Anny 1886 disassembly experts?

[Mint]

There is a problem with my Chiappa 1886 that Chiappa has failed to help me with, they want me to ship the gun away for like half a year.

Before I'd do that, I would try to take the gun apart myself... but given how much I've heard how difficult this gun is to take apart/put together, that's not something I want to do unless it's an absolute last resort.

I thought that must have been exaggerated until I saw this video... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3fgm3RJn0Q

Watched that and thought "yikes". Doable, but I dont have hours right now to mess around with this

The problem is that many times the loading gate wont fully open, it opens halfway until i either SLAM the lever or put the hammer all the way down. You might think 'well just load it after firing'... thats fine, but at the range sometimes I will load at different times while it's rested up on the bags. It's overall an extreme nuisance.

Does anyone know specifically if I could possibly fix this without taking it all apart? What could cause this? If I do have to take it apart, what exact piece of which part do you think I should polish or whatever?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/r86deemxkek9eyg/1.mov?dl=0

Edit I just compared play in lever to my Miroku 1886. This shows how loose it is too... on my Miroku its so tight fitting you cant even jiggle the lever more than 1cm. Maybe something is way wrong with it?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kqj2auhjnfhcrze/2.mov?dl=0

[John Taylor]

Your picture shows the right cartridge guide is not installed right. This will block the loading gate from moving in. Guide may have the end broke off. It fits in a notch in the right locking lug and goes up when the lever is closed.

[pietro]

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If it was my gun, and didn't want to suffer the long warranty wait time, or do it myself, I would take it to a real gunsmith (not some AR parts-changer) for the repair.

[Mint]

Your picture shows the right cartridge guide is not installed right. This will block the loading gate from moving in. Guide may have the end broke off. It fits in a notch in the right locking lug and goes up when the lever is closed.

interesting, so is it the 1st video or the 2nd video youre referring to? I'm trying to see where a right cartridge guide would be. Thanks!

[Mint]

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If it was my gun, and didn't want to suffer the long warranty wait time, or do it myself, I would take it to a real gunsmith (not some AR parts-changer) for the repair.

sadly no gunsmiths around where I live. There is one good one but I believe his wait time is 2 months. The rest all AR and 6.5 creedmore bois.

[.45colt]

John Taylor hit the nail on the head . go to you tube and search for "downeast Gun works" disassembly of an original 1886 . at about 15:08 in the video He shows how the cartridge guide fits into the right locking block. it appears the one in your gun is broken or never installed right from the start. the guide shouldn't flop around when the gun is together. I hope this helps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTywA_y0sPA&t=353s

[Mint]

John Taylor hit the nail on the head . go to you tube and search for "downeast Gun works" disassembly of an original 1886 . at about 15:08 in the video He shows how the cartridge guide fits into the right locking block. it appears the one in your gun is broken or never installed right from the start. the guide shouldn't flop around when the gun is together. I hope this helps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTywA_y0sPA&t=353s

Wow ! Thank you for that video... so just so I'm 100% getting what you are saying, when he says "the arm" is that what you are referring to as the "cartridge guide"? The arm that fits into the right locking block. Very interesting, thank you so much, I'm going to take the loading door off again and look again

[Mint]

Ok i see exactly what you meant. i caleld Chiappa and he said that's how theyre designed when he took a few of them apart. he said theres a tiny piece on the back of the loading gate that stops it from going down too far... and when the gate is off they seem to do that.

I dont know if thats just sloppy machining or if thats true. I definitely notice the miroku 86 doesnt have that "feature", it always stays in the block.

He said the stuck loading gate is probably not related to that, and is probably a burr

[Bazoo]

If they did design it to be held by the loading gate, maybe it has to be just so when reinstalling the loading gate?

[.45colt]

It would now seem to Me that they re-designed the cartridge guide on these rifles. Lord knows whats going on. I had a USRAC Legacy Rifle that was a total piece of junk . it looked like a million $$ but function like total CR*#. I hope you can get it running as I know Your pain. Good Luck!
To explain what I'm talking about is that when these companies make changes to the design of John Browning they are seldom good. The USRAC rifle I'm speaking about had the tang safety and rebounding hammer and was sprung so hard it was near impossible to use.

[ATCDoktor]

I just pulled the loading gate of my Chiappa 1886 (a Ridge Runner) and confirmed what the OP has shared about the re design of the cartridge guide.

There is a protrusion on the backside of the loading gate that holds the cartridge guide in its proper orientation.

That identified, I’ll share that I have used Chiappa’s warranty service twice my their 1886.

The first issue was that the hammer would follow the bolt home about 30% of the time.

I sent it back and they turned it around in less than a month.

I was back up and shooting in very a short time.

The second issue I had was (my rifle was a takedown version) and the two halves of the rifle somehow loosened during firing came “off face” and a moderately heavy load bulged the chamber.

That time the rifle went all the way back to Italy for inspection/repair and they (Chiappa) replaced it as there was a flaw in the way the takedown function “locked”.

That ride to Chiappa took more than a year (during the height of Covid) but eventually I got a new rifle in return.

Now, I’m not dogging Chiappa guns or their (Chiappa’s) warranty.

On the contrary, I’m trying to share that they will take care of you within the warranty time limit for their rifle (it ain’t a lifetime warranty).

As far as my Chiappa 1886 is concerned, it was a T&E gun passed around at SHOT show sent to YouTuber’s and gun writers, taken on hunts and shot considerably before I bought it (there is no telling how many rounds were fired through it before I got it) .

