Chaparral Arms SAA

[41 Colt]

Chaparral Arms SAA clone from Marstar. I got it in .357mag because I reload for it and I wanted a plinking version of my Antique Colt SAA.

Decent gun for a decent price, total price was $417 with tax & shipping. Overall a nice looking gun, the case hardened frame is cool looking. Fit and finish could improve in a few areas. The front sight staking isn't that great, a gap is clearly present as noted in a picture, and the area around the trigger guard is rough and has some tool marks.

Another issue was the firing pin was hitting the bushing initially, but removing the firing pin's retaining pin and adjusting it's position fixed this.

The action is a little rough, but getting better the more I work it. Trigger pull is real nice, very light, nothing like my Colt which probably has a 15lb trigger pull (but buttery smooth action, it's unbelievable).

One other thing is the grips are alot fatter than the grips on my Colt. They don't have the swept in contouring, but I am getting used to them. The fit to the frame is very nice, I should point out.

Haven't shot it but will report back with that.

Here it is with the real deal, circa 1895 Antique (un-registered ) model 1873 Colt SAA in .41LC, worth about 10x what I paid for the Chaparral.

 

[leadslinger]

I bought two last Summer in .45 colt.
The roughness was in mine till i polished the bolt.
Both had the same issue with firing pins catching
or draging in the flash hole as you discribed.
other than that great guns for the price.
I use them for regular CAS,
so time will tell if they stand the test of time.

 

[BCRider]

Excellent thread. I was wondering about these since I'm thinking of getting one or perhaps two as backups to my newly acquired Uberti percussion Remingtons. Just for those days when I'm not in tune with the whole cap and ball reloading issue.

 

[Moose_Master]

Thank you for posting about this gun. I was curious too about.

 

[fingers284]

Look perty good ta me. Colors even looks better than Uberti.

Don't know if it's true or not but i've been told that they are built by the same tradesmen that built Uberti's for years and were squeezed out when Beretta bought them out and started using thier own inhouse people.

 

[Olof]

I had asked some questions about these revolvers some time ago. Thanks for posting this!

 

[41 Colt]

I shot it today along with my S&W .357. It shot low, but it seemed like I felt less recoil with this gun. I'll need to adjust the front site to my loads.

 

[BCRider]

Careful. I've noticed that when shooting a mix of .357Mag and .38Spl in my S&W's that the mag rounds consistently hit low. It was explained to me by a long time shooter that this is normal because the magnum leaves the barrel sooner before it has lifted as far.

Try some .38Spl before you trim the sight. You may well find that it shoots nicely to POA. And since most of these will be used for .38Spl loads in cowboy events it makes sense to have set up the sights for this load.

 

[41 Colt]

I was shooting .38spl.

 

[pontcanna]

Had my Chaparral (bought new from a CGN'er) out to the range today. Figured out my handloads have to be a little more in spec (one chamber in particular seemed tighter than the others, though accepted factory loads without a problem). But the main problem was the firing pin rivet (part #19 on most Colt single action schematics) shifted outward during shooting and as a result bent against the frame when the hammer went forward. Now I'm stuck trying to find a replacement. Hoping that Marstar will help, as that's where the gun originated (and was never shot until today). Anybody else experienced this?