AS TOUGH AS THEY COME

BILL STEPS BACK INTO THE WORLD OF THE SILVER SCREEN, AS HE INDULGES HIS PASSION FOR REVOLVERS AND GETS HIS HANDS ON A BIG OLD WHEELGUN THAT BECAME FAMOUS BOTH FOR ITS UNIQUE LOOKS AND ITS MANY MOVIE CAMEOS AND FINDS THERE’S MUCH TO LOVE ABOUT THE AIRSOFT TAKE ON THE MIGHTY CHIAPPA RHINO!

There are few firearms that stand out as the choice of movie armourers when it comes to portraying “guns of the future”. The Steyr AUG springs immediately to mind, from the movies and TV series of my youth, making appearances as it did from classics like “The Fifth Element” and “Robocop”, to far-reaching space-operas such as “Space: Above and Beyond”. Many “prop guns” have started out quite unassumingly, like Han Solo’s Mauser-based “Blaster” and Deckard’s “LAPD 2019” “Frankengun” that was the fusion of a humble Charter Arms Bulldog revolver (somewhat bizarrely) mated to a Steyr Mannlicher bolt-action rifle!

And, as a child of that time, I come from a generation where, to many, the revolver, or “wheelgun” is still an absolute favourite when it comes to pistols and I’ve dipped in an out with different models over the years. More recently, the airsoft world has been dominated by semi-auto models like the (not a) Glock and, of course, the venerable 1911 in all its glorious forms, so you might well ask if the revolver is dead to us as players?

Personally, I’d say not and even today there are new revolver models coming to market in the real firearms world, amongst them the “Rhino” from Italian master-gunmakers Chiappa and, like the AUG, this futuristic looking wheelgun has attracted movie and TV armourers, given its unmistakeable silhouette and its sheer on-screen presence!