erich
.30 Stingray
Posts: 392
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Post by erich on Jan 17, 2011 20:34:36 GMT -5
Yeah, I've got a coffee can of spent brass that agrees with you, Boge. Love this thing - on Friday, it just refused to shoot outside of one hole with one load. And - shooting it side-by-side with a 41-oz GP-100, the 25-oz Rhino snub recoiled less.
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Post by Boge Quinn on Jan 18, 2011 1:37:34 GMT -5
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Post by rgswaim on Jan 21, 2011 10:45:56 GMT -5
No way will that ugly sucker ever see the inside of my house!
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Post by Frank V on Jan 21, 2011 19:27:45 GMT -5
Shoot one day there might be a Rhino in my battery. Heck where can you go to Africa cheaper than that??? LOL ;D The little recoil shown on the video clip is impressive. Having shot a lot of .357s in mod. 19s & 28s, the recoil shown in the Rhino is way less. Frank
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Post by Boge Quinn on Jan 22, 2011 11:42:40 GMT -5
I thought Jeff put it well in the video: I wanted one before, now I have to have one!
Purty is as purty does, I guess.
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erich
.30 Stingray
Posts: 392
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Post by erich on Jan 22, 2011 20:39:43 GMT -5
Funny story: I've been making a heck of a lot of empty brass with the Rhino over the last month. Last week I tumbled a large coffeecanful and today I deprimed, resized and flared all of it. I got done sorting the brass and was putting it back in my brass supply. Guess what I found? Another coffee can's worth of spent brass that I've put through this thing! I guess I've really shot it a heck of a lot - a LOT of Magnum loads in there. Fired the tumbler back up . . . tomorrow I'm going to deprime/resize and flare it so that I can get it all back in the game. Like Frank said to me yesterday, "A coffee can of brass is good, but boxes of loaded ammo are better!" Anyhow, looks like I've underestimated how much I've shot through this thing. The fact that .38 +Ps from it feel like .22 LRs from my pre-17 might explain some of that. Perhaps that's why I'm shooting it so well now - practice! ;D
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Post by Frank V on Jan 24, 2011 17:20:02 GMT -5
Erich, I think you are hooked!!! ;D That Rhino is going to get a lot of play I think. I can't wait till a shop here gets one. I'd love to handle one. Frank
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erich
.30 Stingray
Posts: 392
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Post by erich on Jan 24, 2011 22:26:48 GMT -5
Come on down, Frank - it's probably only a two-day drive!
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Post by mnimrod45 on Jan 25, 2011 21:23:12 GMT -5
ohnomrbillk,
Like a blind date huh.... ugly but functional?.... Been there...
All this talk of this thing has me curious too now. Thanks for the report.
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Post by Frank V on Jan 28, 2011 13:06:16 GMT -5
Come on down, Frank - it's probably only a two-day drive! Erich, if I ever get down that way, you can be sure I'll look you up. Thanks. Frank
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erich
.30 Stingray
Posts: 392
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Post by erich on Feb 15, 2011 10:43:09 GMT -5
Gina and I'd love to see you and Marilyn, Frank - guest room's ready anytime! Sorry to bring this back to the top, but wanted to update you folks on my carry of this thing. First of all, this has gotten to be just about the only thing that I carry. I've shot it a lot (over 1k rounds at this point) and am pretty good with it. The trigger either got easier or I learned it pretty well. I still almost always ignore the SA option and shoot it DA offhand. (The lack of recoil makes this a great gun for single-handed and weak-handed practice - one of those things that most people ignore but that could be a vital skill, as you know.) Ten yards, six roundsI have gotten away from the super-duper magnums (except when I'm trying to demonstrate the gun's reduced recoil at the range - a lot of people come over and are happy to try it out) and have mostly been shooting .38 Specials. I've not had ejection issues with .38 Special casings getting under the extractor star provided that I do a reasonably forceful ejection stroke instead of a namby-pamby squeeze. (It's one of those things that you can make mess up, but you have to work at it.) However, in light of the potential issue with .38 Spl cases (and in light of what I think is the right amount of OOMPH for an urban carry gun), I've been carrying it with underpowered .357 Mag handloads - I use the Speer Short Barrel Gold Dot 135-grain bullet in .357 Mag cases with mag primers and 9.6 grains of Power Pistol. This gives me M 1025/ES 46.83/SD 16.03 and groups fine. And out of this no-recoil gun, I can put them on target fast. As I've said before, this gun is ruining me for other guns (even my 9mms seem "kicky" in comparison). Now, as regards carry gear. The Rhino comes with a decent quality Italian leather OWB pancake, probably in recognition of the impossibility of finding leather for the weird-shaped little thing. Schlocky cell phone pic of holster that comes with the gunI'd initially thrown the thing into