Three Foot Johnson Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 I came across this Chiappa Little Sharps .22 and 3x Malcolm scope on Gunbroker a couple weeks ago, and the seller was less than two hours away, so I bid on it, won it, and drove down to Ennis to get it Wednesday morning. I think Chiappa and the Little Sharps Rifle Company of Big Sandy, MT are the only two who ever made these sized down versions...? The Chiappa has been marketed as the Ideal by Lyman, the Half Pint by Taylors, and simply the Little Sharps by Charles Daly, while the Big Sandy version was purchased by Dakota Arms, and has since been discontinued, I believe. While in Montana, the Big Sandy Sharps was hand built by two master gunsmiths, production was quite limited, and they were considerably more expensive than the Chiappa, like 5x as much - I've actually only laid eyes on a single one, a .38-55. I don't have much in the way of match .22's on hand right now, but it shoots sub-3" hundred yard groups easy enough with 25+ year old Federal bulk pack ammo. Compared to one of my Pedersoli's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixgun Sheridan Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 But, but... does it take Glock mags??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigger Mike Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 I saw that and one in 22 mag and wondered if they were any good. I once owned their 1911-22 and it wasn't any good but they did fix it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 33 minutes ago, Sixgun Sheridan said: But, but... does it take Glock mags??? Yes, all the best guns do. Pat - what couldn’t help myself- Riot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rye Miles #13621 Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 That is one cool rifle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 I really like the idea of that little gun, but I have distrusted Chiappa ever since the 1876 Winchester replicas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Three Foot Johnson Posted September 10, 2021 Author Share Posted September 10, 2021 1 minute ago, Alpo said: I really like the idea of that little gun, but I have distrusted Chiappa ever since the 1876 Winchester replicas. That was Chaparral. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perro Del Diablo Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 1 hour ago, Trigger Mike said: I saw that and one in 22 mag and wondered if they were any good. I once owned their 1911-22 and it wasn't any good but they did fix it. How by melting it down? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 I have a Savage model of the Stevens Favorite .22. What a great little single shot. I would like to get one of those as well @Three Foot Johnson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 retail on those Chiappas are a mite pricey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Gun Barney, SASS #2428 Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 Nice rifle, would love to have one of those. The only single shot 22 I have at the moment is a Daisy that I have had for at least 30 years, it is made of plastic and looks like a pellet gun. It has a short stock and an extendable butt plate, so it works great when introducing young kids to shooting, and it has done so to more kids than I can remember. But it doesn't look awesome like that Little Sharps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 My "Little Sharps" .22 is a four barrel 1-a model copy by Uberti and imported many years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigger Mike Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 1 hour ago, Perro Del Diablo said: How by melting it down? Actually great customer service. Got it running right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Three Foot Johnson Posted September 12, 2021 Author Share Posted September 12, 2021 I've got one of those Chiappa 1911-22's too, and... oof. It works relatively well with hi-vel stuff, like Stingers, but standard velocity stuff - fuggetaboutit. I went to Scheel's in Great Falls yesterday with a pocket full of credit card rewards cards, and they had a shelf full of Eley, so I bought 250 rounds each of Target, Club, and Semi Auto Bench Rest - they didn't have Tenex or Match. The Semi Auto Bench Rest was about on par with the Federal bulk pack, the Club a little better, and the Target down to around 1 5/8" to 1 3/4" five shot groups @ 100 yards. It just wouldn't quite make the 1 1/2" mark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted September 12, 2021 Share Posted September 12, 2021 On 9/10/2021 at 1:16 PM, Three Foot Johnson said: That was Chaparral. Maybe I got lucky because my Chaparral 76 works just fine and the only issues I had were a loose lever (fixed with a shim) and when I had my bird engraved on the receiver the engraver said it was the hardest case hardening he ever encountered. It was even a bulls eye buster at 100 yards right out of the box: eight inch groups, and with my glasses I wasn't that good in those