Pics of Two New Rossi Leverguns

[Treetop]

I bought these on "Black" Friday at Champion gun shop in College Station, Texas. One is a .44 mag. with a 20" barrel, the other is a .45 Colt with a 24" barrel.

Trigger pulls are excellent, the .44's action was very slick out of the box. The .45 Colt was stiffer than the .44 but still not bad at all.

I haven't had a chance to do any serious target work yet, because I had the two oldest grand sons with me for the weekend, so we just took the rifles over to our family's ranch, gave both a good cleaning and fired 100 rounds or so out of the .44 and 50 or so rounds out of the .45 Colt at our 50 yard gong. Man those Elmer Keith .44 mag. loads will really ring the gong! The .45 Colt loads were originally loaded for my Model 25 S&W, so they were much milder. Mihec 454423 clone boolits over 8.0 gr. of Unique. I've heard that some Rossi leverguns shoot high with the rear sight all the way down, and this .45 Colt may be one of these or the Mihec boolits at a lower velocity may have caused the POI to be above the POA. We had to hold a six o'clock hold on the 8" gong to hit it in the top half.

Either way, it doesn't matter because I have a Rossi tang rear sight and a Lyman globe front sight on order for it. They were BOTH on backorder! :cry:

Watching your grandsons develop into safe competent marksmen is very rewarding. They even let Pa-Pa ring the gong a few times! Tt.

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o146/RMAJR/IMG_0354.jpg

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[Buckshot]

............I too have a Rossi M92 rifle in 45 Colt. Also have a 38/357 carbine.

http://www.fototime.com/7848272124A4E8F/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/95900A3C1D2F5E8/standard.jpg

My rifle has the octagon bbl and is color casehardened. The fit of wood to metal is very good and the metal finish is superb with an unblemished polishing job. No dished holes or edges. The action of bother were rather nice as bought. Naturally I STILL had to take them apart and fool with them a bit.:-) The bore and groove of my 45 slugs a tight .444" x .450". I sure wish they'd get away from that idiotic 32" twist! You're a lucky Grandpa to have 2 young grandsons. All I have right now is a 2 year old grand daughter. However if that's all I end up being blessed with, she'll by God be a shooter too!

.............Buckshot

[Matthew 25]

Treetop...excellent rifles.
Even more important, excellent job leading your family. I hope in about 30 years I'll be doing the same thing with my grandchildren (my oldest child is 8).

[Rockchucker]

I picked up my first Rossi 92 in 45 colt the other day in stainless and was very impressed with the fit of the wood and metal. The action was smooth as silk also. This is going to be my go to gun for hogs this year, Shot about 30 rounds with it using Lyman 250 grain rnfp sized at .452 over 8 grains of Unique. I had to lower the rear sight all the way down to get it shooting where it should be, however I'll be changing the sights out after Christmas anyway.
Those are some nice looking guns for sure Treetop, Know you had a blast with those grand kids, maybe they'll let you shoot more next time.

[Treetop]

............I too have a Rossi M92 rifle in 45 Colt. Also have a 38/357 carbine.

http://www.fototime.com/7848272124A4E8F/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/95900A3C1D2F5E8/standard.jpg

My rifle has the octagon bbl and is color casehardened. The fit of wood to metal is very good and the metal finish is superb with an unblemished polishing job. No dished holes or edges. The action of bother were rather nice as bought. Naturally I STILL had to take them apart and fool with them a bit.:-) The bore and groove of my 45 slugs a tight .444" x .450". I sure wish they'd get away from that idiotic 32" twist! You're a lucky Grandpa to have 2 young grandsons. All I have right now is a 2 year old grand daughter. However if that's all I end up being blessed with, she'll by God be a shooter too!

.............Buckshot

I was also impressed with the quality and attention to detail on these two rifles.

I've heard that some Rossi .357s won't cycle reliably with .38 Specials. Have you tried any .38s in yours yet ? We also have two grand daughters, so I was thinking of a 16" Rossi in .357 for them, someday. Tt.

[Buckshot]

I was also impressed with the quality and attention to detail on these two rifles.

I've heard that some Rossi .357s won't cycle reliably with .38 Specials. Have you tried any .38s in yours yet ? We also have two grand daughters, so I was thinking of a 16" Rossi in .357 for them, someday. Tt.

............The only thing I've had an issue with (and I can't really say 'Issue' as it was expected) was with full wadcutters:-). Recoil was non-existent and 5 rounds at 50 yards was 1.5 - 2.0" in 38 Special cases.

