I was interested in getting a Chiappa Rhino

Let me say this again… I was interested in getting a Chiappa Rhino revolver with the 4″ barrel.

But not anymore.  They really turned me off.  Its not that I care a wit about the RFID scare or if it’s a concern or not… that’s not the point.  The tone they took on the issue is insulting to anyone that has a concern.  It’s much like those that questioned the President’s birth certificate and just calling them “Birthers”.  Slinging an insult instead of addressing a legitimate concern.  I’ll have to pass on a new Chiappa. This is too bad… because it’s a rather neat gun.  But I can live without it.

Maybe a used one… eventually.  But I wouldn’t give them any of my money now.

17 thoughts on “I was interested in getting a Chiappa Rhino”

  1. Been a while since I’ve seen one of these. I didn’t know they were still being made.

    Have you ever shot one?

    I’d be interested to know how the recoil responds in comparison to a standard revolver with that barrel @ six o’clock.

    1. Oh yeah, I shot one. Recoil with full house .357 felt like a 9mm Auto. They shoot very well even if they have crap triggers.

      1. Bitchin’.

        I like the looks of it. It speaks to me.

        Trigger jobs are easy enough to modify, so that doesn’t scare me none. I like the angles on the metal and the wood grips, though it doesn’t look comfy for the hand, so I might have to change them.

        Like you said, I think I’ll keep my eye open at the local gun shows for a used one.

        It would make a nifty looking “movie” gun me thinks.

  2. I’ll take my tinfoil hat, and my money, and never darken their path with either…for any of their products.

    On a side note: The article mentioned the company was just following the herd with other Italian firearms manufacturers. Is this to be a trend with foreign firearms?

  3. How many tales have I heard of some snot pissing off customers and causing a loss of business. Some at the counter some from top management. One of the reasons that I’ve avoided retail work is I just don’t have the patience to be consistently nice or at least maintain an impartial professionalism. As a lot of politicians are finding out these days if you step on your tongue it is going to be recorded and spread out all over the place.

  4. It would have been so hard to write a response saying:
    “We put RFID tags in to keep costs down during the QA phase of production. The RFID tags are easily removed by …, We appreciate the fact that some of our customers don’t want an RFID tag in their firearm and are more than willing to work with them to remove the tag if needed.”

    Had they put out this press release, no one would have ever heard about this story.

  5. If you don’t fully understand what RFID is, think of it this way:

    It’s a reflector. They’re right it has no power source, and cannot actively transmit, but if someone has a big enough/strong enough light, it will reflect. The effect’s kinda like a glowing cigarette in the dark at 2 miles or so…..

  6. I’m not going to tell anyone how to react to anything.

    Personally, I don’t find anything particularly outrageous about their comments. Maybe they are dismissive of some people who might have issues with RFIDs, but they did tell you haw to correct the problem if it concerns you.

    I don’t want to buy a Rhino or anything else they offer, but not because of this.

    Now the whole Ruger black rifle fiasco was something that ruffled my feathers.

    1. Exactly.

      I find the whole tin foil hat statement as stupid marketing, nothing else.

      Ruger OTOH just pissed me off. I only own one Ruger now but that is for sentimental reasons because my dad bought it for me on my 18th birthday. I’ve done a lot of work to it too, trigger job, vent rib, modified the front site and Hogue grips. But I’ve passed on buying Ruger going forward. My dad replaced all his Rugers with S&W except the 10/22 his dad bought for him.

      I passed on a 10/22 and bought a Rossi pump action on principal.

      Bill Ruger didn’t offend me either, but he did piss me off, so I defend my position with my dollars.

      I know a lot of gun enthusiests who will never buy Ruger because of Bill’s politics. Those millions in lost sales leaves me feeling all warm and fuzzy.

      1. After the Old Man died, Ruger management made some long-overdue changes. I can now buy factory Mini-14 30-round magazines brand new for $35 and they don’t have “Only Ones” language printed on the side. The LCR and LCP are now being sold to honest men and women all over the US.

      2. Bill’s been in the ground for a number of years and his personal policies seemed to have finally died with him. Current management seems to realize that to be viable in the market they need directly compete with the other manufacturers…but I think they are doing more copying designs than innovating them. It is nice to now buy factory magazines that hold more than 10 rounds for us “commoners”.

        1. I’d give them some credit for the SR556, far as I know it was one of the first viable piston designs, but I could be wrong. Either way, the fact that it even exists in the first place does a lot to change my opinion on Ruger.

  7. Whether RFID chips are bad or good isn’t the issue, and they should know that…the real issue is that potential customers had a concern about their product and the dismissed it our of hand. Bad move, and it’ll cost them plenty!

  8. I just got back from Italy last week and this example, response to concerns by customers, is the norm in dealing with just about anybody. I’ll take Spain anyday!

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