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Westley375
.300 member

Reged: 18/04/06
Posts: 147
Loc: Montana USA

Chapuis gets no respect
#137737 - 22/06/09 02:29 AM

I have owned and shot Chapuis Big Bore double for many years . Alot of press and talk about Merkel Heym Krieghoff etc, but little on Chapuis. They are just as accurate and in some cases ,better made than these guns and on top of that they are a very good value. They as have a bit of style that those boxy overbuilt German guns don't have. Perhaps if it weren't made in France, some of you snobs would own one or two, The right tool for the job and the animal doen't give a damn if your gun cost over 15K. I'll put my Frenchies up again any of yours anyday, when it comes to accuracy.....1" groups at 50 yards!!! My guns are NOT closet/safe queens ...they get shot every couple weeks and after 1000 rounds they have NEVER given me a lick of trouble. Enough said..

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500Nitro
.450 member

Reged: 06/01/03
Posts: 7244
Loc: Victoria, Australia

Re: Chapuis gets no respect [Re: Westley375]
#137738 - 22/06/09 02:53 AM

Probably got something to do with the fact that the French don't acknowledge that the British (plus others) hauled their asses out of Sxxt from two world wars so why should we acknowledge anything they do !!!!!

No, seriously, I agree, a lot less gets said about Chapuis
than the others. A mate has one in 9.3, great little gun, shoots well too.

Edited by 500Nitro (22/06/09 07:26 AM)

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mickey
.416 member

Reged: 05/01/03
Posts: 4647
Loc: Pend Oreille Valley, Idaho

Re: Chapuis gets no respect [Re: Westley375]
#137740 - 22/06/09 03:35 AM

I think that Chapuis suffers from a poor reputation that they are finding hard to overcome.

Who said you only get one chance to make a first impression?

--------------------
Lovu Zdar
Mick

A Man of Pleasure, Enterprise, Wit and Spirit Rare Books, Big Game Hunting, English Rifles, Fishing, Explosives, Chauvinism, Insensitivity, Public Drunkenness and Sloth, Champion of Lost and Unpopular Causes.

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500Nitro
.450 member

Reged: 06/01/03
Posts: 7244
Loc: Victoria, Australia

Re: Chapuis gets no respect [Re: mickey]
#137747 - 22/06/09 06:04 AM

Quote:

I think that Chapuis suffers from a poor reputation that they are finding hard to overcome.

Who said you only get one chance to make a first impression?

That's interesting, because poor reputation is not what
I hear or see (in my short time).

Where did that come from ?

Maybe the 4 lugs system gets people when in reality
did it really need to be changed ?

I thought Chapuis's were very popular in Europe ?
France / Germany for pig hunting ?

It's interesting how a gun can have a good reputation in
one country and a completely different (bad) reputation in another country.

Edited by 500Nitro (22/06/09 07:27 AM)

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450_366
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Reged: 17/01/07
Posts: 1068
Loc: Sweden, west-coast.

Re: Chapuis gets no respect [Re: Westley375]
#137749 - 22/06/09 07:21 AM

I never heard they are bad guns, but they are french so in my part of the world they are concidered a bit to modern.

But this is in a country that discontinued the lefaucheux about 50 years ago.

--------------------
Andreas

"Yeas it kicks like a mule he said, but always remember that its much worse standing on the other end"

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mickey
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Re: Chapuis gets no respect [Re: 450_366]
#137755 - 22/06/09 08:58 AM

I'm speaking of from 25-30 years ago. They had a reputation of being soft and coming off face quickly. Before they changed the design to the double underlug.

--------------------
Lovu Zdar
Mick

A Man of Pleasure, Enterprise, Wit and Spirit Rare Books, Big Game Hunting, English Rifles, Fishing, Explosives, Chauvinism, Insensitivity, Public Drunkenness and Sloth, Champion of Lost and Unpopular Causes.

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500Nitro
.450 member

Reged: 06/01/03
Posts: 7244
Loc: Victoria, Australia

Re: Chapuis gets no respect [Re: mickey]
#137756 - 22/06/09 09:00 AM

Quote:

I'm speaking of from 25-30 years ago. They had a reputation of being soft and coming off face quickly. Before they changed the design to the double underlug.

how the hell do they make them soft when the singel lug system has been in operation for so long and done so well ?

Sounds like they Effed up badly when making them !!!!

