Gun Review: Chiappa X-Caliber

1. OMG…. it shoots everything !!! Use the secret trade bill to ban it , quick.

   • I cant believe no .556 or 7.62×39. My 5yr old knows you always include those rounds lol

2. I hope you contacted Chiappa about the insert that didn’t fit. They should at least get that fixed for you. As to the rest, aesthetics could be improved, but a lot of other features would cause the price to climb.

3. Nasty, but it could be used as a prop in the next Terminator movie.

4. The purpose of a survival rifle is to help you survive. I don’t expect a gun that does everything to be good at anything. I would say that the X-caliber is as functional as it needs to be for a backpack survival rifle.

   • Somewhat akin to a swiss army knife, is how I read it.

   • Bringing a broken shovel to a grave digging makes the grave take a lot longer to dig. Similarly, a survival rifle that barely works is a liability more than a tool. A survival is about functional expediency, not the strategic elimination of function and utility to the point of near uselessness.

     • Yes. “Survival” gear to me means something that may not have all the bells and whistles, but is rock-solid and reliable.

       Sure, this is an interesting gun, and at 1/2 the price I might be tempted to get one just for fun. But in a ‘survival’ situation, I’d much rather have one gun that uses a common caliber and shoots it very well instead of something like this.

     • Tyler didn’t say it didn’t work.

       • yeah, he said it works poorly. Thus: broken shovel.

     • Well he said it works it just works like crap, just like cooking ramen over a esbit fuel tab works but not as well as on a gas oven. I’m not surprised though. Trying to make something affordable that does everything basically means it will function like crap. Then again people spend $100 on a hi-point and then are amazed is not the same as a $1000 kimber.

       • I like Kimber and I really want a pro carry II, but I have seen a .45 ACP $100 hi point (more like $165) out shoot 3 different Kimbers, maybe just a fluke but I have seen hi points work, and not work. I have also seen Kimbers work great, or just barely work.

   • How about a Short Barreled Shotgun, either SxS or O/U, and a set of inserts? Let’s see…the inserts are ~8″ long so maybe a shotgun with 12″ barrels? Break it in half and have a ~12″-long stock + receiver half and a ~12″-long barrels half? That would easily fit in a backpack or small bag. Dual trigger or single selective trigger so you can choose which barrel fires and what caliber is in either…

     • For pure portability, there’s the Henry AR-7. If you want to trade size & weight for firepower, as you say there are plenty of takedown shotguns out there. Somewhere in between are various bolt-action carbines which can be stowed in the trunk. That, of course, ignores the obvious 16″ AR-15 with a folding stock (which seems to be a dime a dozen these days). Heck, even a Hi-Point Carbine would seem to have more utility than this.

     • I use the X-Caliber inserts in my 12″ stoeger double barrel sbs. I absolutely love them. 44mag is my favorite

       • Where did you get the insert?

   • For a survival rifle, those chamber inserts are overkill, IMO. All it needs to do is shoot rifle rounds and shotgun rounds in one package, and do that reliably and with minimal maintenance.

5. Now if only Archangel would come out with a stock that makes it look like a Barrett .50

6. Tyler, you wrote “The one area where I feel comfortable giving the X-Caliber extraordinarily high marks is the trigger department.”

   But I didn’t find this sentiment anywhere in the ratings. Is there some reason in particular? Or was the gun just overall so bad it wasn’t worth mentioning the bright spot in the wrap-up?

   • He mentioned the good trigger in the “ergonomics” section of the ratings: “The only shining stars are the triggers and the sights, but all the crisp breaks and bright front sights in the world can’t overcome all of the other things that make this rifle so hard to shoot.”

     • Note to self: don’t read TTAG while serving as a puppy chew toy and then comment….

7. I dunno. Many is the time I’ve found ammo scattered about the ground while on a survival trek. Just wish I’d had extra chamber inserts with me instead of food and water.

   • This made me smile. 🙂

   • Yes, I also enjoyed that comment.

     I haven’t read the company’s propaganda for this gun, but I think folks are pushing their own definition of “survival” onto it. I don’t see it as a backpack-it-and-all-accessories-everywhere type of survival gun; I see it as a substitute for a half-dozen other guns in various calibers as a camp meat gun. If you were to find a box of .44 Mag ammo while scrounging or trading, but didn’t have any gun in that caliber, the ammo is useless to you, and most folks cannot afford a dedicated gun in every caliber that might pop up. If you have this gun and insert set in the back of your safe, trunk of the car, or atop your donkey cart, you could dig it out and sight it in with the .44 ammo and use it to harvest game until the ammo ran out, then convert it to another caliber ammo and keep using it.

