{previously posted over at BEnos}
I'm an unapologetic Rhino fan and shoot them in competition. I thought this was interesting, and not something people get to see often, so I figured I'd do a quick write-up.
I recently picked up a Rhino 60DS (6") in .40S&W to run next season after competing this year with a 50DS (5"). I had Chiappa install a "competition" trigger in the 50DS when I bought it and I noticed they seemed to be replacing parts rather than tuning anything, so I figured I could swap the kit into the longer gun. It looks like they install a lightened hammer (it still has the normal part number on one side, and a new on on the other) and a spring that's dimensionally the same but rated differently. If you're unaware, the spring drives both the hammer and the trigger return.
Factory parts on the left, "competition" parts on the right:
The sear has to be swapped from the current hammer to the replacement one; to avoid fitting issues, I re-installed the 50DS's sear on its factory hammer and installed the 60DS's sear on the lighter hammer (you're seeing the passenger side of the heavy hammer and the driver side of the light one):
Everything installed (this is actually the "before" but I promise the parts did all fit) :
Both guns are running after the parts swap. The competition trigger in the 50DS was breaking in the upper 6-lb range; it feels heavier in the 60DS, but that gun has been fired about eighteen times and probably needs some time to smooth out. I'm planning to keep the 5" in its factory configuration and bring it to matches as a backup in case I run into ignition issues. It's never happened as long as I use Federal primers but I don't mind having the safety net.
I'm an unapologetic Rhino fan and shoot them in competition. I thought this was interesting, and not something people get to see often, so I figured I'd do a quick write-up.
I recently picked up a Rhino 60DS (6") in .40S&W to run next season after competing this year with a 50DS (5"). I had Chiappa install a "competition" trigger in the 50DS when I bought it and I noticed they seemed to be replacing parts rather than tuning anything, so I figured I could swap the kit into the longer gun. It looks like they install a lightened hammer (it still has the normal part number on one side, and a new on on the other) and a spring that's dimensionally the same but rated differently. If you're unaware, the spring drives both the hammer and the trigger return.
Factory parts on the left, "competition" parts on the right:
The sear has to be swapped from the current hammer to the replacement one; to avoid fitting issues, I re-installed the 50DS's sear on its factory hammer and installed the 60DS's sear on the lighter hammer (you're seeing the passenger side of the heavy hammer and the driver side of the light one):
Everything installed (this is actually the "before" but I promise the parts did all fit) :
Both guns are running after the parts swap. The competition trigger in the 50DS was breaking in the upper 6-lb range; it feels heavier in the 60DS, but that gun has been fired about eighteen times and probably needs some time to smooth out. I'm planning to keep the 5" in its factory configuration and bring it to matches as a backup in case I run into ignition issues. It's never happened as long as I use Federal primers but I don't mind having the safety net.
