Questions on Rossi 92 in 44mag

[mickbr]

Folks just wondered if anyone here is sporting a Rossi 92 in 44 mag as I was hoping to get help with a few questions.

I heard the bores used to slug as large as .432 but Rossi tightened them up sometimes over the years and they are now .429, does that sound right?

What weight cast bullets will the fairly slow 1:30 stabilize, will 240 grain still be okay? heavier?

Anyone have any luck running 44sp through their Rossi's? I got pretty lucky with my Rossi 357 as it loves 38 special and I'm just wondering how hit and miss the 44mag/44sp relationship is in these guns?

[mickbr]

Just checked some searches online and it seems the 1892's are having some problems due to excessively long chambers and brass separating. Something to do with the new plant in Brazil? Never suprizes me lever gun companies can't get their situation sorted. Marlin on and off quality, rossi bore size changes, bore size variations, things needing tuning out of the box, chiappa where I am get even worse reports. Shouldn't feel like a lottery getting these things. smh

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I've got the stainless steel version in .44 Mag., but can't really answer your questions as I've only shot about 20 rounds of some factory Win. 240 gr. JHP through it that I had left over from another project. Mine functions well, and was acceptably accurate for what I was doing with it which was shooting at a stump and not on paper. The factory ammo was .429" diameter. Haven't tried .44 special. Mine functions o.k. The barrel is marked CBC...I think that's the new plant? As for Chiappa, I've got their '92 in .45 Colt, and it's satisfactory in every way, except I wish the stock wasa better grade of wood.

DG

[mickbr]

There are probably 50 guys on the forum who could answer most of these questions but I evidently screwed up the code word or secret handshake this time.

[onelight]

The most recent thread I have seen on the 44 mag Rossi that had a problem Taurus/Rossi is going to replace it but the replacement is slow coming .
I have a SS 357 that was purchased new less than 2 years back I am very satisfied with it.
I smoothed the action myself and it feeds ejects and shoots well with all the ammo I have tried maybe 500 rounds at 25 yards so not much of an accuracy appraisal that is my only hands on with a Rossi. 92.
Hopefully some with experience with the 44 will notice this thread and have more to offer.

[Gray Fox]

I have one of the recent ones in blue finish and put a 2x BSA pistol scope on it using the mounting holes under the rear sight. I had tried one of the Steve's Gunz aperture sight that replaces the bolt safety, but it didn't come close to the Skinner sights I have on several other guns. Once sighted in at 25 yards from a rest it was busting clay birds at 100 yards with regularity. I had a bunch of odds and ends I was shooting, including a 240 grain GC Keith style @.431, some plain base 240 SWC that I think were .430, some Hornady 240 jacketed HPs, and some .44 specials with the plain base 240s. This rifle came with a very smooth action right out of the box and handled all of these rounds without feeding problems using a crisp lever stroke. My wife and I started cowboy shooting (SASS) back in '95 with a pair of Rossi carbines in .45 Colt. The actions in those days took hundreds of dry fire cycles (with a chamber dummy) to get to where this one is out of the box. I'm sure the action could be improved, but I no longer shoot cowboy and it is just fine for hunting as is. The only thing handier than this is my Rossi 16" .357 stainless. GF

[dkf]

My dad got a stainless 92 beginning of the year. I have to try and get a chamber cast of it. From taking it apart (to deburr internals) everything looks good. Only shot jacketed through it so far. It is a nice looking rifle, really like the satin look to the wood. The are not easy to find, if it wasn't for gunbroker I wouldn't have found one. Looked at local dealers within a 100 miles radius, even Rossi dealers and none had it.

[Handloader109]

New shipment of the 44s came through this past week. At least 3 distributors had them in blue and SS.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[AlaskaMike]

I have one of the older .44 mag Rossi 92s that predated the bolt safety. It's been a long time since I slugged the barrel, but it was somewhere on the big side, probably around .432". If Rossi tightened the barrels down to a consistent .429" I haven't read anything about it, and it would surprise me. SAAMI specs for .44 mag rifle call for .432" so Rossi is just making the barrels to the proper SAAMI spec.

Mine shoots .44 specials just fine, and will stabilize 300 grain bullets, even if not driven to warp speed.

[Ragnarok]

I've got a stainless .44 mag Rossi/Braztech I bought new in 2008. Shoots fine but I have never slugged the bore. Mine shoots well with about any velocity 240gr bullets from mild to magnum

[bluelund79]

I have the older version, a pre-Rossi Puma. I shoot .430 Lee boolits through it with decent accuracy at 50 yards. I did replace the rear sight with a Skinner peep sight. 240gr and 300gr jacketed bullets also shoot well. I haven’t taken the time to slug it since I have factory and hand loads that work.

[yeahbub]

Some 20 years ago, a fellow I met had one in .44 Mag and the bore slugged .426 and the groove was .434. None of the range bunch had boolits that big, so shooting cast was an exercise in futility. Accuracy with jacketed was only so-so but also unreliable with the occasional mystery miss. I had a conversation with Steve, aka Nate Kiowa Jones who said Rossi was producing their .44 Mag barrels to max allowable SAMMI specs and he never got a good answer why. A year or two ago, I spoke to him again and he commented that Rossi seems to have gotten the message and is now producing their .44 Mag barrels at .430 in the groove. This seems to be verified by some guy who bought a a Rossi with an octo barrel and his cast boolit results are very good.

Another thing about Rossi's is the variance in the strength of the springs they use. Some rifles are smooth as butter and others are STIFF because the springs are overly strong. It's an easy fix, though. Steve and others sell proper springs for them and it's well worth the effore.