Ever buy a gun and it turns out to be one disappointment after another? Me too, like this thing. It sounded like alot of fun. Light, handy, lots of horsepower, sounds fun to me. However it has turned out to be just a pain in the butt.
The first one had to be returned to rossi, couldnt be repaired. What does that tell you? Why was it sent out the door? Replacement turned out to be great though. After waiting over 18 weeks for it I cycled the action and for having the factory springs it was very smooth, heavy but definitely smooth. Wood to metal fit was real nice and the metal finish was well done. So, all was well finally.....
Until I borescoped it, two little ridges in the bore right under the front sight. Yeah, we all know what the cause of those is. Man, their QC is disappointing.
I thought though instead of just immediately sending it back and probably waiting another 12-18 weeks ( a friend recently waiter 16 weeks for a barrel with a bad chamber) Id just go ahead and shoot it to see if it was complete junk or or just half. Half I guess because half of the loads Ive tried are ok and the other half terrible, nothing spectacular for sure. However I havent even begun to exhaust all of the possible load combinations so I do have hope, plus Im shooting 100yds, with open sights and old eyes, not a great combo. I thought about scoping it until I discovered that the 4 tapped holes under the rear buckhorn sight are drilled off center. The front sight looks to be straight up and down but that scope base is definitely off. I thought a scope might help rule me out as the accuracy problem.
So what do I do? I guess Ill just keep it for now and tinker with it. Perhaps Ill shorten the barrel and mag tube then recrown it. Im not able to cut a new dovetail but a few locals can.
I did smooth it up a little, reshaped the lifter to feed the beercans Ive been loading, lightened the loading gate to save my fingers, modified the front sight into a fiber optic instead of the brass bead that I couldnt see, refinished and shaped the stock and forend, did a trigger job and added some new springs. The thing is a slick and as fast as the 16" 357 rossi I own, and it has over 4000 rounds through it. Its been an absolute jewel and why I bought another rossi. I didnt get that lucky twice.
Stay tuned. In the mean time a few pics