High purity copper was ground by high energy milling and the resulting nanocrystalline power sintered by Capacitor Discharge Sintering to dense (93% of theoretical density) bulk components. The evolution of the nanostructure from the starting nanocrystalline powder to the sintered component was studied by Whole Powder Pattern Modelling, a state of the art X-ray Diffraction methods for Line Profile Analysis, and by Electron Back Scattering Diffraction. As it results from the present work, the Capacitor Discharge Sintering process is very effective in densifying nanocrystalline metal powders with limited effects on the domain size and defect density.