I took it home and immediately put about 100 rounds of .38 Special (Ultramax 158-grain LSWC) and 50 rounds of .357 Magnum (S&B 158-grain FMJ) through it. My thoughts:
1 - The recoil with .38 Specials was very, very gentle. For an aluminum snubby, this thing was MUCH easier on my hands than my wife's S&W 642 (which I despise shooting).
2 - The recoil with .357 Magnum did not produce as much muzzle flip as I am used to, say with my trusty Taurus 617, but the HURT is still there that you expect in a lightweight snubby. Torque or no, that is a LOT of energy smashing back into your hands with very little mass to help soak it up. I probably could have fired another 50 rounds before being really tired of it, but you're not going to enjoy it. Is it better than shooting the S&W airweights? Yes, by a mile. Is it as nice as shooting a steel-framed conventional .357 with a 6" barrel? Heck no.
3 - The "external hammer" is not a hammer at all, it is a "cocking lever". When firing in double-action, the "cocking lever" does not move at all. Thus, you could shoot the Rhino from inside of a coat pocket (or purse) and not worry about anything snagging. If you do choose to "cock" it, the "cocking lever" returns to its normal position, but a little red flag pops up to the left of the rear sight to indicate "SA" status. This flag also bobs up and down during the DA sequence, which can be a tad distracting.
4 - The ejector rod is long enough to completely extract the rounds, unlike some wheelguns. That said, the star's pattern SUCKS. You cannot cup your weakhand to both cycle the rod and try to catch the brass without getting a casing stuck under the ejector. I must have done it 6 times, and I am quite adept at wheelgun manipulations.
5 - I used a HKS 10-A speedloader, but I noticed that the .357 Magnums didn't load just right (hint, hint, close but not exactly the right size dummy!). Reading other reviews on the internet it seems that the HKS Mk-3A is the correct size. Live and learn. At least none of the controls/grip is in the way when using the speedloader.
6 - The cylinder release is a bit odd. With Colts you pull back, with S&Ws you push forward and with Chiappa you "thumb it down" like you're turning off a safety. I personally think that the cylinder is a bit tight to swing out, but that might be because it is new.
7 - The trigger - well let me tell you it ain't no butter. The DA trigger pull is heavy, enough that my forearm was starting to burn a bit doing dryfire drills. On the plus side, it was fairly consistent so the muzzle didn't wander a lot. Also, you could stage it pretty easily. The SA trigger was very nice, as SA's usually are.
8 - The cylinder did not feel very tightly locked in to me. In fact, I could rotate the closed cylinder (backwards only) using my fingers! That's probably a design issue, but as long as it doesn't affect function I guess I won't get uptight about it.
9 - Accuracy overall was suprisingly good for a snubby. I shot it better than average, with the last 3 rounds of my first cylinder tight enough to be covered by my thumb (25-ish feet distance). I think the easy "staging" of the trigger helped a lot, and of course the reduced muzzle flip helped on double taps.
And now for the pics (as dirty, because I didn't want to waste daylight taking pictures):
Some very wise men I know have said they'll never buy the first run of anything. They'll wait for it to get lots of real world feedback and let the manufacturer fix the inevitable problems before they adopt it. I daresay the Rhino is in this category. There are numerous little things that need improved (the ejector star, the cylinder staying in place, DA trigger pull feel) before this could be considered "ready for the big time". I'm going to keep shooting it, of course, and might even be caught at an event or two with it just for fun. But I rather doubt that it will earn a place on my hip for concealed carry anytime soon.
I'm a revolver fan. I carry them exclusively. So I WANT to heartily endorse this new model of wheelgun. But frankly, I can't.
