Rhinoplasty

[Rodentman]

Bought this about a couple of months ago:



I know, I still am learning about money.

Rhino did not perform well. Many light and off center strikes, resulting in failures to fire:



Had dealer send it back to Rhino (Chiappa) N/C to me. Gun came back WORSE. SA worked fine. DA yielded failures, and horribly off center strikes:



SA's are the 1 row on the right. The rest are DA's. You can see by the length of the cartridge that some fired, some did not. This is pretty crappy IMHO. It's on its way back. Not only is this unacceptable, but dangerous as well.

 

[Rodentman]

Does anyone know enough about the lockworks in this to tell me what may be wrong?

 

[MrBorland]

Below is as comprehensive a description of the Rhino innards as I think you'll find. I haven't studied it in much detail myself, but it may help figure out your problem.

Yours obviously seems like a timing issue, so I'd study the pics & writeup to see how the Rhino times. The cylinder may not be locking into place when it should, or the DA sear may be releasing too early.

http://www.grantcunningham.com/blog_files/tag-rhino.revolver.html

 

[F-111 John]

As far as the light primer strikes in DA, I have heard of similar issues with Dan Wesson revolvers (I own a 715.) The single action sear locks the hammer farther back than where the double action sear releases the hammer. So in essence the hammer falls from farther back in single action, resulting in a harder primer hit.

Sounds to me like a new hammer assembly is in order, and properly fit so it doesn't release too soon. Or perhaps a stronger mainspring, which will make the DA trigger pull heavier as well. Edit: After reading how the Rhino lockwork works, I'm not sure what would be the offending part(s)!

As far as the off center hits in DA, which are not off center in SA, that is almost certainly a timing issue. The cylinder lock is not engaging before the hammer is released in DA. This would also point to a DA sear that is releasing the hammer too soon. Probably a good thing that you're not getting reliable DA fires in this case, as you'd end up with a lot of lead spitting from the bullet shaving across the forcing cone.

 

[Ash_J_Williams]

That's odd, I had a similar issue with a chiappa derringer. Light pin strikes, failure to fire from one of the two barrels. Sent it in for repairs, it came back very obviously chopped up as if someone too a belt sander to it, and both barrels didn't fire.

I sent it back once again and told them "no more repairs, I want a new one," which they sent me.

That's a shame though, I've been wanting a Rhino.

 

[BCRider]

I wouldn't call that a light strike. Keep in mind that even a good strike on a primer that does not fire is going to look like in comparison to one that does fire and rebounds back against the hammer. For those of you calling out "light strikes" look at the badly off center casings that did go off. The strikes and primers look as deep as the SA shots.

I'd say that MrBorland has the right of it. The strikes are very likely not high or low but side to side displaced. And a highly likely reason for this is that the hammer fell before the cylinder was all the way into lockup for whatever reason. Either the hand wasn't pushing it far enough before the DA sear tripped or the DA is just plain tripping far too early before the cylinder has locked into the proper place. Hence his suggestion that it's a timiing issue.

Rodentman, likely you didn't analyze this subtle aspect so all you're seeing is off center hits. But if you had looked at them while the casings and rounds were still in the cylinder I'll bet you'd have seen a pattern of them all being "early" or possibly the cylinder stop isn't catching and you'd see a pattern of them all being late. If they are early hits or late hits then you'll likely find that you can "correct" it to some extent by how you pull the trigger. For example for early hits where the cylinder isn't moving fully into lockup before the hammer falls pulling the trigger with a snappy pull may snap the cylinder around quicker and it'll "coast" into lockup and lock before the hammer hits. But if the stop isn't engaging the notches then pulling more slowly may allow the cylinder to catch the stop.

The good news is that you could try all this with dry firing. Pull the DA trigger slowly and just when as the hammer falls stop pulling the trigger and hold it in place. With your other hand check to see if the cylinder is atually in lockup. If it's loose turning and snaps in with a slight twist you found your trouble. If it's solidly locked up then try a fast action pull. Pull back snappily and hold it back while checking to see if the cylinder went past the point of lockup. In both cases look down in the gap between the frame and cylinder to where the stop is and see if it's actually fully going into the notch or if the notch is not in register with the stop.

If you find a problem send in a description along with the gun for warranty. I know it seems as if you're doing their job for them but at least you'll know why it's happening and what to check when it comes back to see if it was done right.

 

[Rodentman]

BC, Yes you are right I could (and should) have done that to give them a better description of what is going on. Guess I naively figure that if I have an issue like this its probably not the only case and they would be familiar with the problem and able to address it appropriately. But you're right that the more info one can give the techs the better.

 

[scramasax]

I've got two rhinos and have had no problems with them. Saying that I have had S&W revolvers with the same problen you have pictured, warranty work took care of it. Had Colt .45 once with a great test target took it to the range and it wouldn't fire. Still haven't figured out how they shot the target with no firing pin hole in the slide. I hate to say you must have a Monday or Friday gun. I'd keep on sending it to Chiappa or request a replacement from them. The gun shoots very well.

Good luck, Cheers,

ts

 

[Standing Wolf]

The first batch of strikes looks light, but not enough off center to worry about. The second batch clearly indicates whoever "repaired" the gun should go back to flipping hamburgers.