My 'test fire' review of the Chiappa Rhino revolver

[Trebor]

The Chiappa Rhino revolver has been out for a few years now. I finally got a chance to try one recently and wrote a review for my Michigan Firearms Examiner column.

A 'test fire' review of the Chiappa Rhino revolver

"The Chiappa Rhino revolver is a unique firearm that broke the mold of conventional double-action revolver design when it premiered in 2010. Unlike a standard revolver with a top mounted barrel the Rhino’s barrel is mounted on the bottom of the frame in an effort to reduce muzzle flip.

The Rhino is the brainchild of designer Emilio Ghisoni, creator of the now out-of-production Mateba “auto-revolver.”

 

[Revolver Ocelot]

A friend of mine bought one, unfortunately his luck was not so good with it though. On the 4th round he ever fired from the gun, the hammer spring lever broke. He spent months trying to reach chiappa to no avail, I haven't heard if he ever got it resolved, but last I heard he still had a gun that couldn't be fired.

 

[barnbwt]

I immensely enjoyed Jerry Miculek's review of the Rhino--mainly because it's obvious even a pro like him doesn't quite know what to make of it. He even manages to singe some thumb-hair with the cylinder gap . Your review of the recoil differences seems to mirror what I've seen elsewhere. I like these guns a lot because they're the most innovative thing to hit mainstream commercial revolvers in a very long time (though the least innovative of Ghisoni's designs )

It seems like bringing some snap caps with you to buy one is a good idea. All issues I've heard of folks breaking stuff (invariably hammer related) occurred almost immediately, so I'd run a dozen cylinders of snap caps before walking out a store with one . Chiappa has a bad rap because of their 22LR pistols (which honestly has nothing to do with how they would make centerfires, but it colors opinions), and had some serious early issues with quality on these guns. Now that they have a plant over here in the States (Dayton, OH IIRC) they can hopefully do a better job both controlling quality and improving customer service (Chiappa has notoriously bad CS)

BTW, you can make the DAO variant yourself by popping the sideplate and removing the cocking bar. At that point, moving the hammer won't actually do anything inside.

TCB

 

[BCRider]

Chiappa has a bad rap because of their 22LR pistols (which honestly has nothing to do with how they would make centerfires, but it colors opinions), and had some serious early issues with quality on these guns.

I'd suggest that the issues are more widespread than you suspect. I personally have had serious design and quality issues with one of their Armi Sport flintlock rifles, I know personally two other people that have had issues with Chiappa guns as well. And on top of these the local gunsmith cringes inside when he sees a Chiappa gun come in for any sort of work. Stack this on top of the stories I've seen on the web such as this one from Revolver Ocelot and there seems to be enough smoke to suggest that there's a fire.

They put a lot of their production dollars into making the outside look good. But what seems to be needed is to put more into the internals instead of taking shortcuts.

I know I'm soured for what I consider good reason on Chiappa guns. I'll have to see some significant amount of evidence to change my mind and put any of my money towards any of them again.

 

[zoom6zoom]

I really enjoy mine. If I were to change anything, it would be to do away with the stupid rail.

Oh, and convince someone to make holsters for any of the models other than the two inch.

 

[barnbwt]

"I personally have had serious design and quality issues with one of their Armi Sport flintlock rifles"
Care to elaborate? Do these issues relate to center-fire arms, and were they the product of historical reproduction? Just playing Devil's advocate; those old guns had design problems of their own, which is why new designs were developed (not to mention the Rhino wasn't exactly developed the same way as their other products--instead of being reverse engineered for CNC from 200 year old drawings, it was the product of a genius gun-maker, and is today built in American rather than their Italian facilities)

"If I were to change anything, it would be to do away with the stupid rail."
Agreed. I think they really need to modify the design to look more "traditional" so it isn't cast aside so readily. Round the corners and cylinder, have a tall "fin" with a tangent sight instead of beefy vent-rib, and polish & black anodize the thing for a faux "blue" --the Fudd's will come running!

TCB

 

[BCRider]

If the Rhino is being built in the US now that may alter things to the better.

My own issue was with a poorly designed lockwork on the flintlock Armi Sport. The tit was on the mainwheel to allow for installation of a "bridal" sub plate support but no such plate was included. Nor was their any provision for it to be installed suggesting that a previous owner had removed it. That was strike 1.

Also the manner in which the lock wheel was made caused the sear to catch on the half cock spur if the trigger was not pulled smartly. That was strike two.

The sum of these two things was to make the lockwork difficult to use. Then the mainspring broke off the setting pin due to being badly undercut from the grinding to make it fit. That was strike 3.

Even back in the day this stuff was well known and this modern failure is just plain unavoidable. This was not a case of modern CNC turning out the foibles of the past. It was just poor attention to design and execution of technology that has a long proven track record.

Two folks I personally know had major issues with the Chiappa .22 1911. In one case the whole slide blew apart in a shower of shards. The empty casing was left intact in the chamber at the end of this little bit. To their credit the Canadian importer arranged for a new gun and it's actually a special "beta" or something as there's a lot of things that are different about it.

A local gunsmith that does a pretty fair amount of cowboy action slicking up and other general smithing described a lot of the "shortcuts" that Chiappa uses in their lever rifles. It's made doing some of the typical work nigh on impossible at any sort of reasonable cost to the owners.

So you may see why I'm a little off my support for Chiappa at the moment.

Darn thing is that they make LOVELY looking and desireable stuff. But as I said, until I see various sources say that the company is putting as much attention into the insides as they do to the outsides I'll pass.

As for the Rhino I LOVE the gun. The whole concept is highly sensible and to me highly desirable. The trigger needs some help as it comes out of the box but that should be pretty easy to fix. It's just that the Chiappa taint puts me off a little. But if I trip over a used one at the right sort of price I'll likely dip my feet into the Chiappa pond one more time to try it out.

 

[Havok7416]

I love my Rhino and I posted a review on here awhile back. There will be a new review soon that covers full power loads. Everyone that shoots it loves it! Mine is the 6-inch version which I never seem to run across (except the one that I bought).