Lever action questions

[garbear]

I have been reading and re reading about the rossi lever action. I have read the rossi in 357 mag doesn't like bullets heavier then 150 grain. I am casting a bullet from MiHec mold 359-640. The round hallow point comes in at 160. The pentagon hallow point comes in at 164, and the solid point comes in at 170. All of these shoot well in my ruger sp101. Short of buying another mold what experiance have other had with this bullet in the rossi in 357. I want to shoot the heavier bullet so should I forget about the rossi.

The other rifles I am looking at is a winchester 92 or a marlin. Both in 357 mag.
Garbear

[kliff]

If you ever NEED any warrranty support from Rossi....BEWARE. I am in my 7th week of waiting to have the right side bullet ramp replaced. the rifle shot about 75 rds, before it broke.

Winchester 92 (NOT 94) or Marlin.... buy either one, and don't look back!

I'll never waste my time or money on a Rossi again.

[Lonegun1894]

Mine shoots well with Lee 158 gr SWCGCd which actually weigh in at 168grs when GCd, lubed, etc, and also shot well with the 180gr Hornady XTPs I tried because I has a few left over from before I started casting my own. Those were my results, but I have also read where many people claim theirs wont do that, so maybe I just got lucky. I like my .357 Rossi though, and it shoots very well.

[northmn]

Mine shot the 158 grain bullets OK. Some trouble feeding with the Lee Flatnose.

DP

[Baja_Traveler]

I use the 158 grain greasewagons in my Rossi 92 - using black powder of course. They feed and fire just fine...

[Lead Fred]

I would not buy any 1892, when there are 1894, and 1895 Marlins out there.
Look into disasembly alone,and you will see how inferior the 92 is compared to the others.

[Rrusse11]

marlin!

[cf_coder]

I'll also second (third... fourth) the Marlin angle. Get an older one if you can find it. The fit and finish of the most recently released Marlins (made by Remington with incompetant machinists) aren't worth a spit. Fit/finish problems, poorly machined parts... just not worth it.

My two 1894s (.357 and 44 mag) are easily my two most favorite rifles in the safe

[Rrusse11]

Garbar,

If you can find one, get an older Cowboy in 357Mag, a bit more boolit friendly than the microgroove carbine,
with its "ballard" style rifling. I've got a 24" octagon that has accounted for more than one large buck.
Unfortunately very pricey now, up to a grand, OUCH!
You won't regret it but,,, if you can afford it, I love mine. I'd suggest 180gr as the practical limit of boolit weight. Various tweaks to the action and you can lengthen the COAL, as supplied they are sensitive to long boolits.

Many of the 44Mags were factory modified for a cartridge length of 1.710", and the additional case capacity is very useful, additional barrel length on both calibers give a lot more fps than the usual pistol
load data.

Cheers,
R*2

[bigjeepman]

Garbar,

If you can find one, get an older Cowboy in 357Mag, a bit more boolit friendly than the microgroove carbine,
with its "ballard" style rifling. I've got a 24" octagon that has accounted for more than one large buck.
Unfortunately very pricey now, up to a grand, OUCH!
You won't regret it but,,, if you can afford it, I love mine. I'd suggest 180gr as the practical limit of boolit weight. Various tweaks to the action and you can lengthen the COAL, as supplied they are sensitive to long boolits.

Cheers,
R*2
I have to agree ... my Marlin 1894 CB Limited .357 with a 24" barrel is about as good as it gets. I also have an 1894 Carbine .357 that is a fine rifle but the CB is just kind of special ...
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s138/bigjeepman_photos/Firearms/DCPhotos129.jpg

[HDS]

I can't really complain about my .44mag rossi at all. It's a wonderful carbine, at 20" its just perfect. The disassembly is annoying I will have to give you that, but I have not needed to do it in over a year now. It's action is stronger though and it'll handle heavier bullets with its 1:20 twist and also has ballard rifling.

I wouldn't say no to a Marlin 1894 20" with octagon barrel though, if it fed SWCs like my Rossi does.

[2ndAmendmentNut]

I have run several rounds of 38s loaded with 170swc through a friend's older (pre-safety) Rossi. The little rifle handled them fine and shot accurately.

[Lonegun1894]

I will also have to agree on the disassembly of a Marlin being easier, but I personally feel that the extra strenght of the 1892 action is worth it.

[bob208]

my rossi does great with the 358429 loaded in .38 cases. mine is an old one no safety.

[chasweav]

My Rossi 92 in 357 eats 158 grainers in 357 and 38 without a hitch. It is a fun shooter.

[Haggway]

Growing up my friend and I used to burn up alot of 357 loaded with 158 grn swc. It fed well with them, the only problem was getting his dad to load us more ammo.

[fecmech]

I have 2 Rossi 92's (newer Braztec models)and IMO they are great little rifles. I have a 20" carbine and 24" octagon .357. Between the 2 I have somewhere north of 7-8K rounds through them with no problems. They do have a 30" twist which is both good and bad. With .38 spl level loads (1000-1100 fps loads) with some (not all) 158 and heavier bullets they may not be accurate at longer ranges like 100 yds or more. With all the 158's I've tried SWC's, RN's and RNFP's they ARE accurate at 50 yds but some then tumble and go wild at 100 yds. For .38 spl level loads I would recommend the Lee 125 gr RNFP or the Lee 9MM 120 TC bullets. Both of these with either 231 or Bullseye will maintain 3-4MOA to 200 yds all day long at about 1200 fps. Magnum level loads(1500-1700fps) with 158 gr. bullets and the 173 gr Lyman 358429 are as accurate as any Marlin out there. The Rossi/Marlin argument IMO is a classic Ford/Chevy argument.