Chiappa Rhino

I like the hexagonal cylinder. Frankly I think it is a design aspect that should be used on other 6 shot revolvers. Makes it a little flatter, the smaller ones would be very concealable.

As for the chiappa revolver, I have heard less than great things about the trigger pull, but they shoot with hardly any muzzle jump at all shooting .357 magnum from a 2" barrel.

It looks ugly, but they have some forward thinking ideas, some of which probably could stand a bit more polishing.
 
Every time I see one with a 6" barrel I keep expecting it to have a Klingon Empire emblem on the side... :D


That being said, I do want one...I have yet to shoot one, but I've heard good things about recoil and follow-up shot control.
 
I guess I am in the major minority when it comes to this gun because I actually LIKE the way they look. I think it's a rather attractive weapon as far as visually appeal goes.
 
I have one. Great gun for carry or the range. Hard finding holsters but I've found a few companies that will make them custom for a comparable price to good quality off-the-rack holsters.

Not sure what people are complaining about on the trigger pull - it's comparable to a Ruger. Felt recoil is non-existant, even with .357's and follow up shots are quick. Only complaint is that it has trouble with ammo that has harder than normal primers (like Winclean).
 
I am a proud rhino owner and I absolutely LOVE mine. ( I have the 4 in .357. )I have only two complaints. One, the cocking lever is stiff, really hard to cock. Two is what boomie mct touched on and that it is real hard to find holsters for any model other than the snubbie rhino. Other than that, I have no complaints. It reduces felt/perceived recoil as advertised with its lower barrel design, it conceals like a bottom feeder with its hexagonal cylinder, and I like its looks even. My dream gun would be a 3 in barreled mostly polymer rhino in .45acp w moonclips. ( chiappa you listening?!) p.s. boomie, where have you come across places for holsters? I would be grateful for yours or anyone's suggestions.
 
My first one was a Shark-tac kydex holster I had made at a show. I know a lot of people have the hate for Shark-tac but they did fine by me. My only regret is using the black kydex instead of tan. The tan was thicker material and I hear it is stronger too (something about the black dye). Mine has given me no trouble so far.

My fancy one was made by Black Hills Leather. It is a great holster in terms of fit and build quality. They did some custom decorative work for like $10 extra. Rudy at Black Hills was great to work with. They have 4" Rhino blanks so you do not need to send your gun in or anything. I got the "Improved Side Belt" and it is fantastic.
 
I eagerly awaited the 5" or 6" version (whatever I could get my hands on).

When I finally got to handle 2" and 3" models ... I changed my mind.
It doesn't fit my hand. The ergonomics are strange (beyond expectations). The trigger was complete trash. There was absolutely no "feel" to the trigger. Fit and finish were not acceptable. And, they were priced $300 higher than they should have been.

For half of the going price, I might have still held out for a 6". But, for my money, they aren't even worth dealer cost.
 
What a great idea!

I keep expecting it to have a Klingon Empire emblem on the side...
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I don't think I would engrave it on the pistol,,,
But I could easily see it carved and dyed on a custom holster.

Oops,,,
My Sci-Fi geekiness is showing. :o

Aarond

.
 
I bought a 5 inch black about a year ago and liked it so much I bought a 2 inch hard chrome. What's been said about less muzzle flip and recoil is true. Shooting 38's from my 442 is way tougher on the hand that 357's out of the 2 inch Rhino. The newer ones are cut for moon clips and you don't have to use them.
The 5 inch is just as accurate as my 6 inch Highway Patrolman and believe it or not is easier to do follow up shots. The trigger reminds me more of my Kahr than a traditional revolver, which is to say not bad.
Having said all that I had to send the 2 incher back because I thought it had excessive end shake. I never had this problem with the 5 inch.
Whatever you read about customer service not being good is BS. I notified them on their website and they sent me a shipping label. It's only been gone a few days so i can't comment on return time.
 
Oh yeah, photos

442Rhino_zps66b7d753.jpg


Rhino5a_zps078126f9.jpg
 
My fancy one was made by Black Hills Leather. It is a great holster in terms of fit and build quality. They did some custom decorative work for like $10 extra. Rudy at Black Hills was great to work with. They have 4" Rhino blanks so you do not need to send your gun in or anything. I got the "Improved Side Belt" and it is fantastic.
Click to expand...

Black Hills leather is great. I looked all over for some one to build me a shoulder holster for my Coonan Classic. Rudy took the job. It is a great rig!

as far as the Rhino I like the silver one with the 6 inch barrel.
 
