Hi, Harve.
Man, I sure would like to hear a "for sure" answer on that question myself!
Chaparral has LONG made the claim that their parts are interchangable with the original - as John has said. However, I have never seen
anything from
anyone who has actually done a tear down of both to test the felicity of that claim! Now, that seems odd to me, given the number of Chaparrals in the hands of folks who have both the original and the Chaparral.
I know that if I had a Chaparral, the first order of business would be to take that puppy apart and compare it to one of my originals!
FWIW, I have an Uberti, and I have taken it apart. Check this thread
http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,17991.0.html and the other two that go with it for the complete story.
It is very much like the Uberti 1873 in that it is "close, but no cigar."
Some parts could be made to work - maybe. The big difference between the Uberti and the original is the bolt and firing pin design. Uberti uses a two piece rather than the one piece used in the original and the Chaparral copy.
Hope this helps confuse the issue a little!