Another "sort of" MilSurp, a single-shot break open .22LR M1(ish) Carbine

[muskeg13]

The M6 thread encouraged me. After reading several positive reviews of the Chiappa Little Badger, I got one. For a folding minimalist survival rifle, costing less than $250 including shipping and the FFL transfer fee, I was impressed. It's surprisingly accurate with a good trigger, but was a bit too "minimalist" with its skeleton stock. It's also threaded for a suppressor. Another feature are the M1 Carbine style sights, but they were plastic. First, I decided to replace the plastic front and rear sights with real M1 Carbine milsurp steel sights. This wasn't too difficult, but required some work. With the "real" M1 Carbine sights installed, and not being satisfied with the skeleton buttstock, I started eying it next to a real M1 Carbine and decided to gamble fitting a "real" wood carbine stock, so it became my winter garage project a few years ago. Deciding to go whole hog, I then replaced the plastic top Picatinny rail with an aluminum one and installed a vintage Weaver K4 with a post reticle. I didn't get around to sighting in with the scope until today, only at 25 yards in the back yard, but was able to achieve promising groups with three brands of subsonic ammo that made no noise at all with the suppressor. The best was .417" with CCI Quiet. I can probably do better with more practice and DEET to ward off the swarms of hungry mosquitos.

Before:
After:

[LAGS]

I to replaced the rear sight on my Badger with a spare one I had for my M1 carbine.
I also made a pistol grip handle that works well when aiming the rifle.
The pistol grip is made out of wood and I can probably hollow it out for carrying extra stuff like cleaning parts or more spare ammo.
But I left the stock in the original tube frame style , but did rework the scope mounts also so I can put on a scope , red dot , and a flashlight all at the same time.

[muskeg13]

I to replaced the rear sight on my Badger with a spare one I had for my M1 carbine.
I also made a pistol grip handle that works well when aiming the rifle.
The pistol grip is made out of wood and I can probably hollow it out for carrying extra stuff like cleaning parts or more spare ammo.
But I left the stock in the original tube frame style , but did rework the scope mounts also so I can put on a scope , red dot , and a flashlight all at the same time.

How does yours shoot? There's lots of room for making improvements on these little rifles, and at their price, if you screw it up it's not a catastrophe. Initially, I was just looking for something reasonably priced to mount a suppressor on, given the cost a gunsmith would charge and needing a barrel that could be threaded without needing to reposition the front sight.

The drawback is it's only a single shot, but if you can place the shots almost in the same hole, that's not too bad.

[armoredman]

That is neat!

[Texas by God]

Neat work! Making it more user friendly to boot.
My brother has one in .17 HMR and it has a light trigger pull. It shoots very well for what it is.
I’ll show him your pics of yours- he’ll like it I’m sure.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LAGS]

My rifle shoots very well for such a cheap rifle.
I traded one of my old Mauser to a friend so I had a Truck Gun when I went out to the desert.
I have thought about building the stock out of wood just for another improvement.
But like you guys said,
These are low cost toys that you can improve very easy.
They are also small and light if you want to use them to teach small kids how to shoot.
I need to take this rifle out and find out which ammo shoots best in it.
But it shoots OK with my home made .22 lr reloads that I play with at home.
It also is accurate at close ranges with .22 Short ammo.

[Larry Gibson]

I like it!

[LAGS]

I really like his rifle too.
It is inspiring me to do more things on my rifle.