an Uncle Mike's softy as a stopgap measure, but it was pretty wholly unsatisfying and I knew I'd need to do something about it. I talked to Chiappa USA (very responsive folks there if you have any questions) about whether they were going to get dummy guns to Milt Sparks or someone like that: most American gunowners who buy an $800 gun are going to want it to ride in something with a little style (myself, I'm only interested in utility). Chiappa USA expressed frustration with Chiappa Italy, which does not appear to understand how the American CCW market works. They are trying to get a gun to Duncan's (the main dummy gun casters in this country), but the USA folks are having a difficult time convincing Italy that it needs to be done. On top of this is the fact that Italy thinks that they can monopolize holster development for the revolver (through an Italian holster maker named Ghost) - this does not bode well for the short term, as what the heck do a bunch of Italians know about concealed carry issues in the US? But, for those who are interested in practical carry of the Rhino (as I am), there are good US-made answers already available. I've long been a user of Charlie Parrot's SmartCarry holster. A call to Charlie with some measurements gleaned the information that his M-L (size Medium, for a Laser-equipped gun) SmartCarry was the right one. He sent me one, and it's been working like a charm - the smaller-than-a-Detective-Special Chiappa Rhino is ideal for SmartCarry, but - while it requires no cover garment - no one would say that this is the most comfortable carry method in the world. It's also slow on the draw and impossible to reholster without opening the front of your trousers, but it definitely serves a super low-pro purpose - I'm very happy to have it. www.smartcarry.com/For ideal (comfortable and fast) carry under an untucked t-shirt or other cover garment, the holster that works perfectly for the Rhino is by a relative newcomer to the biz, but a newcomer that's sweeping the country: Alan Bogdan's Remora Holsters. These are sweat-proof, clipless IWB holsters that stay put (they're covered with rubbery material that grabs your clothing) - some of you may remember my torture test review last fall when I did all manner of athletic stuff and chores while wearing a big Ruger P90 inside one of Alan's holsters, which did not move a whit in my waistband - and the gun did not move at all within the holster either. Alan has holsters in an enormous range of sizes to fit any carry gun that I can imagine, which is why I thought of Remora for the Rhino - that and the fact that I love these holsters. He also has holsters that allow for one-handed reholstering now - the P90 was in one - which are probably the most versatile holsters I've ever bought (I seriously wish these had been around when I started carrying 25 years ago) - and they run only $25 to $30. No matter I'm starting to see them everywhere. www.remoraholsters.com/Anyhow, it turns out that Remora's #14RFT (reinforced top - a springy band inside the holster mouth allows for one-handed reholstering, even while the holster remains in your waistband) fits the Chiappa Rhino exactly the way I wanted: the gun's cylinder sits deeply enough in the holster that it is retained by the sticky material on the inside, and the barrel extends to the bottom of the holster. I put it on and found that this holster perfectly positions the gripframe for a fast draw. Interestingly, the gun is more secure than in the Uncle Mike's holster that I'd been using as a stopgap measure and the draw is faster. With the Remora's reinforced top, reholstering is a simple one-handed affair - I had to take the Uncle Mike's off in order to reinsert the gun. Okay, hope that was of interest to some folks. I really love this gun! ;D
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Post by poohgyrr on Feb 25, 2011 10:15:04 GMT -5
As usual, the write up and pics are real good, thanks Erich. Good to hear about the recoil being so mello. I wonder if anyone over here in the States will make something like this. But it does remind me of a 1950's Buck Rogers ray gun.
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erich
.30 Stingray
Posts: 392
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Post by erich on Feb 25, 2011 11:05:35 GMT -5
Thanks John - it would probably have to go to the beauty salon before it could approach the Buck Rogers set.
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COR
.375 Atomic
Posts: 1,521
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Post by COR on Feb 25, 2011 18:54:55 GMT -5
I believe everything Erich has written on this gun and he has done it with a "very sharp pen and an elegant tongue". It appears accurate and it appears reliable.
Still too damn ugly for me. Sorry Erich, there's no accountin' for taste ande life is too short to carry an ugly gun. A Glock looks like the prom queen next to the Rhino.
Great write up and pics...Thanks for that. Well done
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erich
.30 Stingray
Posts: 392
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Post by erich on Feb 25, 2011 22:31:41 GMT -5
Thanks, man - I can't disagree with your assessment of the looks. Ah, but that smooth trigger pull leading to . . . where's the recoil? I see the hole right where I was aiming, but where was the recoil? Did I shoot?
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