Chiappa Rhino Review

[NavyChief]

I've heard and read that story more times than I can count. The last time I heard it?

And now you can say, "Day before yesterday."

[Sevens]

Chief, you are gooooood. Finding where I said it! I knew I had wrote that, I didn't know where I had wrote it, but I thought that also when Rick was telling us.
He had some detail about where it happened, but yes -- I've heard that story so many times I feel like I was there when it happened.

[NavyChief]

Chief, you are gooooood. Finding where I said it!

You give me too much credit. I know you're familiar with the phrase "Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and again."

[Morne]

Looks like the current batch of Rhinos on GunBroker have a different (bigger) extractor star:



The arms of the star go about 1/2 way out now, compared to the roughly 1/3 length arms on my earlier Rhino. Maybe they got the hint. Wonder what it would take to get my cylinder/extractor swapped out?

[scriz]

Chiappa's office is on West 3rd Street in Dayton

[BobK]

The arms of the star go about 1/2 way out now, compared to the roughly 1/3 length arms on my earlier Rhino. Maybe they got the hint. Wonder what it would take to get my cylinder/extractor swapped out?

Probably be cheaper to sell your gun and buy another Chiappa.

[Sevens]

It's a shame that image shows the extractor lined up so poorly.
Doesn't instill confidence.

I'd really like to try a four or six inch-- those offer a real rear sight as opposed to the snubby version which uses the cocking lever as a rear sight.

[buckeye43210]

I've seen reports that some 9mm and 40 S&W models will have cylinders cut for moonclips.

[Klingon00]

Here's a review I found a while back by Shelley Rae from West Coast Armory who writes a semi-regular article she calls "Rental Gun Stress Test" where she pulls a gun out from the rental counter and does a review on it about how well it survived the abuse and can be real eye openers for the long term reliability and durability of a given firearm. Here is her two posts on the Chiappa:

http://gunnuts.net/2011/07/18/rental-gu ... al-review/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The gun is a rockstar if you can muscle the striker back into single action mode, but those of us who know better and engage the Rhino’s gajillion pound double action trigger (okay, I’m exaggerating) are treated to a series of misfires. When we first put the gun out it was just with .357s but now the .38s are starting to misfire as well – and back to Chiappa she goes.

http://gunnuts.net/2011/08/15/rental-gu ... follow-up/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A couple weeks ago the Chiappa Rhino came back from the factory. They fixed it, or something, I think. They could have cleaned it. At least it came back really quickly?

In Chiappa’s defense it worked better for almost a week. The gun was firing .38 Special rounds no problem, it could run .357 magnums single action almost 80% of the time and was even firing .357s double action almost 60% of the time. (Too bad 60% is still a D-.) It might not be so bad to fire the gun in single action mode except the lever to do so is extremely difficult to pull. For the longest time I had to use both my thumbs to pull it into position, now I can do it with one thumb but it’s still not easy. (Maybe that’s what Chiappa fixed?)

[cgs500]

Morne,

How does the casting material compared to the 1911 they sell?

[emtpirate]

The Safariland Comp II speedloaders work just right with mine.

[emtpirate]

Just took my 200DS out to the range, and I am very impressed. The recoil was so much lighter than my S&W M&P 360 using the same ammo. I love my Rhino, and have had no issues at all.

[Morne]

FYI - the new extractors are roughly 15/16" wide. That is much improved from the roughly 3/4" extractors on the old ones.

[Sevens]

Wanted to post my recent thoughts and experience with the Chiappa Rhino, specifically the 6-inch version that I got to check out at Buckeye Outdoors last Sunday.

I like the 6-inch gun so much more than the snubby version. IMO, it looks light years better and either the completely oddball looks are growing on me or I've gone goofy in the recent past, but the 6-inch gun keeps inching it's way to the good side when I see it. What started as, "Oh good God!" drifted toward "ugly but I don't vomit" to "strange but intriguing" and now the 6-inch gun has me saying, "I think I kind of like the way this WEIRD thing looks!" As I may have mentioned previously, I also like that it has a genuine rear sight and it's not simply milled in to the feux-hammer cocking lever.

Besides the looks, this gun had some real positives when I played with it. As expected, SA trigger break was very, very nice -- again, my opinion, but it's not all that difficult for a factory revolver to have a decent, clean, likable single action break and this Rhino was no exception. Didn't feel heavy or creepy, felt pretty gun for an unfired, new production gun. Not a shock, but important.

The double action trigger was a really great surprise. Solid, smooth, predictable and with a clean break and no hangs or notches. I was absolutely impressed with the double-action, and the salesman even pulled out a box-fresh S&W 386 and the Rhino's DA pull flat-out beat the stock S&W. Not that a stock, untouched and never used brand new S&W revolver is the DA by which others shall be judged, but it certainly is a known benchmark that you can compare against. The Rhino was easily the better, smoother, cleaner DA pull.

I did not care for the stubby grip length and shape on the Rhino. I did like the way it looked, but it didn't feel quite right in my hand, like something was missing in the shape. That's very subjective, of course.

The price tag was somewhere just over $900 -- a problem, IMO, for a company with very little history in North America and, (again, my opinion) not any good history. If you've seen cutaway pictures of the lockwork on one of these guns, you'd be scared, especially if you are well versed in the comparative simplicity in the standard (Smith & Wesson) design.

But, overall, I was impressed. However... and the reason for this post...
I broke the poor thing right there at the gun counter in front of the salesman.

He handed me the revolver and I asked him if I may dry fire it and he was like, "absolutely, please do, we encourage it" and so we chatted for a good bit about this odd handgun while I dry fired it a handful of times. Would be safe to say that I dry fired it between SA and DA at least a dozen times. (not a hundred, mind you, a dozen or 15)

At first, it worked fine. At some point, it quit firing in double action. It would cock and fire in single action, but double action soon became a way to advance the cylinder with the trigger--and nothing else. Even when it was broke, it would continue to cock and fire in single action, but double action wasn't happening and we both dinked with it in every way we could to "fix it."

I felt bad, for sure, and a little embarrassed, but it was no problem. Very big store, lots and lots of sales, I'm sure he didn't feel as though I did anything to "mis-handle" the revolver. It was destined to break sometime, I think it breaking right there in front of a customer who had no plans to actually buy it probably worked to everyone's best advantage.

Given what I've seen from the only other Chiappa product I've handled (their awful rimfire "1911" pistol) and this box-fresh one taking a dump right at the counter... it will be a l-o-n-g time before I could honestly pony up my own cash money for one. I simply don't think the quality is there and I'd love to see someone like S&W or Ruger pay for the rights to try their hand at one. Chiappa may have some kind of history in Italy, but they don't have one around here and what little I have seen (quality-wise) has been sorely underwhelming.

Still look very much forward to shooting one. I've turned in to a real .357 Magnum junkie lately.

[Morne]

This weekend I am going to wring the Rhinos out and will update...or maybe start a fresh thread...

Got a 4" version that I want to run head to head with the snubby just for kicks.