Hi all,
Anyone have any experience with the Chapuis Chasseur SxS (classic or artisan)?
Chapuis Chasseur Side-by-Side Shotgun
Background: I am relative neophyte to SxS shotguns but have been soaking up all of the relevant threads on this forum over the last couple weeks. These have been very helpful in developing base level understanding of fit, finish, weight, balance, chamber length, barrel length, patterning, use (hunting vs. clays), resale value, etc.
I have found very little info about this Chapuis shotgun apart from marketing materials and I am curious to see if anyone on the forum has first- or secondhand experience with this gun. I am evaluating a bunch of different choices right now. As of now I think I would like a 12 bore that can handle steel shot and with a 3" chamber ideally (for the sake of flexibility in what I shoot), so this has steered me towards modern or newer production guns vs. classic/older ones. I'm also a sucker for well-figured walnut.
These parameters have led me to options like the Chapuis, a Beretta 486 Parallelo, and the AyA No. 2. The Parallelo is a single trigger (I don't have a lot of experience with two triggers, but I understand that is the classic design) and the No. 2 is a 2 3/4" chamber, but they roughly fit what I am looking for.
Thanks.
@Louis Toadvine with all due respect, I think you've missed the plot a bit and have painted yourself into a corner with your requirements.
A couple of facts to guide you, using 12 bores as the basis of these facts since you're headed for that gauge by your post.
1.) The reason British doubles are the finest that have ever existed is for many reasons, but the biggest reason is they had infinite supplies of good wood so they could select for the smallest possible dimensions knowing the gun would endure the recoil. This in turn allowed them to be lightweight. I'm no crack shot, but I always outproduce every other hunter when rough shooting. (no, I'm not a greedy pig) It's about being able to carry a gun in ready position all day without tiring.
2.) Greener's Rule of 96 determines what a gun should weigh. The weight of the charge x96 should be the weight of the gun.
3.) A "square load", all things being equal, will produce the very best pattern for a gun. The reason is that pellet malformation occurs when the ignition slams the pellets at the back of the wad into the pellets at the front of the wad before the payload begins to move forward into the forcing cones. Thus, long shells and heavy loads have terrible shot stringing (a rope of shot rather than a WALL of shot coming at the bird) and they also have a lot of "flyers" when you look at the patterning board indicating that a lot of the pellets aren't even part of the pattern.
4.) Square loads are actually lighter loads. That's wonderful news because heavy loads are misery. A 1-1/8 ounce load is only 12.5% more pellets than a one ounce load, yet it has 50% more recoil. This accelerates wear and tear on the gun.
So now that you know what a good gun ought to be, light, fast to point, easy to carry, low recoil, and with a good pattern, you know that a 12 bore gun designed to shoot 1-1/8 ounce of shot or less is all that you'll need for any upland use case. That happens to be a 2.5" chambered gun in most cases, but you can buy a 2.75" chambered gun if you wish although the choices are fewer and they are usually heavier guns.
So now on to your collection of options you listed and why they are not very good options:
1.) Spanish guns are replicas, very crude ones in fact, they are overweight, and they are relatively low quality. My daily driver is the shotgun I got stuck with because no one wants to buy it off me. It's a Grulla 12-bore (and 16 bore) limited edition with a H&H 7-pin sidelock and southgate ejectors. MSRP today of $16,000. Total POS. It has a single trigger which is an idiotic technology designed by people that do not understand the point of two triggers. (so you can instantly select the barrel with the correct choke on the first shot!. It also is a 7lb beast because it has 3" chambers. The only thing the 3" chambers are good for is killing geese every five years.
2.) Many (but not all) Spanish guns and the crude entry level guns you're considering are a through-bolted stock design. That means there are huge stocks with hollow cavities so they can be mass produced at scale. They overbuild the stocks with junk wood so they don't crack (Warranty costs). You can't easily cast them to fit you and you can't carve for fit out of risk of carving into the void of the stock's through bolt cavity.
3.) Not only are they overpriced for what they are, the guns in your list are heavy guns, many with unreliable single triggers (don't buy the single trigger option). They are hard to carry and difficult to keep in the ready position all day.
What would I suggest you do? Buy yourself a nice, barely used, 75 year old Birmingham or Edinburgh made high-grade boxlock 12 bore ejector. Original case and accessories. Buy yourself many cases of 2.5" ammo or load your own. Enjoy owning a ferrari-quality gun that weighs 6.5lbs, can be fitted to your stature, and for which repairs are very easy in the hands of a skilled gunsmith. (and repairs are very rare indeed) A near best quality one will set you back $4000 and its a hundred times the gun as my Grulla or your proposed AyA/Chapuis/Beretta.
With your spare cash left over after the endeavor, buy yourself a Beretta O/U 12 bore 3" Onyx to lug around the Turkey blind and the goose pit for those very rare occasions when you need to sling tremendous amounts of steel shot.
