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Posted: 3/16/2010 3:24:59 PM EDT
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Well, my Chiappa m4-22 upper came in monday after noon at work. I opened it up and did a lil dance to the gun gods. This is the completion to my first AR so bare with me on the termonolgy and specs. I payed $325 plus $25 shipping to Fairbanks, AK from Marksarmory.com. A coworker of mine also ordered one for his Bushmaster to let his neighbors kids learn gun safety on.
The upper receiver is a polymer, and it seems pretty durable. The Chiappaloy barrel has a nice matte finish and looks to be durable enough for a .22lr. I immediatly threw on my Command arms poly handguard set. They have 2 rails at 12 and 6 oclock, which is all I will ever need and I like to KISS. The stock handguards are simply plastic handguards, no heat shield (not really needed with a 22). I had a cheap rear BUIS ready in anticipation. They are NCstar A2 style irons with a 0-2 peep and a 3+ peep. I dont plan on putting optics on it, and If I do it will be a Primary arms A3 knockoff but that will be later on. The first thing I noticed when putting it on my DPMS lower was the pin holes were super tight. I had to use a small rubber mallet to tap them in. I have since takin it down enough to get the rear pin in by hand, but to get it out, I still need mechanical help. Once I had it on the lower, I ops checked it, dry fired with some snap caps and it checked out great. I did notice once I looked down the rail to get a sight picture that the front gas block/sight was canted to the right. I loosened the set screw and got it level in a couple minutes, no biggie there. There are no big gaps or loose fitting parts anywhere. This is very tight and sturdy but only time will tell how true this stays in the long run. I immediatly broke it down and wiped it off, ran a bore snake through it, lubed it with Teflon based Remoil and reinstalled everything. The bolt comes right out, and its pretty substantial. The dust cover works but the FA is just a spring in a sealed tube to mess around with (Kind of like the gas tube on a 522). I ordered this with a 10 round mag so It would be easier to lug around for hunting. They are very easily made into 15 round mags by removing the plastic stops inside, Mwuahahahah. I already have a dozen or so BDM and CMMG mags for my Sig 522. Didnt have a whole lot of time last nigh to really do a thorough shoot but I did break it in with 200 rounds of Federal 525 blue box Bulk pack. I had 4 FTE's in 8 mags. No out of battery's, fail to fires or fail to feeds. It took all mags like a champ. The 4 FTE's all happened in the first 3 mags but after that it smoothed right out. I was aiming at a 2 liter bottle at 25 yards and was hitting it ever shot. I didnt have a target with me so I just used Kentucky windage until I can properly sight it in this afternoon. For $325, I am so far very impressed.. For those of us who do not want to spend $600 on a spikes or Tacsol, this is a very good way to go. Even if it only lasts me 5000 rounds, i will be happy. To be updated in a lil bit folks!!! Oh, I almost forgot... Pics!!!! http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g155/zac_squatch/P3150240.jpg In the Huey seat http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g155/zac_squatch/P3160243.jpg http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g155/zac_squatch/P3160244.jpg http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g155/zac_squatch/P3160245.jpg http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g155/zac_squatch/P3160246.jpg |
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Just got back from the range! I had several different types of 22 loads with me this time and a couple targets to sight it in.
Weather: Sunny, 20*F, light wind moving right to left peaking at 5ph Range: 25 Yards Sights: Iron Position: Sitting offhand (broken foot, couldnt stand) Here's the different loads I used and their results. CCI Mini Mag 40gr Copper plated round nose- No issues in 50 rounds Winchester Super X 37gr copper plated HP- 2 FTE's in 50 rounds WRS 40gr Subsonic lead round nose- No issues in 50 rounds Remington 40gr Subsonic Lead HP- 2 FTE's and 3 FTFire's in 50 rounds (Note: Bullet was loose in casing, rem ammo sucks in semiautos) Aguilla 60gr Subsonic Lead round nose- No issues in 50 rounds (BIG suprise here, I figured the long lead/shot brass heavy round would suck but it was awesome) Federal Gold Match 40gr lead round nose- No issues in 50 rounds Federal bulk pack 40gr copper plated HP- 3 FTE's in 100 rounds Mixed mags... I mixed brass and copper plated with lead, some round some HP of all different brands and loaded 2 mags.- No issues in 50 rounds I sighted the Irons in 6 shots.. The wind was light and I was probably pulling to the left on some of these as well. I used most of the targets for the round testing and the last one to get a 3 shot grouping. There are also 2 others there from me being a dumbass and shooting the wrong target. I am pretty impressed with it. These 3 I really slowed down and took my time. The rest were just a aim and go to test rounds. http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g155/zac_squatch/P3160250.jpg The others... http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g155/zac_squatch/P3160251.jpg http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g155/zac_squatch/P3160249.jpg And one of the FTE's I had.. http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g155/zac_squatch/P3160248.jpg I had issues with the brass getting stuck in the charging rod grove on the top of the bolt. I dont know why buty whenever I had a FTE they would get caught up there and I would Have to get pliers to get them out. All in all I am happy with this rifle. With cci I know i can have some fun and not worrry about too many issues. but its nice to know what else I can use such as the subsonics that wont cycle some semiautos. |
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With the current configuration with carry handle rail and loaded mag... It weighs just over 7 pounds, and its just a half a pound heavier than my sig 522.
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g155/zac_squatch/P3170254.jpg |
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Very nicely documented range report. At some point it would be nice to have this or another
report on the Chiappa in the sticky 22 Thread. Then it can be preserved for others to read after this or another thread has fallen to the lost pages of the rimfire index. Thanx for the Work you've done to introduce others to this upper. It comes at a great price. That can't be disputed. SpecOps-13 |
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Well, took it out again today. I didnt clean it since the 500 rounds tests yesterday just to see how itd do. After about round 700 it started FTE'n again so I pulled the bolt out, wiped it with a rem-oil wipe for a few minutes, ran it through the upper and slid it back in. Shot great the rest of the time!
Round count is now at 1150. I have had a total of 15 FTE's in that time. 12 of them were in the first 350 rounds. The last 700 rounds were Federal bulk pack with no cleaning and just 1 lube job inbetween. There were no FTE's in that 700 until round 68X.... After that, best start cleanin! |
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Quoted:
just ordered one as it was hard to turn down the $299 and free shipping from AIM. I had a spiked lower sitting around that I will soon make a dedicated .22 ar so i don't dirty up the others with the drop in kit. I just place my order from AIM last night. I was on the fence but decided to go for it when the price dropped. I got a buffer tube as well to complete my lower. I'm off all next week and am looking forward to making it to the range once or twice. |
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Quoted:
Yes, those exactly. I ordered an alignment tool from midway the day after I ordered the upper. Have a couple rifles that need this done. I already have a die that I use for chasing damaged threads, is the alignment tool necessary for threading one of these? |
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Quoted:
Yes.. I would strongly suggest it... Especially if your going to put a can on it... be a waste of a tax stamp and $400 if it was off... I probably won't ever put a can on it but I ordered the alignment tool since I needed some other stuff from Brownells anyways. Thanks again for the review. |
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