Puma .44-40

[BCRider]

The fact that it bent doesn't bode well for the future. Sadly your buddy's story isn't the first I've seen with Chiappa guns. If they spent half as much time on the insides as they do making the outside all bling'y they'd have a winner hands down. But they seem to cut corners on the inside all too often. I hope you and your buddy make this one work and that you don't have any future troubles. But I'll just keep looking at them and moving on.

It's a shame too since they make some very interesting stuff. But I simply won't put my money into such a gamble. I did once with a flintlock Armi Sport (Chiappa's other name for older style reproductions) and the lock work is pure junk on the inside. There's also lots of other stories out there too.

[mannyCA]

Yeah, he knew the gamble he was taking when he got into this. He's talked me into getting a winchester gate and see if we can fit it. Damn, its a nice looking/shooting piece though..,

[TXGunNut]

Pretty rifle, indeed. Hope you can make it work.

[cajun shooter]

The Rossi guns have been made in South America and still are today, only under the Taurus banner that is called Braztech. During these years they have had many Distributors that have contracted the company to make the guns with their name on it. I saw a few mistakes made in the postings and I felt compelled to post this information. First Navy Arms did not come after the other companies but was actually one of the early importers that had guns which were outstanding and among the 92's to own. They had the guns made with American Walnut and very nice bluing and fit. The 92's that came later were the Puma's (Old Model) no safety, Interarms, EMF, and the last one being the Chiappa guns which were not made by Rossi but made in Italy. They made the guns look good on the exterior but the parts fitting sucks. The bbls are .430 and above as they decided to just use the 44mag bbl and not have to make the .427 size. The worst gun making company in Italy is Armi Sports and I think I read where they were involved.
The guns by Navy, Early Puma, EMF and Interarms are all worth having but the later guns should be avoided at all cost. They are like the Fram filter commercial that stated "YOU CAN PAY ME NOW OR PAY ME LATER" . I'm speaking about repairs because of misfitting of parts.
What happened to Rossi is that they continued to build guns on the same equipment that they started out with in the 1960's when they made the first 92's in 38-357. These early guns are as good as any Winchester made, not in finish and wood but in function.
If you want to improve a 92 that you have, then I suggest that you purchase the very fine DVD that is put out by Steve Young AKA Nate Kiowa Jones. He has been known as the 92 guru for many years. If you are not up to doing some work on your own then Steve does work on the guns also. He runs on the slow side so don't expect overnight delivery but he will give you a date to send your gun. This keeps you from having a gun sit on his shelf for 10 months before it is worked on. Look at Steve's Guns on the web. He moved from Port Arthur, to Lampsas, Texas so his old numbers have changed. Later David

[cajun shooter]

The Rossi guns have been made in South America and still are today, only under the Taurus banner that is called Braztech. During these years they have had many Distributors that have contracted the company to make the guns with their name on it. I saw a few mistakes made in the postings and I felt compelled to post this information. First Navy Arms did not come after the other companies but was actually one of the early importers that had guns which were outstanding and among the 92's to own. They had the guns made with American Walnut and very nice bluing and fit. The 92's that came later were the Puma's (Old Model) no safety, Interarms, EMF, and the last one being the Chiappa guns which were not made by Rossi but made in Italy. They made the guns look good on the exterior but the parts fitting sucks. The bbls are .430 and above as they decided to just use the 44mag bbl and not have to make the .427 size. The worst gun making company in Italy is Armi Sports and I think I read where they were involved.
The guns by Navy, Early Puma, EMF and Interarms are all worth having but the later guns should be avoided at all cost. They are like the Fram filter commercial that stated "YOU CAN PAY ME NOW OR PAY ME LATER" . I'm speaking about repairs because of misfitting of parts.
What happened to Rossi is that they continued to build guns on the same equipment that they started out with in the 1960's when they made the first 92's in 38-357. These early guns are as good as any Winchester made, not in finish and wood but in function. They are making guns on new equipment now. Stay away from the guns made with the Chiappia name.
If you want to improve a 92 that you have, then I suggest that you purchase the very fine DVD that is put out by Steve Young AKA Nate Kiowa Jones. He has been known as the 92 guru for many years. If you are not up to doing some work on your own then Steve does work on the guns also. He runs on the slow side so don't expect overnight delivery but he will give you a date to send your gun. This keeps you from having a gun sit on his shelf for 10 months before it is worked on. Look at Steve's Guns on the web. He moved from Port Arthur, to Lampsas, Texas so his old numbers have changed. Later David

[salvadore]

I believe C S is right on, I've had mine back to the warranty facility twice for magazine issues. They still have it and I don't expect it back for 3 or 4 more months. I don,t know for a fact, but I believe Tayler and cimarron sell the Chiappa as there 92, they have the same cheesy sights.

[salvadore]

A guy should always read his older posts prior to reposting...ooops

[cajun shooter]

Taylor and Cimarron sell guns that are made by Uberti which is the Premium Gun maker in Italy for Western type firearms. It has been said that the Uberti model 73 rifles are better than the original Winchesters made in 1873. Chiappa which sells some guns under the old Puma brand name are made by Armi Sports which is known as the worst gun makers in Italy. They have several reviews on the web that will tell you about Armi Sports guns. I've heard that some of the Sharps 1874 guns have broken before 10 rounds have been fired. They make the exterior of the gun look real sharp but the interiors are full of trashy built parts that will not hold up.
It was said that the other Italian gun makers approached them and requested that they take more care with quality control as all the bad reviews would make others feel that all Italian made guns were the same bad quality. From all that still takes place, I think that the requests fell upon deaf ears. I had a friend buy his son for Christmas one of the 73 rifles made by them. It broke in the first firing session. Buyer beware.

[mannyCA]

Well, just wanted to report in. My buddy has put about 400 rounds through it to data flawlessly after the repairs. For some reason his starline .44-40 brass has the primer pockets a bit on the max size, which I think is what was causing the FTF. after speaking to a tech at starline they said they cut their pockets on the max size but had to get back to me for the reason. This was last week and I am still waiting.
they also strongly recommended I use federal primers due to their "softness".

thanks to all who responded.