............Buckshot

[cloakndagger]

I have the "ranch hand" version of that rifle in .357/38, and it doesnt like wadcutters or larger ogive 357 mags (they seem to be hitting the top of the chamber on loading) but any other 38's and TC 357 mags cycle slick as toad snot. The finish on these guns is exquisite! My action was a bit stiff for 100 rds or so, but broke in very nicely thereafter. Those rifles will be cherished far beyond our lifetimes, keep up the good work with the grandkids, you never know what it means to them unless you didnt have the luxury of learning to shoot without gramps :-)

[jayhutch]

If Marlin isn't careful and doesn't get their QC under control, Rossi is gonna bury them. - hutch

[makicjf]

I have the same 24 inch rossi (bought from Champions) and after severe filing on the rear sight it shoots tight. The only issue is with the extractor: the rifle will only extract starline brass and the last round does not fly out. The 20 inch round bbl is smooth, fast and shoots well, though I did remove the big gold blob from the front of the front blade. I love these rossis.

[Treetop]

Well I ordered a Rossi Scout mount and installed it with a new Leupold IER FX-2, 2 1/2X scope.

I loaded 3 different loads using the Lyman 429421 boolit.

Here's my range notes, after sighting in the scope. All are 5 shot groups:

1) 15.0 gr. Alliant Blue Dot 4"+ at 100 yds. Almost all vertical stringing.

2) 18.5 gr. Alliant 2400 4"+ at 100 yds.

3) 20.5 gr. IMR 4227 <2" at 100 yds. POI 6" high.

To me, it looks like the IMR 4227 load is a keeper out of this particular Rossi. Next range trip, I will load some H-110 loads and fire them for group. I will also chronograph the loads. I had my chronograph with me this time but I was having trouble with the low angle of the sun, even in the middle of the afternoon. I may have to erect an open tent over it. It was showing all my loads at 2800+ fps!

I went up to 25 yd. and ran the same loads through my OM Ruger SBH. The IMR 4227 shot slightly <1 1/2" off the sandbag! A nice bonus for me, the IMR 4227 out shot the 2400 and the Blue Dot by a similar margin in the SBH.

Of course this is just the beginning of the journey, lots more testing to do... Tt.

[Four Fingers of Death]

If Marlin isn't careful and doesn't get their QC under control, Rossi is gonna bury them. - hutch

If Rossi bought out a 92 with side eject and a receiver top that would take a scope, 1894 sales would take a hammering I reckon.

[Treetop]

If Rossi bought out a 92 with side eject and a receiver top that would take a scope, 1894 sales would take a hammering I reckon.

I absolutely agree with this, 4 Fingers! They would corner the ever growing 1894 market if they kept their prices reasonable and their QC standards comparable to today. One other thing I like about the 1894 vs. the M92 is the ease of maintenance...

I wonder who we could contact at Rossi or Taurus about this?

[Dan Cash]

If Rossi bought out a 92 with side eject and a receiver top that would take a scope, 1894 sales would take a hammering I reckon.
It would not be a 92. At the ranges for which these rifles are intended, what is the fascination with scopes?

[Four Fingers of Death]

It would not be a 92. At the ranges for which these rifles are intended, what is the fascination with scopes?

As you get older and especially if you are still afield, hunting, scopes, warm boots and clothes, having a dry butt and other things become more and more fascinating, FFoD :D

[Treetop]

At the ranges for which these rifles are intended, what is the fascination with scopes?

Not everyone was fortunate enough to be born with good eyesight, Dan. I'm 65 years old and still have excellent eyesight, but my oldest grandson was born with really bad eyes and this will be his primary deer rifle.

My 24" barrel, .45 Colt will soon sport a Rossi #62 tang rear sight and a Lyman 17 Globe front sight. Open sights "fascinate" me... Tt.

[Four Fingers of Death]

I'll be 65 in March and still have good eyesight. I only use cheap 1.5X magnifiers to read with, even though I can read most things without them, it just makes it easier to focus. I still use my milsurp rifles at the range (although that danged 1903 has me a bit bluffed, it is going to the range tomorrow, I think I have the sights figured out now). Hunting small game requires a level of precision that becomes a bit difficult with open sights, so I am investigating sights for the Marlins (336/30/30 and 444).

I have a credit of $55 with a friend who imports parts for cowboy guns and he has a Lyman sight for a 1894 Marlin used for $70 ( they retail for well over $100 here and this one is like new). I will see how I go with that before I fit a scope to the 30/30.