I've been happy with my Little Badger but I didn't buy a $200 .22 with BRNO quality expectations. It's cheap, light and simple that's why it's 200 bucks. It shoots straight and actually has a great trigger for such a cheap gun.
Single shot break open
- Thread starter birdbuff
- Start date
Stevens Favorite's would be a pretty sweet single shot to find that might suit your father in law's tastes.
In this fast paced and getting faster world, a nice reasonably priced falling block .22lr would be cool.
The Little Badger with wood stock is probably the easiest thing to find right now, there was one on the EE last week.
In this fast paced and getting faster world, a nice reasonably priced falling block .22lr would be cool.
The Little Badger with wood stock is probably the easiest thing to find right now, there was one on the EE last week.
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- Location
- West coast of Vancouver Island
- Location
- Steel Town
Look for a mini-Martini converted to 22?
Yeah, with all the tweaks and mods I've put into mine, making it such a reliable and fun little backpack rifle, the only way I'd pass is along to someone else would be if someone came out with a 'deluxe' version where the receiver was made of better metal. Not that the 'zamac' alloy isn't behaving well. But I'd love one made from proper steel. Especially stainless steel. Unlikely to happen, so I'm happy enough to keep the one I have.
That's what I got from your post. You were disappointed, in fact so dissappointed you couldn't even share your issues.
Your not the first to have issues with your Little Badger, seems to be a chiappa thing, poor quality control or consistency from gun to gun. That's one reason I'm reluctant to spend over a grand on their lever actions. For the cost of the Little Badger mine has good accuracy and is handy lite weight hunting companion for grouse.
It's not a gun I shoot a lot though.
Sorry, guess I interpreted it the way I did because a) I really enjoy shooting mine, after all the changes I made, most done before ever firing a shot with it, and b) because the way you phrased it seemed not to account for future enemies upon whom foisting such a vile object might be fun. But hey, to each his own. I'm a relentless tinkerer. Love changing guns (and pretty much everything else) in ways that suit me and make them more reliable and fully functional. So when I ordered the Badger it was like ordering a $175 piece of wood, from which I might make a chair - I saw it as raw material with potential. At that price what else could it be? In 2020 it would seem a bit naive to expect a sub-$200 rifle to actually work well as supplied.
For me the cut-off for that sort of expectation is around $2,000. If I buy a $2,000+ gun, such as my Pardini K12 air pistol, I expect perfect function for years and years, for tens of thousands of shots without the need for more than basic cleaning. My Pardini cost me $2,300, and didn't need a thing done to it for well over 100,000 shots in about 7 years, after which the cylinders started leaking, so I ordered the O-ring kit and replaced all the seals, now it'll be good for another bunch of years of boringly accurate shooting.
My TNW ASR carbine cost a bit over $800, and as such I had middling expectations. Didn't expect anything to break, but didn't expect to love shooting it right out of the box either, not at that bargain price for an American made gun. I put quite a bit of time and a few hundred dollars into making it better, for me, and now consider it not too far below the Pardini in terms of reliability and precision. Same for a few air rifles and a couple of .22lr rifles. I know what I'm capable of doing in metal, know that if it's not right I can probably make it better than good enough, and I enjoy doing the work. Different perspective, that's all.
As with the TNW, I'm not trying to make excuses for Chiappa. If I were running that company I'd not likely sell the Little Badger nor most of the rest of what they sell. Their higher end lever action rifles seem quite nicely made, but I've not handled one so can't say much there. But cheap stuff doesn't interest me. I'd turn the craftsmen to making precision tools, and turn the ad men to encouraging people to save a bit more for something worthwhile. Most consumers aren't comfortable with improving firearms. Such is the time we live in. Education is hitting very low levels. People are graduating from high schools with zero woodworking skills, something we used to regard as basic education. So it goes.
No question, the plastic sights on the Little Badger are garbage. Took those off immediately, didn't even look down them, no point when something is so poorly made. And in taking off the rear sight I found it had broken in transit - apparently bumped into the triangular box edge and cracked. But I'd not intended to use them as these eyes need scopes on rifles. Same for the flimsy plastic rails. Gone, the top one replaced with aluminum and 3 good bolts after removing the barrel and drilling/tapping larger holes, the rest replaced by a small custom ebony forend.
