Despite the drastically increased restrictions and regulations across Europe relative to the United States in terms of gun ownership, there are still places across the pond with a vibrant gun culture. Anyone with even casual knowledge of firearms would likely pick Italy as a contender, if for nothing else due to all the gun companies with Italian names — Beretta, Perazzi, Franchi, Tanfoglio, and Chiappa. In particular, competitive shooting enjoys a larger following, from shotgun sports to USPSA. And just like how you can easily come across a RECOIL or CONCEALMENT magazine in an American airport, it’s not terribly difficult to find an Italian gun magazine like ARMI e TIRO over there.
The Chiappa CBR-9, also known as the Black Rhino, has been a long time coming — or rather, a much longer time than intended. In fact, we first laid hands on an example way back in the spring of 2018 at Chiappa’s 60th anniversary in Italy. It was actually our original pick for the cover of RECOIL for our 2019 SHOT Show issue, in no small part because of its innovative design.
But that wasn’t to be. Waiting on importation approval, which never happens as quickly or smoothly as intended, led to delays — enough that there were some manufacturing changes. Then paperwork, then issues with braces and the BATFE, then COVID, and now at the end of 2022, we finally have the Black Rhino, marked “Dayton, Ohio” across the receiver instead of “Brescia,
