.357 lever gun

[FullTang]

Love my Rossi 92, which I bought new a few years ago; I have the short barrel (16") model, and it's incredibly light and compact---smaller than most .22s. Great trigger and very accurate, but it's optimized for lighter bullets, with a slow-twist barrel. It will not shoot 180 grain bullets at all; they keyhole all over the place. 158 grain bullets are fine, but I get the best accuracy with 140 and 125 gr bullets, which makes sense for a gun made for cowboy action shooting. Mine handles .38 special loads without any problems and no modifications. This one is your best bet if you don't want to spend a fortune on a lever gun.

[Soundguy]

I have a rossi and it is doing fine as well as a henry and a Uberti 1873 clone. all love lead....

[375supermag]

Hi...
My .357Magnum lever action rifle us a Taylor &Co.
Beautiful rifle that is accurate and totally reliable with my .357Magnum handloads utilizing a commercial cast coated 158gr LSWC.

[sandog]

180s won't keyhole in the Rossi if you drive them at full speed. Drop down from max a bit and they will.

[r80rt]

Rossi 92, I love them.

[Hick]

Henry big boy steel action is a good shooter. Feeds 38s well. Swc designs feed but not smooth. Mine is without the loading gate. They are made with the gate now.

And the Henry Big Boy in brass. Mine feeds SWC very smoothly. Mine also is without the loading gate (older model). I've always had a little trouble getting small groups out at 100 yards with 357 Magnum, but the Henry will do well under 3 inches.

[Texas by God]

Ive been pleased with the Rossi's accuracy; and once they've been "tuned"- their function.

Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

[trapper9260]

I have a Rossi 16" and what I shot in that, also can shot in the BH , they both same loads . My SP 101 is a different load .

[dverna]

Wanted to add...I can be a gun snob and that drove me to the 1894's and 1873's. I used them for CAS and speed was important. 92's are not competitive. IMHO 92's are a tad more tedious to take apart and put together. I like the ease of installing a "normal" scope mount on the 1894's. On the 92's you need a "scout" scope set up.

But for a hunting or plinking gun, the Rossi is going to get the job done for a lot less $$$$. And adding a tang sight is easy as your eyes get less "cooperative".

If truck guns were legal here, I would get a Rossi or beater .30/30 for each truck.

[pietro]

Is there a bad one? Everyone seems to like theirs, including me, I have the Rossi.

Well, I wouldn't like a .357 in an antiquated/heavy design rifle, like a repro Winchester 73 - since all the later (post 1886) designs have locking systems more suitable for a modern chambering, and they're much handier/lighter .

[Pereira]

I have and love my Rossi 357, it shoots those Missouri bullet co. 180 gr. Pugnose like nobody's business.
Can ring a 6" gong all day long out to 100 yds. with ease.
I have a big boy steel in 41 that shoots cast very well so I'd think the 357 version would too.
Both will be less money than any Marlin you can find at the moment.
The Marlin and Henry are much easier to tear down and reassemble.

RP

[Jtarm]

Well, my leaning was towards the Marlin ‘94, but it appears sellers are way too proud of em.


Has Ruger started cranking them out yet?

[Kosh75287]

I've owned two Rossi M1892s in .45 Colt. If their .357 caliber models are anything like the .45 Colts, it'll darned hard to go wrong with one of them.

[FergusonTO35]

New gun: Henry steel frame all the way. Used: Browning 92 or Marlin 1894. I wouldn't turn down a Rossi if I got a screaming deal on one, but new ones are not much less than Henry these days.

[bedbugbilly]

I like my Henry Big Boy Steel - mines a tube feed with side gate. Loves RNFP loads.

[Froogal]

New gun: Henry steel frame all the way. Used: Browning 92 or Marlin 1894. I wouldn't turn down a Rossi if I got a screaming deal on one, but new ones are not much less than Henry these days.

I own a Henry all steel in .357 as well as the Rossi R92 in .357. Both are very, very nice. Easy to shoot and quite accurate. Only problem is that the Henry is not approved for use in N.C.O.W.S cowboy action shooting, while the Rossi IS approved.

[AnthonyB]

I have the Henry and several Rossi 92s. Henry is built much better but weighs too much. The Henry wears a scope, the M92s a red dot. The Steve’s Gunz video on tuning the Rossi makes them a totally different animal…
Tony

[oley55]

About 9 years ago I picked up a used Rossi R92 in 357, 24" barrel with a case hardened receiver for $150. I spent a good deal of time tuning it up, fire lapping, added a Marples tang sight and Lyman hooded front sight. Shooting Cast Performance LBT style WFNGC weighing 187gr over 15.3gr of H110, it will shoot 2" 100yd groups all day every day. On a good day 1.5". Oddly, regardless of the load tried, IMR4227 tumbled horribly.

Will every Rossi levergun turn out this great, probably not. I picked up a 24" SS in 44mag about 6 years ago and it remains a work in progress for cast boolits. Would another Rossi be my choice today, I'm not really sure. Availability and price would be my primary considerations, so probably yes.

[Jeff Michel]

May I be damned for a hypocrite. Even though I long ago put the finger of death on Henry rifles (personal experience has not been at all good) I recently broke my word and purchased a Henry X model, I wanted something to leave in the Gator, abuse/neglect and generally treat like a .......club? My Marlins do not satisfy this requirement. The caliber was not not a .357 as requested by the OP, but a .45 Colt. All things being relative you may be able to draw some reasonable conclusions regarding the same rifle in a different caliber. Ok, The downside, it's ugly, a flashlight rail, day glow sights, a plastic stock and heaven help me a threaded barrel. Upside, it's short, therefore handy. very smooth action, feeds flawlessly (In fairness, I've only shot 255 Lee) and best of all, I can put eight in a group the size of the bottom of a pop can at 50 yards, open sights. Since Marlins of any strip are either out of sight price wise or very scarce I can't really recommend one unless your very lucky or the new Marlin company starts gearing up soon. Nothing against Rossi, have one. Handy, accurate. On the rough side action wise, you can smooth them up allegedly, but mine got pretty good after 500 rounds or so. The position for their safety is terrible. All that having been said, you could do yourself a lot worst than an X model Henry. So far, I'm impressed with it's performance though it's ugly as a mud turtle. Good luck.

[Outpost75]

The recent production Rossi rifles from Braza-Tech Miami, FL which are produced using modern CNC machinery are excellent and better than Remlins. I have two in .357 and .45 Colt.