A Revolver That Tames 10mm Recoil

Shooting the Chiappa revolver from a rest at 30 yards, my first shot hit the blue of my bullseye, and my second shot touched the first. I eased back from my shooting bag, took a breath and got back into position. I lined up the red-dot and fired round No. 3.

Result: a trio of Double Tap 10mm rounds, loaded with the ammunition maker’s 200-grain Controlled Expansion bullets, coming in at just .50 inches.

This and all the shooting I did only reinforced my overall conclusion on the Chiappa Rhino 60 DS revolver chambered in 10mm Auto: The Italian gun maker has once again produced a very accurate revolver featuring the company’s signature bottom cylinder bore axis that reduces recoil compared to more traditionally designed revolvers.

A great option for the handgun hunter and the back country hiker in need of bear protection, the Rhino DS 60 will do the job as a home defensive firearm and is just the thing for the person all by their lonesome checking on fencelines and livestock.

I should have known this would be the case. After all, I had the same experience several months earlier when I reviewed the Chiappa Rhino DS in .44 Magnum for SSR.

Given its imposing size and looks, one might assume the Rhino 60 DS 10mm has the heft of a cinder block. It weighs in at a relatively svelte 32 ounces, however, with an overall length of 10.5 inches.

The cylinder and 6-inch barrel are steel, the frame from aluminum alloy. Barrel and frame sport a black anodized finish while the cylinder is blued.

The DS 60 operates in both single and double action.

In single action, the shooter thumbs back the hammer but it does not stay back and cocked like a traditional revolver. Instead, the hammer then eases back down; a tiny red indicator pops up to the left of the hammer indicating the handgun is in single action.

Trigger pull in single action average 2 pounds, 9 ounces with zero uptake. Squeeze and my shots were gone. Double action pulls registered at 7 pounds, 6 ounces. Without the trigger gauge I would’ve guessed a lower pull weight, given the trigger’s smooth and consistent travel.

Chiappa also offers the 10mm in the Rhino 30 DS. This revolver features a 3-inch barrel and a nickel finish and carries a suggested retail of $1,330. The MSRP on the DS 60 model is $1,360.

The DS 60’s hammer doesn’t stay back and cocked because of the bottom cylinder bore axis design unique to Chiappa. Here, the round at the very bottom of the cylinder fires off, with the barrel approximately an inch lower than that on a standard revolver.

Chiappa claims the low bore operation results in lower recoil and less muzzle flip. I found this true with the Rhino 10mm and the Rhino 44 Mag. Rounds coming out so much lower did reduce muzzle flip and the overall effect was to spread the recoil more rearward, giving me increased control.

Of course, 10mm loads produce recoil and muzzle flip. That’s physics! And this was especially true with the Double Tap 200-grain rounds. But both would’ve been more significant with a standard revolver or a semi auto.

Good sized and well textured, the DS 60’s hand-oiled walnut grips provided a solid hold. The substantial beavertail also helped me control the revolver, especially in double action.

The rear sights are adjustable and feature green fiber optic dots on either side of the notch. The front post sports a red fiber optic. Rear and front sights matched up nicely, the red dot sliding easily into the green-sided notch.

Before I hit the range, I mounted a Vortex Crossfire red-dot onto the pic rail near the front end of the barrel. The compact optic attached easily, and the 2 MOA dot showed up well even in bright sunlight.

I zeroed the Crossfire and the DS 60 at 20 yards using Federal Premium Syntech Range 10mm loaded with 205-grain poly-coated bullets. My high and left shots quickly re-routed to the bullseye using the optic’s elevation and windage controls.

All the 10mm rounds I used at this distance easily made five-shot groups of 2 inches and better. Best five rounds with the Syntech Range came in at 1.5 inches, while Federal’s American Eagle and its 180-grain full metal jacket load punched in right at 2.0 inches.

The Double Tap 10mm excelled, placing five rounds at .90 inches and three-shot groups at .50 and .35 inches.

At 30 yards, American Eagle placed five shots at 2.0 and 2.5 inches. I added Armscor 10mm and its 180-grain FMJ option to the ammo mix and it punched respectable groups of 2.5 and 2.65 inches.

Again, though, the hard hitting Double Tap ruled the range with the above-cited .50-inch group of three and twice drilled in five rounds at 1.5 inches.

Clearly such a fine fit with the revolver, the Double Tap would be my choice for using the Rhino DS 60 on a deer and hog hunt.

The Rhino DS 60 sells with three metal moon clips. Initially, they were difficult to use, but after a few loading/unloadings, snapping 10mm rounds into/out of the clips was fairly easy.

The exception was when I tried Winchester White Box Target 10mm. They were extremely difficult to get into a moon clip, and, at that point the clip was relatively loose being loaded/unloaded at least 10 times. Once the six rounds in Winchester were fired, I could not remove the empty brass from the moon clip.

I’ve used the Winchester White Box on 10mm pistol reviews and never had a problem. But in this case, the rounds (at least in this box) had an excess of some brownish coating material in the cartridges’ extraction grooves.

Technically, one does not have to use the moon clips in the revolver. Chiappa, though, designed this Rhino model for moon clips.

Without the moon clips, a shooter may have issues with extraction and potentially some light primer strikes due to the change in the seating depth of the rounds in the cylinder chambers.

I used the moon clips throughout my shooting, and they worked fine. Of course, they do take more time to load/unload than simply dropping rounds into cylinder chambers.

If I was hunting, I’d simply load up an extra moon clip and have it ready to pop into the chamber should I fire off my original six rounds.

Specs: Chiappa Rhino 60 DS Revolver

Action: Single/Double

Caliber: 10MM Auto

Capacity: 6 Rounds

Barrel: Steel, 6 inches, Black Anodized Finish

Frame: Machined 7075-T6 Aluminum Alloy, Black Anodized Finish

Cylinder: Steel, Blued

Grips: Hand Oiled Walnut

Sights: Adj. Green Fiber Optic Rear, Red Fiber Optic Front Post

Safeties: Cylinder Block, Cylinder Rotation, Hammer Block

Length: 10.5 inches