Dear Steve, attached is the story of the Rhino. It is brand new, I prepared it today and will use it for journalists and customers, site publication etc. in the next months.
It is an absolute preview (in fact the English has not been revised yet :-D ), I hope you will like it.
Have a nice day,
Cinzia
RHINO – THE STORY OF A REVOLUTIONARY REVOLVER AND OF THREE MEN
“Who was born with a talent, and to express a talent, finds in this his most beautiful existence”. With these words from Goethe we wish to remember affectionately our friend Emilio and give homage to his genius, which gave him so much joy during his life and much honor, we are sure, will tribute him in the future.
When the name “Rhino” was chosen in 2002, nobody could imagine that it would be perfect to reflect not only its solidity and compact shape, but the bullheadedness of a rhino. With an unstoppable charge, Rhino revolver was able to overcome difficulties which seemed to be insurmountable. This is its story.
In summer 2000 Emilio Ghisoni had already sold his company Ma.te.ba with all the relevant patents, and works in his new company The.ma. producing kneaders. His passion for firearms is all but extinguished though, and he is always anxious to be again part of the world which had given him a place in the history of firearms for his innovative projects, such as Mtr8, 2006, autorevolver and other semiautomatic pistols with “co-axial” feed.
What Ghisoni has in mind is a new revolver with 7 chambers, with a new mechanics and a low barrel, as was his style. He needs to be financed for this project, so he submits the idea to his friend the architect Cudazzo, inventor of the FAR system.
Antonio Cudazzo likesthe project but objects that it would be a direct competitor with other Ma.te.ba products, as the concept is very similar to former models developed by Ghisoni, which no longer belong to him. Cudazzo is nevertheless very keen on the idea of producing an innovative firearm, and after a few days he cames back to Ghisoni, with a project modified according to his previous reflections on ergonomics and a compact shape for revolvers. He proposes to Ghisoni some drawings for a revolver for personal defense.
Ghisoni is pretty perplexed on all the issues brought up by his friend, and in particular he is very skeptical on the clasp of this weapon, which is pushing the point of contact between the top of the palm and the hilt very far forward, well beyond the hammer.
The animated discussion between the two technicians is in a circle: even the drawings are not enough to explain a concept which Cudazzo thinks very simple, but is in fact miles away from what seems universally accepted.
Cudazzo does not give up, he carves a model in wax and presents it to Ghisoni a few days later. The wax model is like Cupid’s arrow, Ghisoni falls in love with the idea, and invests all his ability in the development of the new project, jealously preserving the wax model in his fridge. It is summertime, and the model risks to melt in the heat and for being handled continuously by Ghisoni himself, who had mainly doubted its manageability.
An agreement is immediately found between the friends: Cudazzo finances the project, owns the patents and is responsible for sales through his company “Far League”, founded with his friend Maurizio Piccolo exclusively on the Rhino project; Ghisoni takes care of the development and production through his company The.Ma.
The concept of the Rhino revolver represents the apex of the joint genius of Ghisoni and Cudazzo, and develops day by day thanks to their steady confrontation, cooperation and community of ideas. In 2006 the first working samples are ready.
Unluckily Emilio falls seriously ill and dies on April 24th, 2008.
Far League is now proprietor of projects and patents, but is missing the essential support of Ghisoni and must look for a supplier who can be up to the expectations and may adequately develop and industrialize the new revolver. This task is all but easy, and more than one attempt for cooperation with producers of firearms ends unsuccessfully.
By the end of the year, finally the turning point: Cudazzo has an initial encounter with Rino Chiappa, proprietor of the Chiappa Group and a fine technician. Chiappa immediately sees the brilliance of the Rhino concept, believes in the project and becomes excited by this completely new challenge (the Chiappa Group specializes in fine replica firearms and breech loading arms). Chiappa Firearms is the ideal production partner: the factory in Azzano Mella (in Northern Italy) is managed with impeccable organization, equipped with cutting edge machinery which guarantees machining with minimum tolerance (all Rhino metal parts are manufactured in the factory, milling solid blocks of steel).
With his great technical skill and experience, and an extraordinary ability to translate an idea on the paper into an industrial production layout, Chiappa created the first prototypes at record time. He furthermore gives new impulse to the project: together with Cudazzo the 2” barrel revolver is designed, plus the 3”, 4”, 5” and 6” versions for target shooting are newly invented.
Rhino, from ingenious idea, becomes a real firearm.
