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The rifling of the barrel is a standard
1 in18” twist rate with six right-hand
grooves for use with both commercial and
reloaded ammunition of the new type for
this caliber, ie the” long” LeverEvolution
Hornady, and the various Garrett, Rhino,
Buffalo, PMC, Barnes, et cetera. In fact, we
know that bullets longer than the standard
need to be stabilized through a faster
groove rifling. The percussion system is
indirect, through an outer hammer on
a floating firing pin, while the triggering
mechanism is single action with a trigger
pull weight on the model we tested of
2,200 grams (4.84 lbs). The extractor is
the classic hook type. The magazine houses
4 shots additionally with the fifth in the
chamber. Stock and forend are made of
wood, and coated with a special soft-touch
black rubber which offers an exceptional
grip, even with gloved hands, in the most
adverse weather conditions, and protection
of the stock from bumps, rain, snow and
humidity. The butt plate (18 mm) is made
of soft rubber / reinforced neoprene and
is able to absorb the shock of the higher
performance cartridges. The total length
of the weapon is 1,037 mm. The finish,
both external – impacting on aesthetics -
and internal – impacting on mechanical
and functional properties - is very good.
The Chiappa Model 1886 is thin,
perfectly balanced in weight distribution,
and yields an action cycle of cocking-firing-
ejection-cocking which is fast, precise and
rather smooth. Not too smooth, because
the steel finish and mechanics tend to
“slow down” a little, which is typical action
of the 1886. Actually, the 1886 standard
and 1886 Trapper by Chiappa Firearms
has a smoothness that is typical of the
original 1886. The Kodiak is a special
weapon for a particular use, designed for
a specific purpose, which is quite unlike
that necessary for competitive cowboy
shooting.
Being a multi-purpose firearm
(hunter / hunting guide), this rifle has
4 threaded holes machined in the barrel
to mount standard Weaver scope bases
(model 48447 or 63BS) for scopes and
red dots, as well as standard iron sights
or Express Rifle, including the special
Skinner diopter (peep sight) - supplied
by the manufacturer and mounted on the
first two threaded holes. An important
note: when I speak of scopes, I mean of
course the long focal type (handgun or
scout scopes), given the position of the
slide which is very far from the eyes of the
shooter. The Skinner diopter is particularly
suitable for both target shooting and for
hunting mainly because the hole is fully
adjustable through a threaded double
circle mounted directly on the diopter.
The Skinner diopter is fully adjustable
both for elevation and windage. As to the
front sight, the manufacturer is supplying
a classic one, the black shark fin type. I
replaced it with a red fiber optic from
LPA since I found it yields an easier and
quicker target acquisition, especially when
the target is a running wild boar.
Our market currently offers a
good number of commercial
ammunition for the .45/70
Government, mostly set on
the 300 grain Hollow Point
bullet: the only exception
being the heavy and slow
Remington ammo with 405
grain ball.
Although the number
of ammunition with 300
grain bullets seems small –
just three with Winchester
JHP, Remington Semi-JHP and Federal
Hot-Cor HP - it is more than enough
for “domestic use”, namely for wild boar
hunts. Of these three ammunition, the
most powerful (even if only slightly), are
the Winchester and the Federal.
The rest are reloaded ammunitions,
which provide for this caliber performances
similar and, in some cases even superior, to
the .458Winchester Magnum. In any case,
if you hunt with this weapon abroad, you
may find some really scary ammunition
- Custom Garrett, Buffalo and PMC in
the first place. As previously mentioned,
Hornady already distributes a new type of
.45/70 ammunition designed specifically
for lever arms, called LeverEvolution,
and distributed by Bignami, with wide
distribution worldwide. Among the three
standard ammos competing on the market
today, I chose for this test the Federal
Classic / Power Shock with Speer Hot-Cor
Hollow Point ball. This bullet combines
great penetrating power, thanks to its
robust Hot-Cor, with an excellent level of
expansion and release of energy due to its
hollow point. Manufacturing a good bullet
for heavy and slow calibers is not as easy as
one may think, so much so that Hornady
had to invest many resources to develop its
new LeverEvolution, a bullet that seems to
offer greater performance compared to all
SIGHTS
THE TESTED AMMUNITION
57
PRESS REVIEW