Likewise, the unique rhino-horn-shaped grip allows the user to achieve and maintain a higher grip, providing better control, while its diameter is well-suited for smaller statured shooters. It also makes rapid-fire very consistent and easy since the muzzle tends to remain on target better. This means the funky-looking Chiappa comfortably eats full-power and magnum loads with ease due to the ergonomics of its layout. In short, it pushes straight back rather than flipping up to the sky. Following the “arm of the lever”, if you remember your high school math and science classes, the felt recoil travels straight back through the frame into the grip and through the arm, rather than translating to dynamic muzzle flip as seen on other revolvers that ends up torquing the wrist.Īs such, the muzzle rise when firing the Rhino is dramatically lower when compared to traditional firearms since it works with and not against the angle of the shooter’s arm. It greatly resembles Ghisoni’s previous revolvers, uses the same “upside-down” low bore axis barrel configuration as seen on the Unica and 2006M, and the same style grip angle.Ī work of functional art in the revolver medium, the Ghisoni patented reduced recoil system relies on basic physics to keep the barrel better aligned with the centerline of the forearm when naturally pointed. To be sure, there is a lot of Mateba DNA in the Rhino. Eventually, he pitched it to Rino Chiappa, president of the Italian-based Chiappa Firearms Company, and, after the new self-defense gun underwent some tweaks, it entered production in 2010 as the Rhino. However, before it could be put into production, Ghisoni fell ill and died of cancer, leaving Cudazzo to inherit the project.
CHIAPPA RHINO 6 INCH FOR SALE SERIES
Intended as a compact 7-shot snub-nosed revolver building on past lessons from the 2006M series and others, it was created in conjunction with Antonio Cudazzo, of the Milan-based FAR League S.r.l company who had their hand in a variety of modern submachine gun patents. The last Ghisoni handgun design to see the light of day, the gun we know now as the Chiappa Rhino was originally brainstormed by the inventor while Mateba was still in operation. Nonetheless, there is another true Ghisoni invention that survives to this day– the Chiappa Rhino. existed in Montebelluna, Italy for a few years in the 2010s– with its website active as late as 2019– but, curiously, their offerings, pitched to the defense market, consisted exclusively of AR-10 and AR-15 style rifles and pistols, hinting at the likelihood that they had nothing to do with the old Ghisoni-designed revolvers despite using the logo and a patent drawing of one on the cover of their catalog. While the famed Italian firearms maker Franchi reportedly flirted with buying Mateba off and on in the mid-1980s, the shop continued its small-scale production until it closed for good in 2006, and Ghisoni, son of a spaghetti machine maker who went on to change handguns forever, passed away two years later at age 71, his passing noted only by the Italian firearms industry magazine Aremi e Tiro.Ī rebooted company under the name of “Mateba Italia S.r.l”.
Speaking of hard to get, it is believed that only four Mateba 2006Ms were ever imported to the U.S., brought in from Italy directly by the folks over at before that awesome website folded a few years ago. Minty specimens in 100 percent condition go even higher with vintage Mateba fans.
These guns are very hard to find on the collector’s market but are sought after, often fetching over $3,000 at auction for Model 6 Unicas and upwards of $5,000 for MTR8s. A simplified version, the Mateba 2006M, which still used the same “upside-down” barrel arrangement of the Unica but in a more traditional double-action/single-action format like the MTR8, was also introduced in the late 1980s/early 1990s.