The prototypes shown at the IWA in Nurnberg in April 2009 stir much curiosity, but the first real revolvers produced in October 2009 cause a sensation. Experts are dumbstruck: the firearm has an outstanding precision, handiness and fluidity while shooting, recoil is strongly reduced, the realignment on the target is meteoric due to lack of flip-up, so subsequent shots are exceptionally rapid.
The rhino is still in full charge, because its goal is extremely ambitious: revolutionize the very concept of revolver.
ERGONOMICS
Defense revolvers, due to their reduced size and weight, are unpleasant to use. The hilt is often very thin, the flip-up is strong as the fulcrum is relatively high. The negative consequence is that those who use this type of handgun for personal defense, mostly neglect training.
Rhino gives a new dimension to revolver ergonomics: its compact shape is not comparable to any other handgun of the same caliber and class. The cylinder has a hexagonal section, so you will always have a flat surface against your body, for maximum comfort. A handy pin lets you open the cylinder easily with one hand. The grip of the revolver is made of wood or neoprene, which allow for a steady grip even if your hands are sweating; sporting versions are available with three grip sizes to perfectly fit the hand and the style of the shooter.
PERFORMANCE
Instinctive shooting
With any handgun, you need to take the right position: bring the gun in front of your face in order to look into the direction of the front sight, finding an alignment with the rear sight. This alignment - real or ideal in case the rear sight is missing - forces you to rotate the wrist upwards – a position which, though acquired and “naturalized” with training, is very uncomfortable.
Rhino’s barrel is the ideal prolongation of your index finger. This allows you to be in shooting position in no time, and pointing the weapon becomes as natural as pointing your finger, while your wrist remains virtually straight.
A dramatic reduction of recoil
As the wrist is almost straight, the recoil is discharged on the straight arm. To give an explanation according to the laws of physics, the arm of the lever is very small, and this nearly eliminates the “dynamic moment” which follows the shot in all handguns. Basically, the dynamic moment becomes a static moment, nullifying the amplification of the reaction to recoil which generates on the top of the hand.
Lack of flip-up effect
The strong pressure generated by a powerful caliber usually causes a flip-up effect after shooting (dynamic moment), which is proportional to the lever angle created by the high position of the barrel and consequent angle of the wrist. The flip-up effect has two negative consequences: one is the physical strain, both when you bear the knock and when you counterbalance it, pushing your hand with equal power into the opposite direction to regain the initial position. The second is the time you lose while your arm and hand are travelling up and down, which is obviously taking time on the sequence of shots.
Rhino revolver requires a wrist angle near to zero, thus abolishing flip-up and related consequences: subsequent shots on a target are all in the center, and do not tend to slide upwards.
Trigger pull
The trigger pull system of all contemporary revolvers is an evolution of the systems designed in the 19th century, which were based on a manual adjustment of each single weapon. By modern revolvers, the impossibility of manual adjustment highlights all the conceptual defects of the old mechanics. Rhino is the first revolver with a really modern trigger system, designed for a serial, industrial production.
The cocking of the single action is made through a pin and not though the hammer, whose position is very low (like no other handgun). This pin moves a lever which never interferes with the trigger pull and goes back in its original position after cocking the hammer. All the devices designed on the whole trigger pull system allow for great fluidity, lightness and steadiness when shooting.
Safeties
Additional to all the standard safeties of modern revolvers, Rhino features brand new safeties. To avoid accidental pressing of the hammer, the handgun in single action mode is blocked and shooting is prevented. Premature shot in case the cylinder has not completed its rotation is prevented by a pin which is connected to the cylinder and functions at the same time as trigger stop. The rotation of the cylinder is not operated by the “rotation star” in the extractor, but by pins of tempered steel fixed in the cylinder itself – this solution avoids that the rotation be subject to the wear and tolerance of the extractor. Finally, the cylinder lock is linked to the trigger and prevents shooting if the cylinder is not blocked in the correct position.
Concealability
Rhino’s unusual shape makes it difficult to recognize as a weapon. Even when it is carried in a pocket of light fabric, it is not easy to identify it as a revolver.
The trigger system designed by Ghisoni is an absolute innovation allowing for a very compact revolver shape. Thanks to its mechanics in particular, Rhino is 1,5 cm shorter than any revolver of equivalent caliber and barrel length.
Rhino is perfect to wear at armpit, belt, ankle.
MATERIALS
The frame is made of Ergal, an excellent, high resistance light alloy. Its special feature is the breech bottom made of steel and mounted on the frame through a dovetail insert.
Grips are interchangeable on all models, and are made of neoprene or wood.
I will publish more if they send it.
Daily Gun Pictures
Hopefully, I will be on Twitter later today.
