I've been so close to buying a Rhino on several occasions. I'd love to hear how you like it.

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I've been so close to buying a Rhino on several occasions. I'd love to hear how you like it.

Same!

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Originally posted by nhracecraft:
Pics or it didn't happen....

Cool!

I have to admit that I have been intrigued by the Rhino for some time and this thread inspired me to finally move forward with trying something totally different after selling another one of my pistols recently. Being a revolver fan, and 9mm ammo being about as affordable as it has ever been in a very long time given current prices and rebates, it only makes sense to me to have a revolver in the same caliber as most of my auto pistols.

No photos to post yet but I opted for the 5" model (which is IMHO nicely proportional/cool looking, and the same overall length as a 4" GP100) and it arrived at my FFL today for pickup. I actually think all lengths and models of the Rhinos are cool looking and attractive. While, I have not fired it yet, for those unsure and on the fence about getting one of these due to any build or quality concerns, I have to say my first impressions of seeing and handling the Rhino I received today is nothing short of ecstatic. Given the string of unacceptable guns from a variety of sources and manufacturers I have personally inspected since the beginning of the year, it was truly a breath of fresh air to see pride and attention to detail in a firearm product again. The craftsmanship appears superb in every possible way, machining, fit, and finish. The cylinder chambers do have a pronounced shoulder and the manual indicates you can fire it with or without moonclips.

Having hands on the somewhat smaller side, the walnut grip feels comfortable and hand-filling while allowing for both an ideal and solid one handed and two handed grip. I normally shoot all revolvers and pistols with a thumbs locked, not thumbs forward grip so it works especially well for me. As for the wide and comfortable trigger, I am not sure if I just got lucky or if all recent Rhinos feel this good, but both the double action and single action are absolutely incredible, very possibly the best I've ever felt on a revolver, even compared to some with custom trigger work and/or a much higher price tag. The double action pull is unique and seems to do all the hard work of rotating the cylinder and cocking the hammer in the very first part of the stroke and actually feels easier the further you pull it right up to a break so crisp and good the sights don't move out of alignment when the hammer falls. I only have a Wheeler mechanical trigger pull gauge that goes up to 8 lbs so I typically do not bother trying to measure the double action trigger pull on most guns because it would max out, but in this case I gave it a go. Once I was able to situate the gauge arm at the lower end of the travel to stay by helping with the trigger take-up with my finger, I was able to get readings of between 7 3/4 and 8 lbs! The single action was equally amazing at 3 lbs. to even ever so slightly below the 3 lbs. line but we'll call it an even 3 right out of the box. The hammer can be cocked using one hand but you have to be deliberate and fully follow through to be successful. It is easy to cock with the support hand, but since it is a different than typical system, you just have to follow through on the full travel in one stroke.

I cannot wait to get the revolver to the range and hope to do so over the weekend because if it shoots as good as the fit, finish, and feel of the gun would indicate, this will quite likely unseat my long standing Ruger GP100 4" stainless as my favorite centerfire revolver ever fired or owned. (including Rugers, Smiths, Colts, Dan Wesson, etc.)

Just got back from the range.

I like it!

Fired about 100 through the Rhino and about 50 through the Smith.
The Rhino definitely has a different feel and the trigger is fantastic.
One handed cocking is a little awkward but not bad once you get used to it.

I have a 6" LOL and LOVE it amazing to fire

I fired one in 357 back when they first came out. I didn't like the appearance of the gun, but I liked the shape of the recoil impulse a lot. It is a game changer in the recoil department as far as revolvers go. But then the Rhino isn't a real revolver, or is it ? I dunno. It's still a strange gun to me but I can't knock it for any other reason. Maybe its appearance kept it from going mainstream. I dunno. As you can see I don't know much. Chiappa firearms is a strange gun company as far as products go. I know someone that owns their weird (but good looking nevertheless) three barreled break open shotgun. But that's what makes America great.

Shot the >>> Rhino <<< again today.
Still like it.

I have the Chiappa 1887. It is my main shotgun for Cowboy Action shooting. I had it worked over by the best gunsmith for them in the country (took about 2 months to get it back because he liked me!). WORTH IT.



Rolan Kraps by Dave Steier, on Flickr

I thought the Smith trigger was pretty good but this Rhino trigger is fantastic. The wide flat shape is wonderful.

Lyman digital 10 pull averages:

Smith: DA = 8.3, SA = 2.5
Rhino: DA = 7.0, SA = 1.5

Finally got a little time to run to the range this afternoon to fire my 5" 9mm Rhino. To echo Depami, I like it a lot!

There are only two things I will likely change to make it perfect. A rubber or G10 grip, and more moonclips. The walnut grip is not uncomfortable per se, but I feel a different grip will make it even more ideal for extended range sessions. The recoil is mostly straight back into your hand with little muzzle movement and the 9mm was pleasant to shoot through it. I would say overall very similar to a mid to full sized 9mm auto pistol with an aluminum frame, but with less muzzle movement. Shooting it with only three moonclips, while doable, is a little time consuming. Once you get familiar with the amount of pressure necessary and the technique of snapping the rounds into the moonclips though, they are pretty easy to load. Unloading them is a little more difficult and can be done with just the fingers if necessary, but I found the little plastic unloading assist tool they include with the other accessories to work quite well. I will likely get two packs of 10 moonclips for a total of 23 moonclips so I can preload a bunch before I go to the range again.

