CAI 1887 Lever Action Shotgun (new repro)

[Rowdy Fulcher]

Cowboy Paul
Is you 87 working ? Wanting to know how there treating you . Are you getting the run around .

[cowboy_paul]

No, getting treated good, CAI customer service was very friendly, sent me a email to set up a non-firearms account, that way I could send it in for repairs. Before sending to them I called the dealer I bought it from on gunbroker (it was sold as is since brad new, I guess he just wanted you to send it in to CAI if not working) anyways I just wanted to let him know what happened, he said he hadn't had any problems with this gun, promptly sent me a FedEx shipping label to send it back and is swapping it for another one, should have it by Thursday, alot faster than the 6-8 weeks to have it repaired

[Rowdy Fulcher]

Cowboy Paul
Thank you , can't wait to hear how the new shotgun works . Good Luck .

[Pettifogger]

Rowdy, it's a $350.00 Chinese shotgun.  I can tell you from experience with the IAC 87's just because one works doesn't mean the next one will work.  Buy one and be prepared to do a little tuning.  Even if it turns out to be junk, you are only out $350.00.

[Six Gun Saint]

Rowdy, it's a $350.00 Chinese shotgun.  I can tell you from experience with the IAC 87's just because one works doesn't mean the next one will work.  Buy one and be prepared to do a little tuning.  Even if it turns out to be junk, you are only out $350.00.

Emphasis mine...

That's...  That's no small amount!  Heh...  I asked around at my local meet up this past go round, and so far, ain't had nothing positive to say.  Same thing about the current run of '97s they're putting out.

So yeah, not sure if that means much to anyone.

[cowboy_paul]

Well, got gun number two in, exact same problem, no feed no eject, going right back to the dealer for a refund, avoid these guns, they look good but are all duds from what I have seen

[Six Gun Saint]

Well, got gun number two in, exact same problem, no feed no eject, going right back to the dealer for a refund, avoid these guns, they look good but are all duds from what I have seen

Sounds like a plan, then.  Thanks for the heads up, and the honesty.  I WAS thinking about snagging one later on down the road-but now?  Nah.  I'll keep my cash and just have Three Cut slick up my new Coach Gun!

[Rowdy Fulcher]

Cowboy Paul
Thank you for the heads up . Now we know what to really expect .

[RickB]

OK. So I just read the Guns of the Old West review of this shotgun last night. According to the reviewer they believe the gun is reliable and a good buy. They made it sound like this gun was a good one and had no issues outside of the name of the maker being engraved all over the receiver.

Has anyone else used this gun and if so how did it perform for you?

The article makes me wonder if this gun is good or bad, or ugly?

[sharps1863]

I read the same review, but never put much stock in Gun magazine reviews.

[Pettifogger]

I read the same review, but never put much stock in Gun magazine reviews.

+100%.  Bad reviews = no advertising.  Also, gun magazines seldom, if ever, disassemble the guns to take a look at the internals.

[RickB]

I've usually believed that too, but I guess I put more faith in what the guys as GotOW has to say since they are usually SASS/NCOWS/CAS shooters themselves.

I was just wondering if maybe the problems encountered with these when they first came out were growing pains like a few gun makers have had, and if maybe they have worked out some of the bugs. I know that the one or two here who bought one or shot one said that getting it to feed was a problem. The article stated it fed shells flawlessly.

It's not like I see much else written on the forums either here or on SASS wire about bad or good on this gun. It's also not like I see any for sale outside of gun broker so I assume that someone is buying them up without saying anything positive or negative about them.

[Lumpy Grits]

OK. So I just read the Guns of the Old West review of this shotgun last night. According to the reviewer they believe the gun is reliable and a good buy. They made it sound like this gun was a good one and had no issues outside of the name of the maker being engraved all over the receiver.

Has anyone else used this gun and if so how did it perform for you?

The article makes me wonder if this gun is good or bad, or ugly?

Have 3 of those chicom '87s. 2 are Coyote Cap Specials and 1, a 22" bll 'stock' gun.
Have run'em hard in SASS for many years now, with both BP(all brass shells)& smokeless.
Learned to tune them from Coyote Cap at Winter Range.
(You want a serial # prefix of 5, or higher on those '87s.)
Lov'em ......
99.999% of ejection issues is from the right side extractor not letting go of the case rim.
LG

[Pettifogger]

Lumpy, two completely different guns.  The old "Norinco" is out of production.  CAI recently came out with an 1887, but after the first batch hit all the gun shows I haven't seen one since.

[RickB]

Neither have I. I never got a chance to look one over closely or handle them. I saw some at that one gun show and didn't look them over too close since I didn't have the money.

[Lumpy Grits]

Lumpy, two completely different guns.  The old "Norinco" is out of production.  CAI recently came out with an 1887, but after the first batch hit all the gun shows I haven't seen one since.

NOPE, same China maker, in new building.
Norinco was NOT ever the maker. ONLY the importer, till banned by the USA for other crap they pulled...
Interstate Arms was the importer after Norinco was banned.
LG

[Pettifogger]

NOPE, same China maker, in new building.
Norinco was NOT ever the maker. ONLY the importer, till banned by the USA for other crap they pulled...
Interstate Arms was the importer after Norinco was banned.
LG

That's why I put "Norinco" in quotes, as an identifier.  If they are from the same "maker" then they changed several things in the design as there are visible differences between the two.

[Bibbyman]

Looks like there are a lot of PW87s around again.  I found a bunch on Gunbroker and the shop advertising them is only about 20 minutes drive from me.

Are they still having quality problems? 

[OldMike]

I've been looking at these also, and have noticed that there have been no additional comments on this thread for a little while.

I did see this review on YouTube for the PW87:


I also came across this review from Shotgun News:
http://www.shotgunnews.com/2013/03/12/built-for-fun-century-arms-pw87-review/

So from those two sources, it seems as though at least some of these guns function out of the box, even though they are rough.

Anyone else have any other input or bought one recently?

Thanks.

[Bibbyman]

I bought one within hours of my post above.  The dealer I bought it from had no experience with them.  I was able to examine it before buying.   No thing of beauty but it's heavy.  The action was stiff and gritty.  The trigger pull about 20 lb and 1/4" pull.  (I'm exaggerating a little,  but it was awful. )

I got it home and shot it a few times with some struggle and feed,  eject problems.   I broke it down and lightly polished the rough cast off of mating surfaces.  That helped a lot. I later installed a small screw above the full cock notch on the hammer to take out about half the engagement.  I took one coil off the trigger spring.  Still the creep is at least 1/8" and trigger pull is heavy. 

I've fired it at least 100 times and it is feeding and ejecting well except for the last hull that tends to hang on extractors or fall back into the action head first - smoke stacking.