Chiappa Firearms, M4-.22

[cswhitfield]

I was at F.P. Army/Navy yesterday and saw a nice looking 1911-.22 made by Chiappa.  I have never heard of Chiappa Firearms.  They were very busy so I did not get a chance to ask about it.  Came home and looked them up on the net.  Chiappa is based in Ohio.  I noticed they also manufacture a M4 .22 as well as a dedicated .22 M4 upper. 

Does anyone have any experience with their products, especially the M4-.22?  I'm wondering would this be a good choice for those that prefer AR style rifles?

Craig

[aragornelessar86]

I've not actually used any of their stuff, but I got to handle all the stuff in their booth at SHOT last year and it was all quality product. Nice tight manufacturing and good fit and finish. If they shoot as good as they feel and look they should be well worth the money.

[dronning]

They are all manufactured at their plant in Italy, Ohio is their import operation.

I bought one of their M4 uppers for $300.  I wanted one for my AR so I could practice with cheap 22lr ammo.  It is very light since the receiver is made out of polymer but worked ok and accuracy was acceptable.  A few months later I bought a CMMG upper which is well worth the extra $50 all aluminum receiver, better barrel - very accurate.

Putting the Chiappa on a lower for my grandson.

Dave

[cswhitfield]

Yeah, after the original post I went back to their site and discovered that they are in Italy and MKS the distributor is in Ohio. DUH! .  I hope someone with experience with their M4-.22 will chime in.  I found a youtube video, two actually, but they did not provide much.  As a side note, I watched a couple of other youtubes on firearms.  Folks there are some real dunces out there.  It's scary!

craig

[Morpheus]

Does anyone have any experience with their products, especially the M4-.22?  I'm wondering would this be a good choice for those that prefer AR style rifles?

I would say "Don't Buy." Do some more research.

I purchased the Chiappa M4-.22 upper in September for my daughter. As I was sighting it in after about 15 rounds I had one explode(out-of-battery). I've never had a .22 round "ring my bell" before. I thought it was a barrel obstruction at first but after a thorough cleaning I found nothing wrong. I proceeded with the break-in and another 20 rounds later had another round explode.

That was enough.

I called ATI (the importer) and I also talked to the Chiappa rep. in Ohio. After explaining the situation his(the Chiappa rep's) first question to be was more of a statement, "You were using Remington ammo, right?" Why yes . . . yes I was. He made it sound like that was a common problem with Remington. Common Problem??!! And there is no mention of this in the owner's manual? I was almost as stunned as when those two rounds rocked my world the previous day.

Well, I tried a different ammo and didn't experience any more exploding shells. But I did take notice that each spent casing had a bulge at the rim directly opposite the firing pin. I talked about this to the guys at the gun shop were I bought it and after trying two other uppers that they had onhand we had the same results, bulging casings. The bulge is a perfect impression of the feed ramp. I sent it back to ATI. They said they could fix it and when I got it back in December it wouldn't fire more than one or two shells before jamming. They have it now(again) and I don't have any resolution to the problem yet. They said they would make it right but I don't yet know what that means.

I was pleased with its performance after I put the Remingtons away. It really was grouping well, but I didn't like the thought of bulging casings. I wish now that I would have put a little more effort into researching .22 uppers. As dronning stated, the extra $$ for the CMMG seams like a bargain to me now.

I'm sorry for the long story. I just wanted to qualify my "Buy/ Don't Buy" opinion.

Good Luck!

Steve