Posted: 7/15/2010 8:44:42 PM EDT
A friend of mine recently picked up a new Chiappa 1911-22 for his wife, and I had the liberty of giving it a trial run today.
At first look, straight out of the box, I was not impressed. The finish is not very pretty. There were several scratches on the brand new gun. It appears to be made very cheaply. 
The one magazine that it comes with is plastic, and has a seemingly weak spring. The rounds sit loosely in the mag. I took it to the range without giving it an initial cleaning. I shot a total of 100 rounds of CCI mini mags through it. The first mag didn't go well. I had to give the slide a bump to get the first round in the chamber. I had a FTF on the third round, and another before the mag was empty. There were a few more FTF and a few stovepipes in the next 40 rounds. That seemed to get it good and broken in, because there were no failures on the last 50 rounds. The manual does say it takes 200-300 round of good ammo through it for break-in. It never locked the slide back after the first round. I'm not sure if it was ever meant to, but it will hold it back if you pull the slide back on an empty mag. The trigger isn't great, and has a fair amount of creep, but it isn't as bad as I expected. The sights are hard to see. I shot it side-by-side with my Buckmark, which made the Chiappa look bad. I am not near as a shot with the Chiappa. I am not sure if the accuracy is that much worse, or if I am just not used to it. It is probably a combination of both. Here are some comparison shots with my 1911: 
It is thinner than a 1911, so it has a different feel. It is close to the same weight as a 1911, which was a bit surprising to me. It is not very fair to compare it to my custom 1911. If I were spending the money on a .22 handgun, I would choose a MKIII or a Buckmark over this any day. If I wanted something closer to my 1911, I would get a conversion kit. It does work though, and his wife should appreciate the easy slide and weak spring in the mag. |
| This thread is a couple months old now but it looks like you just saved me $258.xx. I've been away from the computer and guns in general for the past several months and never even knew such a pistol existed until I saw one in the case at my local crackdealer's funshop today. Was going to look it over but got sidetracked filling out the paperwork for my Romy PSL54. The one he had was two tone, flat dark earth/desert beige lower and black upper. Looked pretty good in the case. If it were full size instead of 15/16ths I probably would go back for a second look. |
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Quoted:
This thread is a couple months old now but it looks like you just saved me $258.xx. I've been away from the computer and guns in general for the past several months and never even knew such a pistol existed until I saw one in the case at my local crackdealer's funshop today. Was going to look it over but got sidetracked filling out the paperwork for my Romy PSL54. The one he had was two tone, flat dark earth/desert beige lower and black upper. Looked pretty good in the case. If it were full size instead of 15/16ths I probably would go back for a second look. You might want to check out the GSG-1911 if you do not like the Chalupa. |
I had bad luck with my cheepy sent it back for ftf fte failed to eject live rounds would pull halveway out of chamber then extractor would release it then when the slide closed the round would slide back in the chamber after sending it back 2 times for the same problem the dealer took it back By a GSG the one i have has 2000 rnds No problems  Don
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I got a Chiappa/Puma 1911-22 a while back ($250), so I thought I would report on it. I finally got a chance to do some mods on mine, that I learned about on other forums:
- buff and drill trigger - buff barrel "hood" - add hogue wrap-arounds - add adjustable rear sight (had one laying around), so no filing on the front sight. - trigger job. Now trigger breaks nicely at 3.5 lbs. It was about 7-8lbs - adjust extractor to grip better. Still needs more work...some occasional FTE issues. It shoots really well and has a nice, tight grouping. I would like to get the extraction to be more bulletproof. I learned a lot by doing a complete tear-down while working on the trigger. Nothing really difficult and now I understand the internals a whole lot better. Now I just need to get some more mags. I may also refinish it, since the paint finish is pretty cheap. Added:: I have completed some more mods to the Puma that really helped fix all the issues that I have. I worked a bit more on the extractor by giving the edge a shape that better resembles the sharp-edge extractors that Volquartsen sells for the 10/22 and 597. This shape helped the extractor slide into place better and grab more of the rim. Now, when I cycle the slide slowly by hand, the shell actually stays in place, pinned against the bolt face until it hits the ejector. Before, there was so much space that the shell would just fall out. This change makes extraction much more reliable than before. http://www.chiappafirearms.com/sites/default/files/manuals/Exploded_view_1911-22.pdf Then, I went after an annoyance that I have. When one attempts to disassemble this pistol and removes the grip panel (left side), the plunger tube falls out of place quite easily, the plunger and spring will shoot out, and the slide safety bar and spring will fall out. So, parts fly all over the place if I you are not very careful. Also, this requires that the grip panels fit well enough to pin the tube in place, making it harder to use some replacement grips. So, I used JB Weld (2-part metal epoxy) and I glued the plunger tube in place and clamped it overnight. If you do this, REMEMBER to put the slide safety bar in place underneath first or you are really in a pickle. It worked quite well for me, however, and the plunger tube now acts like a proper one that has been staked to the frame. There is really no need to ever remove it or the safety bar, so you are free to remove and replace the grips with far more ease than before. I am very happy with the performance of this pistol now and I really enjoy shooting it. I have about 500 rounds thru it so far, The trigger is sweet. 
added:: I also just got a GSG 1911 ($320), so I got to give it a good comparison test. The GSG 1911 is very nice. It shoots really well and feels more like a real 1911. It is just as accurate as the Puma and requires less tinkering to get dependable ejection. It has a lot of parts that are compatible with real 1911s and it disassembles in a more standard manner. However, during take-down, an extra pin and a hex bolt must be removed as well as the slide release. The only thing I really didn't like was the heavy trigger pull (7lbs), and the magazine disconnect that prevents it from firing with the mag out. I removed the spring and bar that comprises the mag disconnect, and it dropped the trigger pull to 4lbs. So, now it behaves more predictably like a 1911 and the trigger feels better. Overall, I think I prefer the GSG and would select it, if I had to choose only one. I still need to put a lot more rounds thru both to get a feeling for durability. I have about 300 rounds thru it so far and it behaves admirably. It holsters perfectly in my 1911 leather and is great to practice with. It also looks nice. 
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