Dan Wesson 44 Rhino

[mes227]

I'm looking at buying one of these semi-custom jobs and am wondering if they will chamber (and shot) the Wesson 445 Supermag loads? Also, anyone who has information on how many of these were made would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SVO]

It's been a while, but as I remember it, the Rhino was based on a rechambered .357 Superrmag. They were build before the .445 Supermag was released by DW. Rhino cases were a bit longer than .445 cases as I remember. So .445 SM cases should be able to be used, but you may want to do a chamber cast to check if the owner of the gun can't tell you. since the Rhino was a gunsmith custom chambering, probably no way to determine how many .357 SM may have been rechambered.

 

[mes227]

Thanks, SVO. Seller doesn't know if it'll chamber 445 SM (or 44 Mag) though writers on other forums tend to think it will.

 

[Charger Fan]

Here is an informative ARTICLE that one of the members on the Dan Wesson Forum posted a while back.
Here is the LINK to the discussion. Hope this helps.

 

[mes227]

Thanks, Charger. I have this. The article is a great intro to the Rhino and that forum gave me a lot of background (I found the article via the forum, in fact). Unfortunately the article pre-dates the 445 Supermag and so doesn't fully answer my question about being able to chamber those newer loads.

 

[Charger Fan]

I see. Well, since the Rhino is a relatively obscure wildcat round, getting a definitive answer may be tough. However, in reading the article, I believe your answer is there. It states that the Rhino case length is 1.75" long...all four of the SuperMag cases are 1.60" long. So I see no reason that the .445 SM round wouldn't work just fine...if anything, it would be akin to shooting a .38 Spl in a .357 Mag.
Here's the four SM cartridges. .357 Maxi ~ .375 SM ~ .414 SM ~ .445 SM (sorry, I don't have dies for the .414 yet )

 

[mes227]

Fantastic, Charger, thanks. I did buy the Rhino, now just awaiting arrival (and BC, etc). I found some 445 SM ammo on-line. I presume it also shoots standard 44 Mag (as does the 445 SM) but probably a bit loose of accuracy with declining case length.

Now the hunt for a production 445 SM and a 414 SM continues!

 

[Charger Fan]

Hey, that sounds great! I'm interested in your impression of the gun when you get it home, I've never seen one in person. I keep hoping to find one for somewhere under the $1K mark that most seller's seem to want, but haven't found one yet.

I imagine that it will fire the .44 Mag just fine. Although because of the jump to the forcing cone, the forcing cone may not be too happy after a while, if that's the round that's mainly used. Hard to say. If it were my gun, I'd probably stick with the SM ammo until I could cut down & load some Rhino brass.
That's just my opinion though, I try to only run the ammo the gun was designed for, even with .357's & .38's. I've only run 6 rounds of .44 Mag through my .445 SM, just to feel the power difference.

 

[mes227]

My Rhino does chamber and fire the 44Mag and 44SM cartridges just fine! It's reported that accuracy declines with the shorter ctgs (44Mag and 44Spcl) though I've not fired enough myself to test that premise. I'm going to feed it principally 44Mag (and I'm going to sort out the accuracy issue), though I've a couple of sources for 44SM lined up and it'll get that from time-to-time.

 

[Action_Can_Do]

I've been looking for info on the 44 Rhino for years now. I had the original magazine that Charger Fan put up and lost it many years ago. All of the people on the gun forums that I asked about it had never heard of it. It's nice to know that I didn't imagine the whole thing!

 

[Charger Fan]

It's nice to know that I didn't imagine the whole thing!

Nope, you're not going crazy!

 

[publius]

that .375 is cool. Never knew about that one

 

[Charger Fan]

I've discovered that the .375SM is actually one of the most fun rounds to shoot. Flat trajectory & lots-o-bark. To me, it feels sort of like a .44 Mag, but with more authority...if that makes any sense.
I've got two guns that use that round, a Dan Wesson (d/a) & a Seville (s/a). They each have their own personality & it's hard to pick a favorite.

 

[Action_Can_Do]

Charger Fan
If you have anymore pics of the other Supermags, don't hesitate to put em up. Some of us (such as myself) have a keen appreciation of a beautiful revolver.