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mickey
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Re: Chapuis gets no respect [Re: 500Nitro]
#137763 - 22/06/09 12:14 PM

soft steel. Shoddy workmanship

--------------------
Lovu Zdar
Mick

A Man of Pleasure, Enterprise, Wit and Spirit Rare Books, Big Game Hunting, English Rifles, Fishing, Explosives, Chauvinism, Insensitivity, Public Drunkenness and Sloth, Champion of Lost and Unpopular Causes.

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400NitroExpress
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Reged: 26/11/03
Posts: 1154
Loc: Lone Star State

Re: Chapuis gets no respect [Re: mickey]
#137768 - 22/06/09 02:35 PM

Quote:

I'm speaking of from 25-30 years ago. They had a reputation of being soft and coming off face quickly. Before they changed the design to the double underlug.

I hadn't heard that about the early guns, but I wasn't involved in DRs in those days.

I must have nearly a dozen friends that shoot the UGEX in 9.3. At what they cost, they're great rifles. If I could order one with a decent stock design and longer barrels, I would. Scale is lost in the larger bores. Much prefer the Heym PH.

--------------------
"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

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Der_Jaeger
.375 member

Reged: 09/10/08
Posts: 607
Loc: SE Pennsylvania

Re: Chapuis gets no respect [Re: 400NitroExpress]
#137775 - 22/06/09 09:01 PM

Well, I guess the French did invent the side-by-side and, in my opinion, the Verney Carron double rifle by Paul Demas is one of the best looking double rifles on the market.

I have nothing against Chapuis, Varney-Carron, Darne, Guyot, Bruchet, Vouzelaud, etc... Nobody can deny that Georges Granger guns are Best Guns and probably the best ever made in France. The guns out of St. Etienne have been some of the most innovative guns made in history.

I'm sure personal experiences, politics, prejudices, ex-wives, and maybe even food preferences come into play when someone says they like a particular gun from a given country over another!

--------------------

Edited by Der_Jaeger (22/06/09 09:10 PM)

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livinus
.224 member

Reged: 12/06/06
Posts: 47
Loc: belgium

Re: Chapuis gets no respect [Re: Der_Jaeger]
#137834 - 23/06/09 05:25 PM

It seems that every time a French gunmaker is mentioned, this leads to high-tempered discussions about French guns, and the French in general.I spent a lot of time in France and can say the following:
- France is one of very few countries in Europe where every man can hunt (courtesy of the French Revolution) without having to spent vast amounts of money.This means that besides the upper-class(hunting in Europe is tradittionaly a upper-class/snob affair) there are legions of French people in the country-side who hunt on a regular basis.
-Until 25 years ago, when the use of buckshot was banned, the French were very much shotgun-only hunters. Since then they switched to rifles for big game (driven boar hunting is very popular) and have since imported Marlins, Winchesters and especially Remington Woodmasters(280) and Browning Bars (300WM) by the truck-load.Under the impulse of Chapuis, Verney Carron...the double express rifle became the gun of dreams for those willing to invest extra.
As for the French gunmakers/firms:
Big firms (Manufrance in particular) made good, middle-priced guns for the masses. The wealthy ordered top-class guns from Belgium and England or from French makers such as Granger.
The French are of course very chauvinistic. They love their country and its traditions but, at the sime time, have always been very innovating. "Vive la différence" ("it's good to be different")they say, and they do try hard to be different. Not only in politics but also in cars, guns...
The result? A mix of traditional guns and weird French designs that never became popular elsewhere.
Compared to England the French legacy is clearly limited. But they had their moments:
-The Lefaucheux, fore-father of all later break-action shotguns and rifles.
- The Pidault over/under (1885) with bifurcated lumps and trunnions on the side of the barrels. Later coppied by Boss, Woodward, Francotte...
-The Clair semi-auto shotgun (1880), first to emploi a gas-operated piston.
-The Lebel (1886), first small-bore rifle with smokeless powder, shooting a solid bronze bullet.(mono bullets are clearly nothing new)
Etc
Greetings,
Livinus

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500Nitro
.450 member

Reged: 06/01/03
Posts: 7244
Loc: Victoria, Australia

Re: Chapuis gets no respect [Re: livinus]
#137835 - 23/06/09 05:29 PM

Quote:

