'73 clones feed the cases straight into the chamber and seem more forgiving of straight walled rounds than guns feeding at an angle or slant.

Bottle neck ctgs. are a bit harder to reload due to not being a straight walled case and having thinner brass. But, with some care and setting the dies correctly, they run about as well as straight walled cases, even thru progressive presses. The secret is forming a slight bell at the case mouth by a proper powder drop/expander die setting. Then, bullets slip right in without catching the case rim and crushing the case. The bell is removed at the crimping station.

DF