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I broke one at the gun counter in a very large local gun store. Asked to see it, was chatting with the salesman, asked him if he would mind if I were to dry fire and he assured me that he'd have it no other way, so I did, a time or two. Felt the extremely heavy cocking lever but found the very vague double action to not be all too bad.

And then? It got REALLY easy. After only 4 or 5 DA pulls, the revolver would now advance the cylinder, but not hammer anything. Using the cocking lever, opening and closing the cylinder, attempting multiple times to get the revolver to "jump back on board", it simply didn't work any more.

I was embarrassed...but only a bit. The salesman was two feet from me the entire time. He knew exactly what I knew-- I didn't do anything out of the ordinary in any way. I apologized, but then HE apologized and he added that he was glad that it did that right there, rather than for a customer who purchased it and took it home.

I agreed.

What bothers me more than anything about the Rhino is that every other product I've looked at with the Chiappa name on it is, well, crap. I think the idea is incredible and I'll wait patiently for Smith & Wesson or Ruger to obtain the rights to a bottom-barrel revolver. Chiappa doesn't make quality products, IMO.

The other thing that bothers me are the pictures that show the lockwork and it's complexity.
 
I like mine. Its a 4" White Rhino and shooting from the bottom cylinder does help on follow up shots. I intially had light primer strike issue with the first set of reloads I put through it. It turned out that my daughter had not seated the primers very well on that batch. I re-seated the primers and the problem went away. It does indicate that the primer strike is on the 'soft' side.

They do make trigger packs to lighten the trigger pull. As I recall, the target pack is not guanteed to touch them all off though.

I am a bit concerned about how complex the fire control group is but have had no problems so far. Round count is still pretty low at around 200.

The main reason I replaced my 4" Security Six with this one, other than the Rhino was a gift, is its weight. A lot of my hunting requires climbing pretty steep hills. It is much lighter on the hip in a hunting situation than the Security Six was. And at my age, those couple of ounces make a difference. Not so much for total weight, but how those extra ounces affect my hip.
 
every other product I've looked at with the Chiappa name on it is, well, crap
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Wild guess, you've only handled their 22LRs before the Rhino? I've heard nothing but praise for their reproduction lever guns. Only caution from people who've used their 22s exclusively. I've messed with a dozen or so Rhinos at various events, and all were similar; heavy cocking lever, weird (not bad so much as different) trigger take up, and middle-road workmanship. I haven't bought one because I think they're a 400$ gun, not 800$, but not because they seemed terrible.

The newer ones are cut for moon clips and you don't have to use them.
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When did they start doing that? I might be interested again if I can use moon clips (and 5-star makes hex-profile speedloaders for the Rhino :cool:)

TCB
 
I don't think I would engrave it on the pistol,,,
But I could easily see it carved and dyed on a custom holster.

Oops,,,
My Sci-Fi geekiness is showing.

Aarond
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One of the characters in the Sci Fi Japanese Anime' series "the Ghost in the Shell" carries the Mateba, which the Rhino was apparently developed from.

(okay so I watch anime' that features hot female androids, so what)
 
I own a 2" example and find the quality is very high, which surprises me for Chiappa.
The frame is made from very high grade aluminum and the recoil shield is very smoothly polished steel.
The hexagonal 6-shot cylinder makes the revolver the same width as a 5-shot J-Frame.
It's an absolute breeze to shoot. Amazingly low recoil impulse.
Just make sure you keep your fingers away from the front of the cylinder. There's a little vent there that will burn the flesh right off you if you misplace your finger, or so I've been told.
The trigger pull on mine is smooth and reasonably light. I find the trigger easy to use.
My 2" version came with a fitted leather pancake holster in the box that has worked just fine for me.
My only complaint is it's 24oz weight which I find slightly heavy for everyday concealed carry.

ChiappaRhino006.jpg

ChiappaRhino004.jpg
 
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RE: Mateba?

:confused:i heard that some here might have a unica 6? the rhino is ok, but i have always prefered the Mateba over it, if anyone has any info on the unica 6 esp. if its the .454 i'd be very happy to hear
 
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The newer ones are cut for moon clips and you don't have to use them.

When did they start doing that? I might be interested again if I can use moon clips (and 5-star makes hex-profile speedloaders for the Rhino )

TCB
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I think they started cutting for moon clips in the last 6 months or so.

The speed loader doesn't have to be hex shaped, one for an "L" frame works fine.
 
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