Anybody shot/got the .454 Rossi?

[leftiye]

I'm kinda looking at one of these.

[Hickory]

I've shot one once, I dont like gettin' beat up.
Boolits over 275 grs. kick too much for me.
44 mag or 45 colt much more pleasant to shoot.

[snaketail]

I have a 20" stainless. I added a tang sight and use it in Cowboy Silhouette (not Cowboy Action). I have shot .454 Casull in it a few times - they bark and bite - would not hesitate to take an elk at 75 yards. (If you add a tang sight please note that the directions from Midway say to use the "short" sight post...I did and ran out of elevation at about 100 yards. I wish I'd bought the middle height, "standard" I think.)
99% of the time I'm shooting .45 Colt. I had an awful time getting it to group well with .452 boolits - those made for .45 ACP. I tried .454 250gr rnfp with 10g of Unique and will probably stay with that combo.
The twist in these is 1:30 and you'll want a 250gr boolit or heavier.
At first mine was a bit stiff and didn't want to cycle well. After maybe 100 shots it settled down and cycles fine now.
I like the little rifle - but wish the wood was better - I baby mine, but one miss-handling and you'll get a scarred stock.
Rifle load info for .45 Colt - there is almost none published. I was hesitant to use Unique (heard it was dirty). When the local shop finally got some Unique I tried the 'ole standard and found that everyone was right - 10g load is clean and accurate (with .454 boolits).
83674

[JHeath]

I shot two rounds of 300gr. Cor-Bon through my Puma/Legacy 1892 and that was enough. Actually the first round was enough, I don't know what I was trying to prove to myself with the second round.

Neat rifle, though. It went away in a trade but I would gladly have kept it and handloaded at reasonable levels. A .357 is on my list.

[rbuck351]

I have one, blue and 20". I like it a lot. My full house load is a Lee 300gr (actual 312) at about 1980fps. I shot one Blacktail deer with it using a Sierra 300gr jacketed bullet at 75yds at about 1600fps before I got the Lee mold. In one shoulder and out the other with a thumb size hole in and out and no meat loss. It does kick a bit when loaded up. I also load a 260 gr cast at about 1400fps and even my wife likes that. I bought it barely used. I think someone bought it and fired it a couple of times and decided they didn't like it.

[leftiye]

Yup, I imagine it does kick. That's about all the hotter I got with my 1895 before I sold it. Back then (1974) a 300 gr loaded hot with 3031 was about that speed. Not enough recoil to make you just walk away, but enough to make some friends who shot 1894 30-30s develop an instant flinch.

[snaketail]

Consider this - you don't "plink" with a 7mm Mag. because of the recoil, but you do hunt with one. Same thing for the .454 Casull. Yes, there is recoil and you won't be "cowboy" shooting it, but if you were hunting 350 pound hogs you'd pick the .454 over .38 Special.

I bought mine because I wanted a rifle that offered me the choice of a powerhouse and a fun load. I shoot full-house .454 when I need to, but most of the time I shoot .45 Colt reloads.

Bottom line- its a fun gun that I wouldn't hesitate to take hunting.

[JHeath]

Consider this - you don't "plink" with a 7mm Mag. because of the recoil, but you do hunt with one. Same thing for the .454 Casull.

Yeah, but (and I've said this before), faced with a charging brown bear I would hand him the .454 carbine and let him try shooting it. The HE would learn what it feels like to be mauled.

But like I said, it's a neat little rifle and handloading would make it both useful and fun.

[rintinglen]

I shot one belonging to a friend who was moving to Montana It was pretty brutal with the full charge 300 grain loads, but not too bad with a Speer 260 grain j-ball. I do not know what the load was but it was about the same as a 44 mag, or at least that's how I recall it. Just because the car will do 200 mph doesn't mean you have to drive that fast.
Reduced loads would go a long way towards improving the comfort factor, while still preserving the ability to go whole-hog if you feel the need for speed.

[leftiye]

Maybe I'll stick to the 50 Beowulf. The idea is a stopper in a fast handling fast repeating gun. Sounds like the 454 model 92 is just too light, etc..

[357shooter]

I like my 20 inch Rossi. For target/plinking it gets downloads which make it a really nice shooting gun. I like the broad range of potential loads. Full house 454's are a handful, loaded down at 44 mag velocities it's pretty sweet. I've not loaded any 45 colt style loads yet and probably would just pick up my 357 instead. Having the option to go full house is good, just not for everday shooting.

[jlchucker]

Just my opinion, but I think I'd rather have a 45-70, Winchester 86 or New Haven made Marlin. Especially after reading the previous replies here. I like my Rossi 92 in .357, but if I'm going to get kicked, it may as well be with my 45-70.

[snaketail]

Back in Arkansas we use to go down the city dump and shoot rats with a Trap-Door 45-70. One day they wouldn't let us shoot any more - said we were leaving too many wounded rats.

[jlchucker]

Back in Arkansas we use to go down the city dump and shoot rats with a Trap-Door 45-70. One day they wouldn't let us shoot any more - said we were leaving too many wounded rats.

You must have been using condom bullets and not boolits:groner:

[rbuck351]

Unless you are more than normally sensitive to recoil, the 454, even with full power loads in the 92 carbine, isn't that bad for hunting. I would NOT try those loads for cowboy action shooting as they make you pay for the steel plates. Save the bad boys for serious hunting and use a 45Colt load for play and you have a light, very handy, easy to carry, quick handling rifle capable of taking anything in N America or shooting cat sneeze loads for cowboy shooting. Recoil isn't even in the same class as my 416Rem. On those charging dump rats, you have to hit them in the shoulder and turn them to get a heart shot. Using the light loads required for a trap door, it's a wonder you didn't get your foot chewed off at the ankle. [smilie=1: