Chapuis, French avant-garde crafts

Between modernity and tradition, Chapuis Armes meets the most demanding expectations of the market, without sacrificing the level of finish and the traditional look of its weapons, which has been forged for decades.

A centenary history

Chapuis Armes is a family business founded in St. Bonnet le Château, in the Loire area, near Saint-Etienne, the cradle of the county of arms with a similar gunsmith tradition to that, for example, of Eibar in Spain.

Created in 1936 by Jean-Louis Chapuis, the company was forced to interrupt its activity during the Second World War, starting up again in 1951 led by the founder's sons, René and Paul, who in the 1960s bought a significant number of local workshops in order to achieve greater independence and create in 1966 Ets Chapuis, which will be directed from 1984 by René Chapuis.

In 1990 Chapuis invested in a new 3000 square meter manufacturing plant, where the first CNC centers and three axes were introduced. A short time later, after taking over the activity of the Manurhin revolver manufacturing company in 1998, its production was transferred to the St.Bonnet le Château facilities, doubling the surface area of ​​the manufacturing plant.

In 2004, David and Vicent Chapuis took over the company, forming the third generation, reaching an agreement with the Seeland and Harkila group in 2008 for its distribution in France and Belgium, while generating a complete renovation of his desire for rifles and shotguns in response to market demands in those years of crisis. In these changes, large investments are made in machinery and production processes, with the appearance of Round Design scales, 3D control and laser engraving. These investments will go up to 2011, the year in which it already has four machining centers with modern five-axis systems.

All this evolution led to an important achievement in 2012, when the Chapuis Armes company was named “Living Heritage Company” (Entreprise du patrimoine vivant), the highest business recognition in France.

A great offer within the Beretta Group

The Chapuis Armes product range is divided into eight families between rifles, shotguns and revolvers, with four categories in terms of the quality of the finishes, which makes it possible to present up to 51 different models.

Within the range of products, its Express rifles, both superimposed and parallel, are found as a reference in the market, and with great international recognition, available in a wide variety of presentations, from the smallest calibers to African calibers, where their Brousse, Jungle and Savane models are practically a legend.

The Express Chapuis rifles, made in a range of four models: Lightweiht, Classic, Artisan and Grand Luxe, are the great bet of the Beretta Group, which thus sees a product line covered that it did not currently have.

Chapuis Roles

But if we have to highlight something about Chapuis's commercial policy in recent years, when talking about the range of its products, it is the firm commitment to rectilinear action rifles, and specifically its ROLS model.

Officially unveiled at IWA 2017, it took five years of intense R&D to produce this rifle, which features several patented innovations and is available in five trim levels (Classic, Elegance, Soft Touch, Deluxe and Artisan) with different options regarding the type of barrel, color, possibility of design for left-handed, or different aesthetic details.

We ourselves have had the opportunity to test this type of rifle in an incredible roe deer stalking. Specifically, it was a Chapuis Rols with a Carbon FBT stock, you can learn more about this weapon and our experience in the review of our hunter Álvaro de Onís by CLICKING HERE.

Young Wild Hunters & Beretta Chapuis

Last Sunday, May 28, we premiered on YouTube, a hunt that all lovers of roe deer and stalking will love. This is "Hunting roe deer with Chapuis", a series in collaboration with Beretta-Chapuis.

Do not miss this incredible adventure with Carlos Merello and Álvaro de Onís, who will test the Chapuis Rols rifle with FBT carbon stock. Will it be up to our hunters? What do you think of him? You can watch the first episode of our series below.