Other than these to things though, the revolver was a lot of fun to shoot and performed really well. I fired a total of 68 rounds of 124gr FMJ. The loaded moonclips drop easily in and drop smoothly out when loading and unloading the revolver. The fiber optic sights are great and provide a nice, sharp sight picture, with the red front and green rear fibers picking up any available ambient light fairly well, even with the modest indoor lighting of the range obstructed somewhat by the stall walls. Dimmer than outdoor or more direct and brighter indoor lighting of course but still beneficial and definitely better than just plain black sights. I did have to adjust them a bit to the right and the white hash marks on the rear sight helped with this so I could do it a little at time and more clearly see the amount of movement of the sight.

One of the things you will probably note right away on the targets is that they are cheap paper targets because they tend to randomly tear sometimes with some of the bullet strikes.

The first picture shows 32 rounds of single action fire at 7 yards after I used the first three moonclips to get it mostly where I wanted it. I did not have to adjust the elevation and left it hitting about an inch low at 7 yards because that should put it about dead on at 25 yards given the height of the sights above the bore and some ballistics calculations. The noticeably 9 o'clock hit was all me and a called flyer as well as the top dead center 12 o'clock hit as I pushed the trigger on the first on and rushed the sight alignment on the second.

The second picture is 18 rounds of double action fire at 7 yards. Again, the noticeably low right hit and low left hits were all me initially trying to treat the double action more like a traditional revolver double action by staging it with the first two shots which ended up being counter productive due to the unique trigger travel and break. The other 16 were just maintaining sight alignment and pulling smoothly through the entire travel of the excellent double action trigger and simply letting it do its thing at a rate of about one per second. Not having fired a double action revolver in a while, I was quite happy with the initial results.

Once I get more moonclips and have more time, I will push the target out further and double check my ballistics calculations and sight alignment for further distances. I'm really looking forward to spending more time with the Rhino and getting to know it better. I'm convinced once I get a little more range time with it, I will be able to improve on these results even further, but as it is, I'm a happy camper and can highly recommend the Rhino!

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Dtech

Nice write up Dtech.
The sights on mine were spot on right out of the box.
Please let me know if you find moon clips in stock anywhere. The only stock I've found is TK Precision at 10 for $80, ouch! Other place are around 10 for $30 but not stock. Lot's of .38/.357 but no 9/.40.

Thanks Depami. Glad you are enjoying yours too and I have you to thank for inspiring me further to get it.

Looks like the longer the barrel on these, the lower the trigger pull. lol

While our double actions seem close, your 1.5lbs. single action is being half of what mine is and I thought mine was really good out of the box. Not sure how comfortable I'd be with a trigger that light but if it is a range only gun and it doesn't misfire than no worries I guess.

I did not have to adjust the sights very much based on the hashmarks on the rear sight (it is now just slightly right of the center hashmark), but it was shooting a little left at first.

As for the moonclips, I placed a backorder with Midway as they are supposed to be receiving some on 4/11 per their product page, so you might want to do the same.

Dtech, thanks for the heads up on the Midway clips. I didn't click far enough to see the due date. Just ordered some as well. I have a shooting buddy that 3D prints moon clips and they work well and are cheap but $3 each isn't that bad as long a you don't lose them right away.

I always wonder about the accuracy of my Lyman digital but I just experimented with a bunch of bananas: They weighed 23.55 oz on a food scale and the Lyman gave a 10 lift average of 1 lb 8.2 oz so I have to believe the 1.5 lb trigger to be real.

You certainly need to be careful with this Rhino when cocked. Makes paying attention to that little red pin quite important since the hammer doesn't indicate cocked status.

Took the Rhino to the indoor range yesterday and noticed that at 50 feet 124gr and 147gr were key holing. 115gr appear to be true but the others must be tumbling. 124 was Fiocchi, 147 was Federal AE and 115 was S&B.

Anything that can be done about this?

Try a different 124-grain load, maybe? I'd try S&B, myself. Never had a problem with Federal, but I've never tried their 147 grain loads. Fiocchi generally hasn't given me very good results in 9mm or .223.

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Originally posted by Depami:
Took the Rhino to the indoor range yesterday and noticed that at 50 feet 124gr and 147gr were key holing. 115gr appear to be true but the others must be tumbling. 124 was Fiocchi, 147 was Federal AE and 115 was S&B.

Anything that can be done about this?

Was every shot key holing or just some? Were you using targets to be of known good quality and relatively new that don't tend to tear?
Sometimes even good targets can deteriorate with heat and humidity exposure and make it look like bullets are key holing.

One thing I did notice in the Rhino manual this evening that it seems all the Rhino barrels, except for the .40 S&W have a 1 in 19" twist rate. Typical 9mm pistol twist rate seems to be around 1 in 10" but even longer 147gr 9mm bullets should stabilize with anything under a 1 in 28" or so. I'm wondering if maybe the bore diameter on your barrel is a little on the larger end of the spectrum and could be contributing to the tumbling with smaller diameter bullets?

I was waiting to get some more moon clips before going back to the range with it (still on backorder) but now you have me curious about my 5" 9mm at longer distances since I was only shooting at 7 yards the first time out. This weekend will be tough with Good Friday, Easter, and other things going on, but I might be able to take mine to the range next week and do some more testing.

If you have a caliper you can check your bore diameter and the diameter of the bullets at the case mouth (or pull a bullet from a case) to compare, but if it continues with different makes and types of ammo, I would talk to Chiappa about it. Actually, I would probably call them regardless because there isn't really a good reason for any ammo to be tumbling from a 6" barrel pistol, even with the stated twist rate.

1:19? Are we sure that isn't a typo, or metric, or something?

Nope not a typo on the twist rate. Rhino manual is available for download on their website and clearly lists .38/.357/9mm barrels as 1x19". .40 is 1x16".

Smith & Wesson and Ruger are known for using 1:18.75 in their .38/.357 barrels so not unusual which is what probably Chiappa is actually using and just rounded the number up to fit it in the narrow column of the manual.