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The Chiappa 92


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I recently acquired a Chiappa 92 take down model in .44 Magnum, and I was able to take some practice shots with it yesterday.   For the sake of clarity, it's in Mares Leg configuration, but I assume the action is no different from the regular rifles.

 

Anyway, after an excellent match in Ledyard Connecticut was concluded, I took out the Mares Leg to take a few tests shots.   I found the loading gate to be a little firm compared to my other 92s [Two Winchesters, a Rossi and an Armi San Marco] but that was the only unusual thing I noticed.   Put five rounds in the magazine and then went out and shot it.  I found it to be accurate and fun to shoot, and the action was smooth and easy to run, just as nice as my real Winchesters.   Considering my prior experience with clones, the Armi San Marco was so horrible it was barely usable and it was the first gun I ever had an action job done to, purely out of necessity, and the slight clunkyness of the Rossi that I only realized was there after I had the ASM fixed and obtained real Winchesters, I have to say that, right out of the box, Chiappa makes a very nice 92.   No stupid safeties, and a tight, smooth action.   Given how expensive they are compared to the Rossi, I guess they better be that good.

 

Recoil was pretty much non existent, but I was running downloaded Cowboy type loads, not full power standard .44 Magnum loads.

 

Well, I thought that if anyone was considering one of these, or just a 92 in general, that they'd like to hear at least one shooter's opinion/experience with the gun.  Granted, five rounds ain't much, but it's a start, and first impressions are always the strongest.

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I bought a Chiappa "Alaskan" takedown M92 in .44 magnum with a 12"(I'm in Canada its non restricted up here) barrel last December. So far I've run about 30 different loads through it. My most accurate load so far is with 2400 pushing a 240 grain TMJ at 1,391.0 fps. This gives me a 3" group at 50 yds and I have no problem ringing a 12" gong at 100 yds.  I still need to work up a load for cast lead. Great little carbine, I also got a gun case from Skinner sights and when taken down you don't recognize it as a gun case. It pays to buy the full stock.

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I have a pair of Rossi 92's that have been worked over and they still aren't as smooth as the chiappa right out of the box. I'm not good enough of a shooter for it to really matter, but I still want one.

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I just picked up a Chiappa/Cimarron '92 in .45 Colt. It looks virtually new and may have been sitting some time. It's a little clunky and stiff compared to my Uberti '73 which has a number of matches under it's belt. 

 

Being a saddle ring carbine, it's very light and handy. 

 

I hope to shoot the '92 tomorrow or this weekend and I'll give a report on function and accuracy.

 

KCM

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Well, the '92 is accurate and as a Saddle Ring Carbine, it's really light and handy. Seems a little finicky loading the first round, but works flawlessly thereafter. With the longer lever travel compared to my '73, it was challenging to get my efforts smooth and fast. It could certainly use an action job, but a nice rifle none the less. 

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I got one of the brand new Chiappa .44 Magnums from Cimarron that are now coming back into the country. It is maybe the best finished and one of the best-shooting '92s I have, and I have a few. Good trigger. I ran it with my "standard" .44 Magnum load, Fiocchi 240-gr Flat Point magnums, and it stacked the holes.

 

Wolf Bane

SASS13357

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, I shot the Chiappa '92 SRC at a practice match last weekend and continued to have issues with getting the first round loaded. Every round thereafter cycled perfectly. Still really handy, light and is smoothing out nicely. 

 

I'm shooting Bear Creek 185-gr Round Nose Flat Point bullets over 6-gr of TB and aside from the first round, the rifle seems to feed them just fine. 

 

Since this rifle is second hand to me, I'll do a complete tear down and clean and see what I come up with.

 

KCM

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3 hours ago, Kansas City Munny said:

Well, I shot the Chiappa '92 SRC at a practice match last weekend and continued to have issues with getting the first round loaded. Every round thereafter cycled perfectly. Still really handy, light and is smoothing out nicely. 

 

I'm shooting Bear Creek 185-gr Round Nose Flat Point bullets over 6-gr of TB and aside from the first round, the rifle seems to feed them just fine. 

 

Since this rifle is second hand to me, I'll do a complete tear down and clean and see what I come up with.

