Not Giving up on a Chaparral 1876 Lemon

[OKDEE]

   Hey you all....Here's my story.

                            Giving New Life to a Chaparral 1876 Lemon

                       Timeframe - from early 2007 to September 2008


Ever since I was a boy, when Dad showed me this Huge, heavy Winchester 1876 rifle,
I have desired to own and shoot one.

Well, when Chaparral came out with a replica of the Winchester 1876, I made it a point to
buy one.  Starting in May of 2007, I began acquiring information, dies, brass, books, etc.
During this time I contacted a pretty cool Shooter, that goes by the name of Grizzly Adams,
and he set me up with some reformed brass and the ready smile and the encourgement
needed to tackle most anything.
Through him and a couple of other legends, John Boy and Hobie, I began to form a bond
with the aspects of reloading a historical rifle and cartridge and a bit of the unknown world
of tinkering with loads and the 1876 rifle itself.

Then, in June of 2007, I bought one of the NWMP Carbines in 45-75.    I was pretty thrilled
but decided it was too pretty to shoot!  Imagine That!     Into the safe it went and I began looking
for a shooter.  In July I bought a Chaparral short rifle, 22" barrel in 45-75 caliber.  Perfect! 
I had been following all the pro's and con's concerning the Chaparral 1876's, mostly through
the CASCITY website and the SASSWIRE websites.  Thus, armed with the understanding that I
may have gotten a lemon, I dove in knowing that I would learn more about the workings of
the 1876, should that happen.   

Boy, howdy,    That lemon came true concerning my Perfect dream shooter! 

Well, this story is about the shooter, which is the Chaparral short 22" rifle in 45-75 caliber. 
After buying bullets,lead, dies, brass, books and reading and reloading reformed brass, I was
prepared for the trip to the range to put her on paper!  Excitement City at its Finest!   

well..sadly.....I quickly found out it had Lemonade potential.   

The rifle that was to be my dream shooter, was Kinda clunky and sounded like it was scraping
somewhere when you levered a round into it. Then it would not fire on the first
hammer drop. It would on the 2nd one. Then certain parts were to soft and bent or broke. 
But, it was a tack driver...when it fired!  I think it is a very good barrel.  So, I wanted to
keep the rifle and make it a project.  That, and I liked the looks of it.  I saw something in it,
that was good.  And I was learning about the Winchester 1876 action and myself.

I watched the CASCITY forums for information and helpful tips from other folks. 
I heard all the potential problems and solutions, and analyzed my gun and compared it to others. 
I would send John Boy, Hobie or Grizzly a question or two and read what they thought,
then go back and tinker with it.  Then I would push the dang rifle back in the safe and mutter
to myself and let it sit!        

Finally, Something snapped and in December of 2007, I sent the rifle to Charter Arms to be
repaired, explaining my problems.  It came back, and the work they did to it, well... let's say
I was not impressed.  I have worked on guns, mostly single actions, and have been around a few
gunsmiths, so I knew what is good quality gunsmithing. I did not see it.

I will let that dog lay where it is. 

I moved on,,,, knowing that it is up to me to figure out my rifle's problems.  I slowly began
replacing parts, smoothing parts, trying little things to get it to work.  By now, I knew that
the Chaparral rifles were supposed to be a pretty close to an exact copy of the original
Winchester, and so I started looking for original parts to put into my Chaparral.  I ordered
parts from Chas Jones, who makes replacement parts for all types of guns.  He is located in
Kerrville, Texas.  From him I got another firing pin, based on the original firing pins and
some pins, but he had no bolts.  Still, the rifle would not fire on the first hammer fall.   
Toggle pins, then springs, retractor and pin, they all fit, but I stayed in neutral.

I ordered a new firing pin, then a new bolt all from Charter Arms. All to no avail. 
I was getting closer and closer to getting a smooth action, better levering,
but something was scraping and binding it.  And that dang mis-firing on the first hammer fall!
I had measured it and it was not a headspace problem.

One day, I called my gunsmith here in Houston.  Some of you may know him, Alan Harton of
Single Action Service.  Wonderful person and a great gunsmith.  Any way, he had just finished
working on a Uberti 1876 and mentioned he had some binding on the firing pin area also.
He gave me some direction on what to look for and what to work on it.  I looked more closely at
the bolt/extractor,firing pin and how they worked with the carrier block and carrier lever and
finger lever.
 
