Back in the day, TTAG had high hopes for the Rhino. A steampunk .357 revolver that shoots like a .38? Yes please! Trigger-time with the upside down wheelgun proved that no marketing campaign plan survives first contact with the internet. Not to put too fine a point on it, the Rhino’s trigger sucked. It was as heavy as John Stuart Mill’s turgid prose, making a mockery of my marksmanship. The second gun’s go pedal was as light as protist poop, leaving many a primer unmolested. Our request for the new, improved, “this is the one” trigger went unanswered, raising questions about the gun’s inherent design. (If Chiappa wishes to rebut, they know where we live.) Meanwhile, the firearmsblog.com has just cottoned-on to the fact that Ron Norton’s mob offer all their Rhinos in .40S&W. If the .40-cal Rhino shot 10mm as well, well then. Even so, to be fair, a .40S&W Rhino revolver is a genuine novelty firearm. How great is that?
My concern is with the complex internals. We could go back and forth about the apparent reliability of the weapon based on torture tests and whatnot, but I wonder how easily, if at all, the internals could be accessed for cleaning. What if mud or sand or all kinds of other crud gets down into the clockwork? Can the handle be removed and all the moving parts be cleaned easily if it gets all dirty down there? Will the gun still fire if it’s less-than perfectly clean? I live in Alaska, and when you’re out in the field you get dirty, wet, and cold real quick.
In my opinion, reliability is more than simply making a bullet come out of the barrel every time you pull the trigger. It’s also about how well the weapon performs in austere conditions.