It seems that every time a French gunmaker is mentioned, this leads to high-tempered discussions about French guns, and the French in general.I spent a lot of time in France and can say the following:
- France is one of very few countries in Europe where every man can hunt (courtesy of the French Revolution) without having to spent vast amounts of money.This means that besides the upper-class(hunting in Europe is tradittionaly a upper-class/snob affair) there are legions of French people in the country-side who hunt on a regular basis.
-Until 25 years ago, when the use of buckshot was banned, the French were very much shotgun-only hunters. Since then they switched to rifles for big game (driven boar hunting is very popular) and have since imported Marlins, Winchesters and especially Remington Woodmasters(280) and Browning Bars (300WM) by the truck-load.Under the impulse of Chapuis, Verney Carron...the double express rifle became the gun of dreams for those willing to invest extra.
As for the French gunmakers/firms:
Big firms (Manufrance in particular) made good, middle-priced guns for the masses. The wealthy ordered top-class guns from Belgium and England or from French makers such as Granger.
The French are of course very chauvinistic. They love their country and its traditions but, at the sime time, have always been very innovating. "Vive la différence" ("it's good to be different")they say, and they do try hard to be different. Not only in politics but also in cars, guns...
The result? A mix of traditional guns and weird French designs that never became popular elsewhere.
Compared to England the French legacy is clearly limited. But they had their moments:
-The Lefaucheux, fore-father of all later break-action shotguns and rifles.
- The Pidault over/under (1885) with bifurcated lumps and trunnions on the side of the barrels. Later coppied by Boss, Woodward, Francotte...
-The Clair semi-auto shotgun (1880), first to emploi a gas-operated piston.
-The Lebel (1886), first small-bore rifle with smokeless powder, shooting a solid bronze bullet.(mono bullets are clearly nothing new)
Etc
Greetings,
Livinus

BS deleted

Edited by NitroX (03/07/09 05:41 PM)

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kamilaroi
.400 member

Reged: 18/12/04
Posts: 1803
Loc: sydney, new south wales, Austr...

Re: Chapuis gets no respect [Re: 500Nitro]
#137840 - 23/06/09 08:37 PM

Might I suggest that:
1. The French have been over the border into the unfedederated German principalities more times than the krauts since about 1770.
2. Since; and including the Franco-Prussian wars they have lost more times than not.
3. If you aren't next door to a belligerent neighbour then you have no right to comment.
4. The French copped more crap than what what the Poms did. (much less the Russkies)
5. There was a list of Quislings that the Japanese government compiled of which Aussies were sympathetic to advance their cause.

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cooch
.300 member

Reged: 21/09/03
Posts: 192
Loc: Southern NSW

Re: Chapuis gets no respect [Re: kamilaroi]
#137841 - 23/06/09 09:22 PM

OK....

So you're admitting
- that the French are better at starting wars than finishing them....
- that the french are better at receiving crap than giving it to their opponents.
- that the French ARE the belligerant neighbour.
- and that some frenchmen moved here....

Peter (Not admitting his very diluted french ancestor at this point)

--------------------
"The only logical response to an animal that lives obsessed with avoiding capture is to chase it." - Jose Ortega y Gassett

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kamilaroi
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Reged: 18/12/04
Posts: 1803
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Re: Chapuis gets no respect [Re: cooch]
#137843 - 23/06/09 10:33 PM

Think again.

French did start wars for their own advantage (and won most).
French are historically successfully belligerent (as a comparatively united entity) therefore have the advantage.
French wore a whole heap of crap as a wholely and partly occupied nation (in the front line) than others esp Poms. Therefore for them to be disparaged as "ineffective" is a yankwank.
So called Aussies (of Pom ancestry and in the so called "upper classes" circa WW2)were Quislings (thus noted by Japanese) and sympathetic to the Japanese cause if they invaded/occupied.
Most Yanks don't understand the flux of events in the BIG world.

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9.3x57
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Reged: 22/04/07
Posts: 5504
Loc: United States

Re: Chapuis gets no respect [Re: kamilaroi]
#137845 - 23/06/09 10:40 PM

Back to the question.

Is the point here really that some people do not like Chapuis guns merely because they are Made in France?

Kind of like some Americans who don't like some Browning and Weatherby guns because they are Made in Japan?

And here I've been told the rest of the world is so much more sophisticated than we are...

--------------------
What are the Rosary, the Cross or the Crucifix other than tools to help maintain the fortress of our faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?

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kamilaroi
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Reged: 18/12/04
Posts: 1803
Loc: sydney, new south wales, Austr...

Re: Chapuis gets no respect [Re: 9.3x57]
#137850 - 23/06/09 11:47 PM

Nah,
maybe more accustomed to whatever we are dealt from the poker game of life.
(wink)
"life's a bitch and then you die"
OR
"most men live lives of quiet desperation and go to their graves with a song in their heart"

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500Nitro
.450 member

Reged: 06/01/03
Posts: 7244
Loc: Victoria, Australia

Re: Chapuis gets no respect [Re: 9.3x57]
#137851 - 23/06/09 11:51 PM

Back to the question.