     • ” If you were to find a box of .44 Mag ammo while scrounging or trading, but didn’t have any gun in that caliber, the ammo is useless to you,”

       One dimensional thinking is not a survival mindset.

       That found .44 Mag is very useful to you…as a trade good. For example, if you are FINDING boxes of .44 Mag laying around (and no gun to go with it), maybe, just maybe, there is someone with a .44 Mag around that needs ammo.

       Your found box could well be mighty valuable to HIM, and he might well have something you want/need.

       There’s more than one way to skin a cat, as they say.

       • True, but only if you don’t mind: dragging it around with you; storing it until you can trade it off; and arming someone else who might not share your worldview or morals/ethics.

         Personally, I’d prefer to use it to expand my possibilities/options vs clog my valuable cargo storage and transport and arm possibly opponents, but each to his own.

       • I would think trading the found ammo would solve your storage and transport problems, as opposed to keeping the found ammo.

       • I’ve hauled WAY too much stuff back-and-forth to gunshows/swap over and over again to think that it would move as quickly as I’d like. It seems like heavy crap ALWAYS sells slowly.

         I’d rather use it up first (or as-you-find-it), and save the “good stuff” that I’ve stored for more critical uses or tasks that require higher levels of accuracy.

       • “Swap” should be “Swap meets”; editing is a bit glitchy today…

       • Your points are all perfectly valid, of course…but with the caveat that the real world does not bend to our preferences.

         In the ideal case, I’d prefer to not be in a survival situation to begin with. I’d prefer to “find” ammo in the caliber I have (with me). If I’m going to find ammo laying around unattended, I’d prefer to find the gun that goes with it, even if I already have one in that caliber. Etc.

         Probably fair to say the “right answer” is going to be very fluid and very situation dependent.

8. An article @ Thefirearmblog.com from 2011 about Chiappa said they planned to put RFID chips into their guns. No idea if they followed through with such a creepy idea.

   • http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2011/08/chris-dumm/ttag-exclusive-chiappa-president-ron-norton-on-rfid-controversy/

9. For as much as you seem to not like the thing, three out of five stars is a net positive review. This is why one can never go by numerical ratings…they only give the most cursory of impressions.

   That said, my own cursory impression is that this doo-dad is just that.

   • It’s basically the only one of its ilk, so setting the average (3 out of 5 is supposed to represent exactly average) makes sense as it isn’t better than any other many-caliber survival rifle/shotguns and isn’t worse than any others, either 😉

10. Seems like you could improve the shootability quite a bit with one of those armsaver pads on the butt of the stock.

11. So, it works for a SHTF scenario where ammunition may be hard to find and you need to shoot small game to stay alive..but not much else. Got it. Sounds like they were going for a very specific market that seems to be in a buying frenzy these days.

12. You lost me at Styrofoam stock. Seriously, Styrofoam? Yeah, no.

    • I think it’s more of a closed-cell flexible foam, rather than the more rigid, will-snap-in-half-if-you-bend-a-piece-of-it styrofoam.

      • The takedown Henry AR-7 is also a Styrofoam stock, you stow all the gun’s components in the foam cavities in the stock.

        Thanks to the Styrofoam stock in the AR-7, that sucker floats in water.

        BTW – Styrofoam is a closed-cell foam. Just not very flexible…

        • You are correct, of course, I just didn’t know how else to describe the other more flexible type of foam, but I didn’t want it to sound like a sponge.

      • The flexible closed cell foam might be a ethyl vinyl acetate or EVA, which has long been used in soles of running shoes and many other applications. Much more durable than styrofoam.

13. Am I right in assuming that the price (615) does not include the assortment of barrels??

    • From what I can tell that includes all the sleeves and the rifle. Not a bad price for multiple weapons in one.

14. Fighter bomber. Not enough of one, too much of the other.

    If I was going to buy a combo gun for a survival package I would go with tried and true. .22 over either .410 or 20 bore. Anything else is just needless complication.

    • Kinda what I was thinking. Like the old Savage Model 24, I think it was.

    • Right?

      If 25 yards is the best that gun can do, I’d much rather have what you describe, carry variety of shells from slug to birdshot and take the chance of dissappointment at not being able to fire the pile of assorted handgun cartridges I am unlikely to stumble across.

      Or a dreiling gun. I would love to have a three barrel dreiling in .22, .308 and 12ga. That’d be a hell of a survival gun.

      • Drillings are works of art. Old world craftsmanship. Which prices them way out of my range.

    • I would love to see 7.62×39 over 20 gauge.

      Although I have to admit a .22lr, .308, and 12 gauge drilling, as someone pointed out, would be the bee’s knees.

15. A H&R or NEF single shot with 4 or 5 barrels would be a much better choice than this thing

16. I would have added a bayonet lug at the muzzle to increase options of a single shot rifle. It’s a shame that this wasn’t just a little better with accuracy.

17. Concept is great, execution…not so much, especially at that price.
    Put a better stock and forend on it, drop the price to maybe two or three hundred, and
    maybe we can talk, but a foam stock on a six hundred dollar rifle ? No thanks.
    an NEF break open shotgun and a set of inserts would have better build quality at around the same price.

18. You may want to call your FFL. This looks like it could be one of those homebrewed firearms from the Philippines.

19. Another incredibly informative review, Tyler. I thank you sir.

20. Yeah. ….I wish CZ would re-introduce their survival rival that was distributed through Springfield Armory for years and years. THAT was minimalist survival rifle. I have a parker iced one in 410 and 22 hornet. Great little rifle. m Prices on NOS and used are getting ridiculous.

21. I generally like this kind of kitschy stuff. I this case I’d probably just buy a used H&R single shot 12 gauge for ~$80, and a set of inserts from Gauge Mate for ~$400.

    dubya-dubya-dubya(dot)gaugemate(dot)com/adapters/arsenal

22. I’m not too hot on Chiappa. In February I purchased a .17 hmr 10 shot revolver. It ran great for 50 rounds, then it started having problems. The cheap metal internals are wearing away every time it gets shot and cleaned. It can’t cycle more than 10 rounds before it gums up and quits working. I was interested in the “little badger” but I think I would rather just keep extra mags for my carry gun in the trunk then crap that will fail.

23. While I generally like Tyler’s reviews, I found certain aspects of this one to be a bit confusing.

    Being concerned about rate-of-fire in a break-open breechloader seems a bit off-base, but nowhere was it mentioned that you could just pull the other trigger to get a quick second shot. Unlike most break-open single-shot firearms, this one has separate firing mechanism for each barrel, so you can get two shots off before you HAVE to reload, you just may have to settle for a less-effective caliber for that rapid second shot.

    Similarly, to complain about the heavy weight (for the type) of the firearm in one passage, then complain about the recoil (a direct function of the caliber/gauge and the gun’s light weight) in a second passage seems a bit disconnected from reality. In a large caliber/gauge manually-operated breechloading firearm, you can have light weight or you can have light recoil, but you can’t have both.

    • I was surprised anyone would consider a rifle under six pounds “heavy.” I wonder how much a rifle has to weigh to count as “light.”

24. Yeesh, too expensive.

    Rather have an M6 scout if I could find one, or the Savage Model 42 (which is youth sized, but probably still usable).

    Or Chiappa’s own Double Badger.

25. Sorry I’ll pass. Great review but I don’t see 3 stars here. Lots of viable(and cheaper) alternatives…

26. There’s two ways I look at a requirement for a “survival” gun.

    You can look from the shotgun end of the problem – get a shotgun, and use either birdshot, buckshot or slugs. With some of the newer slugs, you’ve got a credible big game gun out to 80+ yards. You’ll need iron sights only, and for moving game, you’d ideally want a read sight that flops down out of your way. 20″ barrel, interchangeable chokes would be nice. If the overall weight is 6.5lbs and under, the slugs are going to rock your world when you touch off the trigger. So will high-brass hunting loads of 1.25oz or more.

    Then there’s the rifle perspective. You need a light, handy rifle, ideally in something that could take smaller big game, and accurate enough to take birds when they’re roosting or on the ground. Something (again) with a 20″ barrel and iron sights would be nice.

    Either way, I’d like to see a stainless barrel or at least a chrome-lined bore; there are shotguns with chrome lined bores – and some of them are very high end shotguns. But stainless would be preferable. The action should be simple and easy to clean, with as few fiddly small parts to lose as possible.

    But here’s a thought:

    If you want both a shotgun barrel and a rifle barrel, and your budget doesn’t include a German drilling, then how about looking at a something like a Thompson Encore? You could have what you want (shotgun and/or rifle), in a very functional package. You could have either a single-shot 12 or 20 gauge shotgun, then your choice of rifle chambering. You would need two barrels.

    You can have wood or synthetic stocks, optical or iron sights, stainless or blued barrels. Their triggers can be made very, very nice, and my experience with them (and the Contender) has shown me that they can be quite accurate. Alternatively, if you don’t want the weight, you could go with a rifle round in a single-shot pistol configuration – and they’re still rather accurate.