My LGS got 8 of their T&E guns in for resale (all ridge runners, 4 stainless and 4 blued) and was selling them for $799 for the blued ones and $899 for the stainless ones and I snatched one up before they were all purchased.

My second rifle has been problem free through many hundreds of rounds and I’ve used it to take quite a few hogs.

I urge the OP to send the rifle in for repair or replacement as Chiappa will take care of you.

Gratuitous pics of my Ridge Runner:

[Mint]

Now thats a hog blaster

[ATCDoktor]

Now thats a hog blaster

Yeah, this one is great rifle although not as accurate with my handloads as the first one I had.

Like I said before, I urge you to send your 1886 back to Chiappa.

Point out the slop in the finger lever bolt interface and the loading gate issue and have them fix it.

Even with this new nonsense with shippers changing the way they handle firearms shipping a rifle isn’t that big of a deal.

I just got a rifle back from a gunsmith this past week, he shipped ot straight to my home via ups.

No issues.

Make them send you a shipping label and send it off.

[Mint]

Yeah, this one is great rifle although not as accurate with my handloads as the first one I had.

Like I said before, I urge you to send your 1886 back to Chiappa.

Point out the slop in the finger lever bolt interface and the loading gate issue and have them fix it.

Even with this new nonsense with shippers changing the way they handle firearms shipping a rifle isn’t that big of a deal.

I just got a rifle back from a gunsmith this past week, he shipped ot straight to my home via ups.

No issues.

Make them send you a shipping label and send it off.

Do you know who you talked to at Chiappa? Did you email a specific email or talk to a specific person? I want to talk to the same person. Im talking with a guy there but im pretty sure he is annoyed with my questions, and I have a feeling if i submit the RMA through him hes going to just not write all my complaints (the slop, the loading gate, etc). He has gotten irritated on the phone because I basically have asked everything in this thread, and have tried to show videos, etc. As if me paying $1500 for a gun means I just shouldnt care... or just 'deal with it' or something. He did offer me to get it expedited though so i definitely appreciated that.

[ATCDoktor]

Mint, I just went through all my emails back to before I purchased the original rifle and I can’t find anything pertaining to my interactions with the Chiappa repair center here in the U.S. (which I strange because I have a folder that where I keep all that stuff).

I could have done all the email back and forth from my work email but all those emails are auto purged after a certain amount of time.

That said, the bulk of my interaction with Chiappa was via the phone.

I called them, explained the problem and they sent a shipping label so there’s not going to be anything of an email nature besides them sending me a shipping label.

I cannot remember who it was I spoke to but I’ll share that the “vibe” I got from my dealings with the one person I spoke to was that their entire stateside repair service was a “one man” show.

I don’t think there’s anyone there to interact with besides the “one guy”.

My recommendation is that you call him back, ask for a shipping label and box it up with a detailed letter identifying everything you think is wrong with it and request repair everything he can.

The way these things work is that you get in a line when you ship a gun off to a one man shop for repair.

They receive your gun, log it in and it sits till all the guns ahead of yours that can be repaired with parts on hand get repaired.

By the time your gun gets repaired he’s (depending on how frustrated he got with you) most probably forgotten about any negative interactions he’s had with you.

If he’s offered to expedite your rifle through the system all the better.

The one thing you might want to focus on is that you may have frustrated him by asking a lot of questions and trying his patience but yours is not the worst phone call he’s gotten reference an expensive rifle that’s not up to a customer’s expectations.

If he can, he should be happy to make it right for you (unless you were really horrible on the phone which I doubt you were).

[Mint]

Thanks, that makes me feel good. I appreciate that, you are supremely helpful. Castboolits truly is worlds beyond any other forum in terms of quality and help. Thank you!

[John Taylor]

interesting, so is it the 1st video or the 2nd video you'r referring to? I'm trying to see where a right cartridge guide would be. Thanks!

First video. The little arm that you see with the loading gate removed is supposed to go up with the locking lug. There is a cutout in the locking lug that the arm ( cartridge guide) fits in. The part that you were talking about is the carrier which has a spring on it to hold it up or down.

[John Taylor]

A little more thought on this. The guide could have fallen down when you took the loading gate off. The problem with the carrier is the spring is not snapping it down when the bolt is closed. Sometimes a drop of oil is all that is needed.
When you put the loading gate back on drop the lever all the way down and lift the guide up so it goes into the notch one the locking lug, then raise the lever and make sure the guide is where it should be. The spring on the carrier may be a leaf spring or coil spring with plunger. If you take the butt stock off you should be able to get a little oil on it and work it a few times to make sure it is moving properly.

[Mint]

A little more thought on this. The guide could have fallen down when you took the loading gate off. The problem with the carrier is the spring is not snapping it down when the bolt is closed. Sometimes a drop of oil is all that is needed.
When you put the loading gate back on drop the lever all the way down and lift the guide up so it goes into the notch one the locking lug, then raise the lever and make sure the guide is where it should be. The spring on the carrier may be a leaf spring or coil spring with plunger. If you take the butt stock off you should be able to get a little oil on it and work it a few times to make sure it is moving properly.

Awesome thanks, Ill try that today (oiling the spring).

[oldbear1950]

I have a chance to get the deluxe version of their 1886 with the 26 inch octagon barrel, at a fair price, do any of you have any experience with that model?