Lyman Ideal “Lil Sharps” 38-55 improvements.

[Rany A]

This post is primarily for those that bought these rifles and struggled to either get them to shoot or even on paper. They come with a few glitches, but nothing that can’t be easily solved if you can tinker. I believe Chiappa made these for Lyman, Charles Daly and possibly Dakota arms (maybe more) outside of their own sales.
Ammunition: These were not designed for the hotter lever gun ammunition. There have been cases of fractured breech blocks, so I would recommend staying away from it. The rifling is also shallow and unforgiving in both bullet diameter and velocity. That being said, I found that a 330 grain .379 bullet at velocities anywhere to the upper 1200s will produce 3/4”groups. I used a 30:1 alloy, Star Line 2.125 brass and settled on loads of either 3f Swiss or Blackhorn. After looking over a few of these rifles it appears the bore diameters are around the .378/.379 area.
Ignition: There were many reports of ignition issues, which I also encountered on two, (a Lyman and a Charles Daly). When assembled, the firing pins protruded from the block face, they simply ground them flush. This doesn’t work well, especially with harder primers like CCI. By grinding/ filing a crown to the pin (without shortening) and using Federal or Winchester primers, all ftf were eliminated. Keeping the parts cleaned and oiled also helps.
Sights: The single largest complaint was about the front sight being drifted as far right as the dovetail could hold, just to get them on paper. The obvious reason can be seen in everyone I’ve picked up. The rear sight when raised is canted to the right. So far I’ve found that the holes are drilled and tapped on center nicely, but the rear tang, when ground and polished, had the crown (or apex) of the grind to the left of center. When the sight is mounted it is canted to the right.
On the lymans, disassembly and filing of the tang (as much as the serial number will allow without removing) was the solution. They are in the white, so taping off the action and 600 wet/dry paper matches the finish back up perfectly. On others a shim for the right side of the sight base will have to be used. I used an MVA Little Sharps base and prussian blue to “print” the base while filing and finishing to get a solid 100% fit. The Lyman tang sight that comes on the Lyman ideal will disappoint you if you want longer range or accuracy, so pitch it and get a mid range Buffalo souls from MVA and you’ll be happy.
Sorry for the novel but when I went looking for feedback on these, no one had really posted their solutions and several simply traded the guns off. Well, despite a little bit of elbow grease, I like mine (bought it for a kid that wanted to shoot the Quigley) and I’ve shot a few matches with it working great. They’re all 1 in 18 twist and for the sceptics on the 38-55 twist rate, it “is” accurate out at 800 yards. Oh, yeah, kick is a big issue with factory ammo so the loads (velocity, 1260) really takes it down. I do have to compress the 3f almost 1/4 inch to get it but I like it.

[Randy Bohannon]

Nicely done by someone who spent time with one.

[Kylongrifle32]

I have the Chiappa blued version of this rifle. My first trip to the bench were very disappointing. I started out with a charge of H4895 pushing a 255 grain Lee cast boolit at about 1600 FPS. At 65 yards my groups were stacked vertical all over the place. It took several shots to figure out that the rear tang site would lean forward during shooting. The recoil from this light weight rifle would cause the site to tip over during recoil. The site screw was tight but not enough tension to keep it held up right.
Some shim washers would probably correct this situation. Since my many purpose for this rifle was just plinking I just reduced the loads down to around 1200 FPS and have been enjoying the rifle.

[eastbank]

my charles daly 44-40 was bought on close out from a local wharhouse at 499.00 years ago. the first thing i did was to ditch the tang sight and d&t the rear barrel for a modified williams peep sight.

[ascast]

nice report, a pleasure to read, thanks

[TCLouis]

Fellow had one of the Lyman's in 38-55 at the range and was trying to sight it in at 50.
He gathered an audience with the great looking but poor shooting rifle.
4 of us tried to help, but one could never guess where the next bullet might land on the target.

[Daekar]

All of this is heartbreaking to read, because I actually had my heart set on getting one of these in 357mag to serve as my iron-sights rifle and then to scope my Henry H015. Ah well, hopefully a decent quality version will be available someday. Thanks for the report on this, now I know not to pine after one!

[eastbank]

, my baby sharps 44-40 shoots quite well, top target is at about 60 yards with 21.5 grs 2400 and a 200 gr jacketed bullet and the bottom target is with a winchester lever action md 53 with the same load.

[Rany A]

I wouldn’t go so far as to abandon the want for one, 357 probably shoot fine right out of the box. Part of this was an issue specific to the 38-55 rifles. What I went through was pretty easy to do. That being said, I would be a bit sour if I’d paid full retail for it I’d love to have this little gun in some of the other calibers offered.
BTW, a set of Lee Shaver sight inserts for the 17a that comes on the Lyman is a big improvement.