 

KCM

 

Shorten the magazine spring till it is about 5 round lengths longer than the mag tube.  This will reduce the spring tension and should improve feeding.

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Thanks Sedalila Dave!

 

I'm going to tear it down tonight, so I'll let you know how I do. I've made some "dummy" rounds for testing purposes that are identical to what I normally shoot, so should be able to determine if that fixes it.

 

Thanks again.

KCM

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3 hours ago, Kansas City Munny said:

Thanks Sedalila Dave!

 

I'm going to tear it down tonight, so I'll let you know how I do. I've made some "dummy" rounds for testing purposes that are identical to what I normally shoot, so should be able to determine if that fixes it.

 

Thanks again.

KCM

 

If it doesn't have one get a stainless steel follower from Nate Kiowa Jones' website  www.Stevesgunz.com

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So, after a complete tear down, I found the loading gate was not closing all the way into the receiver opening causing the rounds coming from the magazine tube to arrive at the lifter at an angle. I have corrected this. There was also a really crusty , grimy plastic follower in the magazine tube along with a rusty spring. The tube is really clean and bright, but the follower and spring will be replaced with stainless pieces.

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1 hour ago, H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 said:

 

I call this my "Battery of Ridiculous."  

 

RidiculousB.thumb.JPG.eb1ec272cb3e3170ebbc643f795e62c3.JPG

 

If nothing else, the Chiappa is a very pretty gun.

 

Now that is a down right awesome grouping. I had never seen a take down mares leg. That is pretty nifty. 

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25 minutes ago, Rube Burrows said:

Now that is a down right awesome grouping. I had never seen a take down mares leg. That is pretty nifty. 

 

The reason I got the Chiappa instead of the Rossi is very simple; no stupid safety.

The reason I got the take down version is also simple, it has a magazine capacity of five.   The non take down version only holds four cuz it has a shorter barrel.

 

And yeah, it is a pretty awesome grouping.  I've not shot a match with it yet, [and I need to point out that three of the four guns are not SASS Legal] but I hope to do so soon.

I DID shoot a match with the following before I got the Mare's Leg...

 

571405013_CleanandSilly.thumb.JPG.97828e50dfe66894e3206af60daaef86.JPG 

 

...and it was a clean match.

The 92 rifle and the Mare's Leg are .44 Magnum.   The Lightning, Lightning Bolt and Big Iron are all .45 Colt.   The 87 is of course a Twelve Gauge.

The Mare's Leg and Lightning Bolt are a heck of a lot of fun to shoot, and really quite accurate.   A bit on the slow side, but still fun.   The Shotgun is rather flippy with it's recoil, but not at all unpleasant or hard to control.

And Texas Red could not clear leather...

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1 hour ago, H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 said:

 

The reason I got the Chiappa instead of the Rossi is very simple; no stupid safety.

The reason I got the take down version is also simple, it has a magazine capacity of five.   The non take down version only holds four cuz it has a shorter barrel.

 

And yeah, it is a pretty awesome grouping.  I've not shot a match with it yet, [and I need to point out that three of the four guns are not SASS Legal] but I hope to do so soon.

I DID shoot a match with the following before I got the Mare's Leg...

 

571405013_CleanandSilly.thumb.JPG.97828e50dfe66894e3206af60daaef86.JPG 

 

...and it was a clean match.

The 92 rifle and the Mare's Leg are .44 Magnum.   The Lightning, Lightning Bolt and Big Iron are all .45 Colt.   The 87 is of course a Twelve Gauge.

The Mare's Leg and Lightning Bolt are a heck of a lot of fun to shoot, and really quite accurate.   A bit on the slow side, but still fun.   The Shotgun is rather flippy with it's recoil, but not at all unpleasant or hard to control.

And Texas Red could not clear leather...

I have been wanting to pick up a lightning in .45 Colt. What brand is yours? How do you like it? Action work? 

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11 hours ago, Rube Burrows said:

I have been wanting to pick up a lightning in .45 Colt. What brand is yours? How do you like it? Action work? 

 

I grew up loving Winchesters.   Never thought anything would supplant them in my heart.

I first wanted to get a Lightning, just to have one.   To my shock, it has become my favorite main match rifle that I am better with than anything else.