days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Three Foot Johnson Posted September 12, 2021 Author Share Posted September 12, 2021 On my first Chaparral, a .40-60, the hammer would catch in the half cock notch if the trigger were squeezed instead of jerked, the side plates were almost too short to reach their corresponding dovetails in the frame and one of them was bowed out in the middle, head space was such that most rounds required two or more hammer strikes to set 'em off, and the thing was horribly inaccurate - I tried eight different bullet weights/styles, both cast and jacketed, as well as a dozen smokeless powders and black powder, and still the bullets were tumbling completely sideways at the the fifteen yard line. The bore slugged .406" & cast bullets were appropriately sized. For jacketed bullets, I used .410" .41 mag bullets swaged down to .406". Fifty yard "groups" were in excess of eight feet with all combinations. After a few emails back & forth to Nick Ecker at Charter Arms, the rifle was eventually replaced with a .45-75 at my request. Rifle #2 had a whole host of other fun & entertaining problems; cartridges wouldn't extract, the extractor groove in the barrel was so far off, the extractor hit the edge of it when the bolt closed, ill-fitting side plates, ridiculously rough bore, and accuracy only marginally better than rifle #1. It, too, was returned and replaced yet again with another .45-75. The third one was within my capabilities to fix the mechanical problems, but it wouldn't shoot any better than 12-16" groups at a hundred yards. I went clear down to 265 grain bullets and up to 405's. Every now and then I'd get it out and try something different, then one day I had been shooting my Sharps w/535 grain Postells, and thought, "I've been way out of the envelope on the low side with that '76, how about the high side"... I loaded up some 500 grain round nose GC bullets, seated deep enough to cycle, and they did the trick, giving me ~3" groups with nice round holes. There is an older, eight page thread on CAS City relating to all the problems encountered with the Chaparral 1876. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gateway Kid SASS# 70038 Life Posted September 13, 2021 Share Posted September 13, 2021 16 hours ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said: Maybe I got lucky because my Chaparral 76 works just fine and the only issues I had were a loose lever (fixed with a shim) and when I had my bird engraved on the receiver the engraver said it was the hardest case hardening he ever encountered. It was even a bulls eye buster at 100 yards right out of the box: eight inch groups, and with my glasses I wasn't that good in those days. Apparently you and I are the only ones who have working chaparral 45-60’s. No problems with mine, factory sights deliver about 7-8 inch groups at 100 to 150. Construction was ok especially in light of its original $750 price. Only reason I don’t shoot it more is because I don’t shoot much long range of any kind these days. Regards Gateway Kid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigger Mike Posted September 13, 2021 Share Posted September 13, 2021 I like their little badger 22 mag and the bigger badger that shoots 410/22mag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted September 13, 2021 Share Posted September 13, 2021 2 hours ago, Gateway Kid SASS# 70038 Life said: Apparently you and I are the only ones who have working chaparral 45-60’s. No problems with mine, factory sights deliver about 7-8 inch groups at 100 to 150. Construction was ok especially in light of its original $750 price. Only reason I don’t shoot it more is because I don’t shoot much long range of any kind these days. Regards Gateway Kid My biggest issue is finding .45-60 ammo for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gateway Kid SASS# 70038 Life Posted September 13, 2021 Share Posted September 13, 2021 When I bought it it, the gun came with a 20 round box of correctly headstamped 45-60 ammo, 40 rounds of reloaded (smokeless) correct headstamp and 40 rounds of 45-70 cut to 45-60. All have been fired and reloaded a couple times (maybe three times). Only issue was I tried some BP loads and they were very, very sticky to get to eject. Did I mention they were really sticky? Could have been my reloading could have been the gun never really followed up. Nothing but smokeless since. Always bothered me because I was told the 45-60 was a BP gun and I felt it should have done better. I did enjoy it when I shot it and now am thinking I should dig it out and try again. Nothing like a five hundred pound gun to tame recoil (for the correctness guys thats a slight exaggeration) Regards Gateway Kid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Three Foot Johnson Posted September 14, 2021 Author Share Posted September 14, 2021 Obviously Chaparrals couldn't have been all THAT bad, or they would have gone out of business years ago... ... wait a minute... ... they did! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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