I asked some questions and got some more direction.  The extractor appeared to be a potential
problem area.  I finally noticed that there was some binding about a quarter of an inch from
where the action would be fully closed, with the hammer fully cocked.  As I was to understand,
the firing pin should move easily when the action is fully closed and hammer cocked to fire. 
Not this one!  When I close the action with the hammer fully cocked, the firing pin is
extremely hard to push forward into the primer.  Hence, this maybe one of my main problems. 
The hammer fall was not strong enough to overcome the binding of the firing pin,to cause
the primer to go off.  What to do?  I keep polishing the firing pin and taking abit off the
extractor, trying to find relieve from the  binding.  Also, I keep watching auctions and
sales for original Winchester 1876 parts. 

Finally, off of EBAY, I purchased an original Winchester 45-75 carrier block and bolt for the 1876.
I installed these items and right off the scraping and binding was GONE!    The firing pin moved
easily when the action was closed and hammer back, ready to fire.

Oh, baby, I was excited!     It is now mid-September of 2008, and I finally got to go and test
fire this Rebuilt Chaparral 1876.
 
It worked perfectly!  No misfires, every round went off as it should!    

I was soooooo happy!  Now I can get back to reloading and putting her on paper and really
having fun, shooting this dream shooter!

Still the question(s), is what is wrong with the firing pins and bolts and carrier from the
original Chaparral?  Is it just with my rifle and do others have this potential problem(s)? 

I have to assume that these were the problem areas.  I am not sure, though,I may go in and look
closly at the differences of the Charter Arms parts versus the original Winchester parts. 
There is some sort of overlapping problems with the extractor/bolt, firing pin and carrier block. 
I will look into it sometime.....................?!

BUT NOT for a while!  ................I'm reloading and shooting with my shooter!

All in all, I would not trade the problems and headaches of trying to get this rifle
to shoot to My satisfaction, with the wonderful knowledge that I aquired along the way.
I am not saying that I am qualified to be a gunsmith, I just feel I know more about the 1876,
and its workings.
 
Happy Trails,

Oklahoma Dee

[Cross-stixs]

OKDEE

Great story.  hope fully mine will be ok. but if not i will be right there with you.

I am going to look at it this way $600 cheaper then a Uberti so i have that much too  bring it up to par.

And i like to tinker with things any way

Again   great story
Neil

[Wes Tancred]

Do not assess possible binding of the firing pin on the 1876, or any of the other toggle-link actions, without an empty or dummy cartridge chambered. Many of these rifles, especially newly manufactured examples with tight tolerances and no wear, will show binding of the firing pin extension when the action is fully closed on an empty chamber. The reason is that, without the cartridge case present, the extractor (which is under fairly strong spring tension) presses down against the extractor cut, in turn forcing the front of the bolt very slightly upward. This causes the firing pin extension to cant ever so slightly in its closely fitted bore in the receiver, making it bind.

With a cartridge case in place, the extractor is kept in an upward position, and can not bear down upon the extractor cut. If, under this condition, the firing pin extension still binds, then cleaning or polishing may be necessary

[OKDEE]

Hey Wes, 

Good point!   

I pretty much kept several dummy rounds around just for that purpose.

There were a number of things I did not highlight, due to space and time.  I think that is part of the overall working knowledge
that you pick up during stressfull times of dealing with a problem gun. 

A practising gunsmith would probably recognize a bit quicker than someone like myself.

But, that is why I wanted to make the journey, to learn and to understand a bit better the working of the 1876. 

Sincerely,
Oklahoma Dee

[Wes Tancred]

Oklahoma, I really should have worded my message to make it clear that my comments were meant generally, to those who might read your message and then check their own rifles. It is obvious that you put a great deal of thought and work into your rifle, and that it was in dire need of it!

--Wes

[OKDEE]

Oklahoma, I really should have worded my message to make it clear that my comments were meant generally, to those who might read your message and then check their own rifles. It is obvious that you put a great deal of thought and work into your rifle, and that it was in dire need of it!

--Wes

  You got that right!   

[Grizzly Adams]

OKdee,  Thanks for an excellent and informative post!  Congratulations on getting your 76 running and shooting.  Sounds like the journey was worth making.   Thanks for sharing it with us all.

I find it ironic to the extreme that it was original Winnie parts that made the difference.....