Chaparral 1873 Revolvers

[BCRider]

To leadslinger and merkalerk I thank you for some feedback.

As these would be a cartridge back up for cowboy shooting when I don't feel like messin' with black powder or Pyrodex in the Remingtons I was hoping to not spend a ton of money on them. And since I'm a tinkerer I don't mind massaging them a little to get them feeling right.

I'll likely dive in and get a couple over the winter.

 

[merkelerk]

Chaparral SAA

A bit more info now that I have spent some time with my Chaparral SAA.

-Underside of top strap is sharp, stone this or you will scratch the cylinder when removing/installing.

-Front blade sight fell off when I removed the gun from the holster at the loading table (Cowboy Action shoot) very embarrassing, had no glue with me and thus, could not hit anything that day without front sight. I have since repaired the front sight (JB Weld) and all is well.

-Some frame screws were loose out of the box, nothing serious but should be checked.

-Screws are soft, use quality screw drivers of the correct size.

-A light stoning of all internals makes it nice and smooth, trigger needed no work as the pull was nice, no creep and quite crisp.

Using identical loads (225 grain lead flat nose conical over 5.9 grains titegroup) my Old model Vaquero shoots 1" low and the Chaparral shoots 1" high from point of aim. Likely due to the lower recoil in the heavier Vaquero.

I have not used any of the other Italian clones so I can't make the comparison, but the Chaparral shoots very well, windage was and still is perfect right out of the box, as for elevation, I'm not going to start monkeying with my pet loads to compensate for the lighter gun in my right holster compared to the heavier gun in the left holster.

I am quite pleased with this gun and would buy another.