Well, my Chiappa m4-22 upper came in monday after noon at work. I opened it up and did a lil dance to the gun gods. This is the completion to my first AR so bare with me on the termonolgy and specs. I payed $325 plus $25 shipping to Fairbanks, AK from Marksarmory.com. A coworker of mine also ordered one for his Bushmaster to let his neighbors kids learn gun safety on.
The upper receiver is a polymer, and it seems pretty durable. The Chiappaloy barrel has a nice matte finish and looks to be durable enough for a .22lr.
I immediatly threw on my Command arms poly handguard set. They have 2 rails at 12 and 6 oclock, which is all I will ever need and I like to KISS. The stock handguards are simply plastic handguards, no heat shield (not really needed with a 22).
I had a cheap rear BUIS ready in anticipation. They are NCstar A2 style irons with a 0-2 peep and a 3+ peep. I dont plan on putting optics on it, and If I do it will be a Primary arms A3 knockoff but that will be later on.
The first thing I noticed when putting it on my DPMS lower was the pin holes were super tight. I had to use a small rubber mallet to tap them in. I have since takin it down enough to get the rear pin in by hand, but to get it out, I still need mechanical help. Once I had it on the lower, I ops checked it, dry fired with some snap caps and it checked out great. I did notice once I looked down the rail to get a sight picture that the front gas block/sight was canted to the right. I loosened the set screw and got it level in a couple minutes, no biggie there. There are no big gaps or loose fitting parts anywhere. This is very tight and sturdy but only time will tell how true this stays in the long run.
I immediatly broke it down and wiped it off, ran a bore snake through it, lubed it with Teflon based Remoil and reinstalled everything. The bolt comes right out, and its pretty substantial. The dust cover works but the FA is just a spring in a sealed tube to mess around with (Kind of like the gas tube on a 522).
I ordered this with a 10 round mag so It would be easier to lug around for hunting. They are very easily made into 15 round mags by removing the plastic stops inside, Mwuahahahah. I already have a dozen or so BDM and CMMG mags for my Sig 522.
Didnt have a whole lot of time last nigh to really do a thorough shoot but I did break it in with 200 rounds of Federal 525 blue box Bulk pack. I had 4 FTE's in 8 mags. No out of battery's, fail to fires or fail to feeds. It took all mags like a champ. The 4 FTE's all happened in the first 3 mags but after that it smoothed right out. I was aiming at a 2 liter bottle at 25 yards and was hitting it ever shot. I didnt have a target with me so I just used Kentucky windage until I can properly sight it in this afternoon.
For $325, I am so far very impressed.. For those of us who do not want to spend $600 on a spikes or Tacsol, this is a very good way to go. Even if it only lasts me 5000 rounds, i will be happy.
ranger results in the range forum.
Chiappa M4-22 upper review
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