Chiappa Mare's Leg came apart, cant find parts.

Kenyon

Kenyon

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Wetaskiwin County, Alberta
I was shooting my Chiappa mares leg and the barrel band screw broke, and it kinked the magazine tube. I've been trying to find parts but I'm having no luck. Any suggestions?

Western gun parts says they dont keep Chiappa parts.

I've tried Grech outdoors, my local shop said that's where he has to go for Chiappa stuff. But it's been 4 months and I've gotten nowhere.

Bought the gun second hand so no warranty, but it only has about 75 rounds through it total. 50 from original owner and I think about 25 or 30 from me before the gun came apart.
 
It's unlikely that it's a unique screw that only fits in that rifle. Take the damaged screw to a fastener supply store and you'll probably be able to find a facsimile
 
wow sounds like a lot of damage, was it re assembled wrong?? I own 5 chiappas and they have never had a problem, i suspect foul play on yours
 
Yeah I'm fairly sure the previous owner overtightened the screw. Then firing it gripping on the forend caused it to move. I probably shot 10 rounds with it broken, or might have been broken right when I got it. Just took the paint off the recess in the tube, screw dimpled the tube just enough that the follower doesnt go freely past it. Definitely wasn't a squib.
 
Kenyon said:
Yeah I'm fairly sure the previous owner overtightened the screw. Then firing it gripping on the forend caused it to move. I probably shot 10 rounds with it broken, or might have been broken right when I got it. Just took the paint off the recess in the tube, screw dimpled the tube just enough that the follower doesnt go freely past it. Definitely wasn't a squib.
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I have a Chiappa TD Alaskan .357 12" and I think the screws are soft-ish. I'm sure one of the muzzle cap screws on mine is sort of stripped, although it's holding OK; I put some Loctite on it. I believe they're also metric and yes, a non-standard profile. Not surprised you got nowhere with Grech- I've heard nothing good about them here. If North Sylva is the importer they'd likely be your best bet. You could try Taylor Firearms in the US (the US importer) but there's that "border" thing that often makes getting even the simplest parts a PITA.

hunterhenderson said:
I own 5 chiappas and they have never had a problem
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Do you have a .357? I've not had much luck getting mine to shoot cast (Bullet Barn 158 RNFP) although it seems to do better with Hornady XTP (am going to use FP/XTP when I get a good load as I believe they're designed for rifle velocities.)
 
Kenyon said:
I was shooting my Chiappa mares leg and the barrel band screw broke, and it kinked the magazine tube. I've been trying to find parts but I'm having no luck. Any suggestions?

Western gun parts says they dont keep Chiappa parts.

I've tried Grech outdoors, my local shop said that's where he has to go for Chiappa stuff. But it's been 4 months and I've gotten nowhere.

Bought the gun second hand so no warranty, but it only has about 75 rounds through it total. 50 from original owner and I think about 25 or 30 from me before the gun came apart.
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Same happened to me during the first 14 rounds through my gun, broke into 3 pieces. I have 100 M3.5x0.6 machine screws on order from Acklands, which are likely the correct size screw from what I have been able to determine (along with josquin's help over in my thread). If you still need one I will have them around mid-April as long as Acklands doesn't stop getting shipments in and is open then, I would be able to letter mail the screw. The ones I have on order are 40mm and will need to be cut to length.
 
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Scarumanga said:
Same happened to me during the first 14 rounds through my gun, broke into 3 pieces. I have 100 M3.5x0.6 machine screws on order from Acklands, which are likely the correct size screw from what I have been able to determine (along with Hatzic's help over in my thread). If you still need one I will have them around mid-April as long as Acklands doesn't stop getting shipments in and is open then, I would be able to letter mail the screw. The ones I have on order are 40mm and will need to be cut to length.
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Yuk... they didn't have them in stock? Well, after all, we're technically a metric country, so that makes sense....:rolleyes:
Still, probably many orders of magnitude better than waiting for some distributor to get them.
 
Chiappa has lifetime warranty.
You dont need to be first owner.
I had a m1-9 and a 1911-22 fixed under warranty and didnt have to provide any proof of purchase.
Go to their website, print and fill in the form and ship the firearm to them.
 
MiniMe said:
Chiappa has lifetime warranty.
You dont need to be first owner.
I had a m1-9 and a 1911-22 fixed under warranty and didnt have to provide any proof of purchase.
Go to their website, print and fill in the form and ship the firearm to them.
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"...and ship the firearm to them." This is all good news, but it depends WHERE it's being shipped. If it's to Grech and if they are as hopeless as reports indicate, the warranty isn't all that useful. If someone needs a couple of screws and it takes Grech 6 months to get the screws..... The warranty is one thing but gettin service under it may well be the real problem!

But if you've had good customer service, then that's good news :)
 
I'm not sending my gun away for a barrel band screw, that's a little overkill. There's no reason they can't mail me a screw.
I reached out to a few gun shops in the US, one place is able to mail me a winchester replacement band screw, not sure on its fitment though.
 
Scarumanga said:
I'm not sending my gun away for a barrel band screw, that's a little overkill. There's no reason they can't mail me a screw.
I reached out to a few gun shops in the US, one place is able to mail me a winchester replacement band screw, not sure on its fitment though.
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I would bet it was stripped before you fired it.

I have the same Mare's Leg in .44 with a full stock (that shoots 3 MOA!). The comment above about Chiappas being junk is ignorant and unhelpful; I'm a home-shop machinist, and I have taken mine apart. I understand metallurgy and machining -- and I think Chiappa's levers are very well made -- but the screws are soft. It doesn't mean they are weak, just soft -- it's an engineering decision, not a cheap-out. It's way better to have a screw strip than a part strip, but it does mean knowing the torque specs (which is surprisingly low for such a small screw -- like 6 in/lbs).

I gather it's the handguard barrel band, not the muzzle end one.

If you can't get parts, here is what I would do....

Get a screw (imperial Win part). (I would actually make one, but...).

TIG weld the threaded hole in the barrel band and re-thread it. This will mess up the case colouring (or bluing) of the band, so I would play around with the TIG torch to try to match it somewhat -- or just heat blue the whole part. (Proper bluing isn't my thing).

For the dented mag tube.... Do you know a body man? Use a stud welder (google it) to pull the dent. I have one. I wouldn't bother fixing the finish under the handguard.... Well, I might cold-blue it, but it won't disappear.

I'm half tempted to help you out.
 
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Luckily it isn't stripped. The screw broke when shooting it. Threads are fully intact. So im trying to find a replacement screw made out of stainless ideally. I have a box of 100 M3.5-0.6 on order through acklands that should be a proper fit.
 
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