"Is the point here really that some people do not like Chapuis guns merely because they are Made in France ?"

I DON'T THINK SO - if people are like that, it's a poor reason not to like a gun !!!

By the way, please note that I did use the

at the end of my piece about the French. All in good fun !!!

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9.3x57
.450 member

Reged: 22/04/07
Posts: 5504
Loc: United States

Re: Chapuis gets no respect [Re: 500Nitro]
#137855 - 24/06/09 12:42 AM

Quote:

By the way, please note that I did use the
at the end of my piece about the French. All in good fun !!!

I saw that.

Just thinking, if everybody quit using guns made by people from nations that they fought or scrapped with we'd be stuck using home made bows and arrows.

You think you have problems with the Frenchies...

Your problems pale by comparison to mine. I've got it far worse.

I'm stuck using guns made by Easterners!!

--------------------
What are the Rosary, the Cross or the Crucifix other than tools to help maintain the fortress of our faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?

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doubleriflejack
.333 member

Reged: 11/11/07
Posts: 352
Loc: Oregon, U.S.A.

Re: Chapuis gets no respect [Re: Westley375]
#137870 - 24/06/09 09:14 AM

Over past 40+ years, I have worked on numerous guns/rifles, made all over the world, appreciating mechanical aspects of them all. However, I have especially appreciated French guns/rifles, because often I have found that their makers were obviously independent thinkers who enjoyed thinking out of the box. As a result, some of the most creative, interesting designs have come out of France. The only early day Chapuis I had ever seen is same as we see today, and I have found nothing at all wrong with it, though, I must admit, at first it took me by surprise, with the bolting system. They have my full respect, and clearly they use excellent steel, and I would never turn down owning a Chapuis. Nobody, anywhere in the world, makes anything like a Darne double rifle; I like to see something different now and again. For those of you who can't stand anything different, leave the French things alone, for enough of us like them to keep them busy making more. For those of you who turn your nose up at anything French, leave me alone, for I can't stand people filled with various kinds of hate. If most of you knew anything about the history of firearms, you would know that France has a very rich history, I think due to that creative mind they seem to have.

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kamilaroi
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Re: Chapuis gets no respect [Re: doubleriflejack]
#137872 - 24/06/09 09:54 AM

^^^ +1

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9.3x57
.450 member

Reged: 22/04/07
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Loc: United States

Re: Chapuis gets no respect [Re: doubleriflejack]
#137875 - 24/06/09 11:36 AM

I have nothing against the French and rather enjoy the fact that their leaders are proud to be French and aren't embarrassed to say so.

'Wish I had a President who felt the same about his own country.

All nation states have their times of glory and their times of shame.

Vive la France!!

--------------------
What are the Rosary, the Cross or the Crucifix other than tools to help maintain the fortress of our faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?

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DandyofPunjab
.300 member

Reged: 14/11/05
Posts: 182
Loc: Punjab

Re: Chapuis gets no respect [Re: 9.3x57]
#137896 - 24/06/09 07:27 PM

I have a Charlin St. Etienne 16 bore sliding breech ,it is similar to Darne action but alot more smoother,It has been in our family for more than 60 years and has taken alot of beating i must say it is one of most prettiest shotgun i have ever seen and is in no way inferior to a best quality London made shotgun. There was a similar shotgun but in 12 bore sold at Lewis Drake & co.

http://www.drake.net/products/Charlin-St...50-60-?id=28637

I don't know much about Chapuis but if there is question on quality of French Gunmaking i think they are no less.

--------------------
Fear None, Frighten None

Edited by DandyofPunjab (24/06/09 07:32 PM)

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doubleriflejack
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Reged: 11/11/07
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Loc: Oregon, U.S.A.

Re: Chapuis gets no respect [Re: DandyofPunjab]
#137928 - 25/06/09 04:53 AM

Yes, DandyofPunjab, I have some Charlin guns too; one I converted, via. momoblocking, to double rifle. Charlin guns tend to be "beefier" than Darne, and Charlin guns run their rails on small ball bearings, or at least some of them do, so smooth operating they are; nothing like them in the world, as far as I know.

Paragraph deleted by moderator

Edited by mickey (28/06/09 04:08 PM)

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400NitroExpress
.400 member

Reged: 26/11/03
Posts: 1154
Loc: Lone Star State

Re: Chapuis gets no respect *DELETED* [Re: doubleriflejack]
#137931 - 25/06/09 05:10 AM

Post deleted by mickey

--------------------
"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

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