Iron frame 1866 by Chaparral?

[Otony]

I know there has been quite a bit of contrversy with the 1876 Chaparrals, and that Charter Arms washed their hands of them awhile back. It would seem that someone is still importing them, although I am not sure exactly who. The reason I write that is due to some unusual models that have been showing up lately on Gunbroker.

If you type Chaparral into the GB search engine, the usual 1876s pop up, along with quite a few 1873s. Oddly enough however, are the iron framed 1866s that appear as well.

Now I have read about original iron framed Henrys and find the Uberti Iron Henrys quite attractive, but I've never heard of any 1866s being made in such a fashion. So is this a "fantasy" rifle, or is there some basis in historical fact.

Not sure I would want one in any case, but the GB traders are listing all Chaparrals at pretty nice prices compared to Uberti products. Probably a good (bad?) reason for that, hmm?

[Pettifogger]

All of the Chaparral 66s were made with brass plated iron frames.  No one currently imports them.  Parts are virtually unobtainable.  They are cheap compared to a Uberti for a reason.  A lot of them don't work correctly out of the box.

[Otony]

I am not disputing "cheap for a reason" as I know the reputation of the Chaparral product. I think I made that obvious in my original post. However these are NOT brass plated. These I have referenced are color case hardened iron (steel) 1866s. No brass evident anywhere.

So again, my question is whether or not these are just "fantasy" rifles or was there ever an iron framed '66?

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

According to The Winchester Handbook by George Madis, ALL Winchester Model 1866 rifles had brass frames. Now, let's go on to clarify that they were really Gunmetal, which is a form of bronze, not brass, but it is common to refer to the Gunmetal framed Henrys and 1866s as brass.

It was only the first few hundred Henrys that had iron frames. There is some speculation that Oliver Winchester was attempting to obtain a Navy contract and felt the iron frames would be better in the corrosive environment of the see than the brass frames. There is also some speculation that these first iron frames were contracted out, perhaps even to Colt, as all the equipment in the New Haven plant may not have been functional yet.

But ALL 1866s had brass frames. Iron framed 1866s are a fantasy gun.

[Coffinmaker]

Driftwood is correct.  Winchester never manufactured an iron frame '66.

Coffinmaker

[Fox Creek Kid]

Driftwood is correct.  Winchester never manufactured an iron frame '66.

Coffinmaker

They made an iron framed predecessor to the ´66. It´s in the H. Houze book. 

[Steel Horse Bailey]

NO iron '66s.

Predecessors don't exactly count.