 

This one is an AWA.   I had the chance to compare the Taurus, which had an action that I can only describe as trying to pull two pieces of sandpaper across each other, the Beretta, which while smooth seemed very clunky to me, and this the AWA which was smooth and solid feeling.  I bought the AWA and have never looked back.

I have discovered that you need to keep it clean.  Once I went too many matches without doing so, and there as so much gunk in the firing pin channel that I was getting failures to fire.  Some Gunscrubber cured that, and ever since its always clean after every match and that problem has never resurfaced.   After using it for a few years, something internal did break but I turned it over to Lassiter who fixed it right up and it has been back to fine ever since.

The experience with the dirty channel made me want to get another one in .44-40.   A couple of years ago, I found another AWA in that caliber, and I bought it.   The chamber was kind of tight, so I had a gunsmith ream it out a bit, and now everything is fine.   It also had a spacer in the magazine that limited capcity to ten rounds that also made loading the last two a chore.  Took that out, and it's been fine ever since.

 

Since then my affection for the Lightning has lead me to acquire a real Colt in .32-20.   A real Colt in .22 Long, another real Colt in .44-40 that is Costa Rica army surplus and even has a bayonet lug, which I really wanna find, and an AWA Lightning Bold pistol in .45 Colt.   I have a desire to get a large frame Colt as well.   But they are expensive.   

The Lightning Bug is a dangerous ailment.   If it afflicts you hard, you will never recover.   I would recommend the AWA, but they are gone, so you are talking used if you can find one.   Based on what I have read here on the Wire, the Pedersoli's are excellent.   The Taurus is a useful tomato stake, and the other brands are somewhere in between those two extremes.   Real Colts are supposedly hit or miss, but a have hit well with mine so far.   Of course, I real Colt can't be had in your caliber of choice.

Good luck.

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13 hours ago, H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 said:

 

I grew up loving Winchesters.   Never thought anything would supplant them in my heart.

I first wanted to get a Lightning, just to have one.   To my shock, it has become my favorite main match rifle that I am better with than anything else.

 

This one is an AWA.   I had the chance to compare the Taurus, which had an action that I can only describe as trying to pull two pieces of sandpaper across each other, the Beretta, which while smooth seemed very clunky to me, and this the AWA which was smooth and solid feeling.  I bought the AWA and have never looked back.

I have discovered that you need to keep it clean.  Once I went too many matches without doing so, and there as so much gunk in the firing pin channel that I was getting failures to fire.  Some Gunscrubber cured that, and ever since its always clean after every match and that problem has never resurfaced.   After using it for a few years, something internal did break but I turned it over to Lassiter who fixed it right up and it has been back to fine ever since.

The experience with the dirty channel made me want to get another one in .44-40.   A couple of years ago, I found another AWA in that caliber, and I bought it.   The chamber was kind of tight, so I had a gunsmith ream it out a bit, and now everything is fine.   It also had a spacer in the magazine that limited capcity to ten rounds that also made loading the last two a chore.  Took that out, and it's been fine ever since.

 

Since then my affection for the Lightning has lead me to acquire a real Colt in .32-20.   A real Colt in .22 Long, another real Colt in .44-40 that is Costa Rica army surplus and even has a bayonet lug, which I really wanna find, and an AWA Lightning Bold pistol in .45 Colt.   I have a desire to get a large frame Colt as well.   But they are expensive.   

The Lightning Bug is a dangerous ailment.   If it afflicts you hard, you will never recover.   I would recommend the AWA, but they are gone, so you are talking used if you can find one.   Based on what I have read here on the Wire, the Pedersoli's are excellent.   The Taurus is a useful tomato stake, and the other brands are somewhere in between those two extremes.   Real Colts are supposedly hit or miss, but a have hit well with mine so far.   Of course, I real Colt can't be had in your caliber of choice.

Good luck.

Thanks for all the info. Sounds like you have quite the collection of Lightnings. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hopefully, I'll get a chance to take my Cimarron/Chiappa '92 deer hunting this fall with Mike Harvey from Cimarron...he keeps telling me these stories of huge...yuge...YUGE whitetails frolicking around his property in Fredericksburg. We were gonna hunt last year, but Mr. Stupid Here got sick as a dog, and Mike laughingly told me there was no way he was getting in a deer stand with me!

 

Wolf Bane

SASS13357 

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