27. Great review I see maximum stars hear

28. Great review

29. I love these “survival” guns, and the discussions that ensue whenever one is reviewed.

    I almost wish there were people who routinely went into lawless, “eotwawki” situations.. we could call them “armies”.. and regular folks looking to prepare for those situations could look at those “armies”, and see what *they* used in that kind of a situation.

    Oh wait, we *do* have those groups!

    And how many of them carry styrofoam guns with 9 different barrels?

    Lol..

    • Survival means different things to different people. Those “armies” that you describe usually get fed out of boxes off the back of trucks or carried on choppers. They’d probably starve pretty quickly if they had to live off the land.

      If you have to forage for food an ebr is probably not the best choice. During the wild west days the American army had a number of foraging guns issued to frontier units. Shotguns.

30. I wonder if they sell the inserts alone.
    Am I wrong in assuming that any 12gauge should be able to use them?

31. I bought one of these in march for $550 and was very disappointed. My biggest issue was the complete lack of accuracy, the 44mag was the worst. At 25 yards it would barely stay on a 2’x3′ target.

    the biggest issue with this is what you are getting for the price. The problem is, there isn’t much they can do to make it cheaper. Barrels are expensive and you are essentially buying 10 barrels.

32. Hard to imagine shooting a six-pound 12 gauge that “kicks like a mule”, especially one with no recoil pad and forend. I suppose the recoil pad could be added with an aftermarket part. I like the idea of the gun, but I’d rather see an option with a centerfire rifle barrel capable of ethical varmint kills at up to 100 yards, like .222, .223 or even .243.

33. This is a marginal to satisfactory gun. I have spent many hours with mine at the range. Like someone said, the 44 mag fires all over a 3′ X 3′ target at about 65-70 feet. I fired 3″ 00 buckshot 6 different times and my trigger hand has hurt for about a month since. Not a lot of pellets on target & Kicks/bucks big time. Most of the other pistol calibers all fit into a softball size area at 65-70 feet. The 410 Winchester PDX defenders were nearly useless at the above distance. This is a good “camp” gun to have around or if you feel a need to have a rifle when strolling in the woods, it’s fine. It just feels heavy. Great novelty gun to talk about and show off. And if ever there comes a day when we really have to hunker down in the bush to survive, you will have a satisfactory to good tool in your possession. I don’t regret my purchase because as of today, it’s one of a kind. But so was the AMC Gremlin.

34. It look like junk to me !

35. I think that the point of the multi caliber “survival” ability of this gun is that if you are away from your “normal” caliber ammo and you can find or scavange any caliber ammo, you can use it in this gun. If you run out of ammo with a single caliber weapon and can’t find the correct ammo you are out of luck but with this gun almost any ammo will do.

36. You can buy inserts that will fit 12 and 20 guage “break opens”.
    Pretty much the same calibers as the X-Caliber utilizes.
    Turn a $75.00 or less shot gun into a multi caliber gun and the break open will break down in a second into two short pieces.
    That is what I did.
    Price for the inserts runs from about $39.00 – $69.00. Depends on length and/or if rifled. Complletes sets are cheaper.
    You can also make a Black Powder Mozzleloader out of the break open with adapter.

37. It’d be a good “last ditch” gun. When you’re all out of ammo for your “quality” guns and you’re out looking for ANY ammo you can find, this puppy will give you a lotta choices to keep shooting.

38. I just recently put together my own version of this. I took a beat Browning Citori over and under 12 gauge, cut the barrels down to 20″, and put an 18″ rifled .44 magnum insert from Chaszel in the top barrel .I put a set of HiViz open sights on the vent rib and three picatinny rail mounts on the front of the handguard to mount a light,etc. I then took it completely apart, cleaned it, and sprayed it with Sems black self-etching automobile primer. This gives it a really hard finish that is very easy to touch up. I’ll be ordering another .44 mag insert for it to make a poor man’s double rifle. I’d also then have the option of .44/12, .44/.44, or 12/12. I haven’t shot the .44mag/12 gauge for accuracy yet but a NEF Pardner 12 gauge singleshot that I also modified would shoot right around 2 ” groups at 50 yards with a 5 MOA red dot sight mounted on it.This was also with a Chaszel 18″ .44 Mag rifled insert . I cut the barrel on it down to 18 1/2 ” and put a Choate Survivor buttstock and forearm on it. I just now noticed that the last post on this subject was over 4 years ago !!

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