Rossi 1892- worth it?

go to video time 3:10 thats not good

I have one in .45 Colt. It was a good gun from the beginning, but much better after sending it to Kiowa Nate Jones (www.stevesgunz.com) to get it slicked up.

I love mine. It's a 357 that I took apart and slicked up.
The ejector needed replaced after about 5000 rounds.

I like my .454 Casull and .44 Mag. I took both of them apart to slick them up like others said. Basically just going over mating surfaces with increasing grit sand paper and oiling everything. The .454 required some filing on the hammer because it was binding between the bolt and tang when opening the action. But it's all fixed and they run very well for casual shooting and riding the backseat of the truck.

Edit to Update: my .44 is 16" and .455 20", both plain, round barrels. They bother carry and handle very evenly and balanced. Unless you are going with a heavy octagon barrel, I dont think it would matter much. Most times I'm touching the gun is carrying it in my right hand, grasping around the action, and it feels great there.

I own four of them. Bought at bargain basement prices. Two .45LCs and two 44-40s. I haven't fired any of them. There is a wide range of machining, and I found the older "Amadeo Rossi's" had much better internal finishing. The newer ones can be a lifetime project. The wood to metal fit also varies. The wood (whatever it is) itself is terribly finished. I refinished all of them, using a stain from Brownell's (I believe) called something like "Pre-64 Winchester".
Some have high regard for the Rossi's. Me, not so much. They don't compare to the original '92s, nor to the current Miroku's.

I have one in 357, have done nothing to it, and have had no problems.

JMO

MI2600 said:

I own four of them. Bought at bargain basement prices. Two .45LCs and two 44-40s. I haven't fired any of them. There is a wide range of machining, and I found the older "Amadeo Rossi's" had much better internal finishing. The newer ones can be a lifetime project. The wood to metal fit also varies. The wood (whatever it is) itself is terribly finished. I refinished all of them, using a stain from Brownell's (I believe) called something like "Pre-64 Winchester".
Some have high regard for the Rossi's. Me, not so much. They don't compare to the original '92s, nor to the current Miroku's.

Click to expand...

How can you comment of how well they function when you haven't shot them? Or how they compare to other manufactures? You bought them, refinished them but don't shoot them? Sounds like more of an art project than shooting. jmo

I bought a new 16" stainless .357 a few years ago and didn't expect much. I was wrong. Right out of the box, it fed any style ammo I tried. It functioned fine as is, but a kitchen table action job made it fantastic. I didn't care for the factory rear sight and found I couldn't shoot well with it. I swapped the sight. Group sizes went down drastically.

I have put over 3k rounds through it and haven't even bothered to clean it....It just works and is pure fun.

I bought one a couple years ago, .45 Colt with 16" barrel. It was rough cycling when new but slicked up just cycling the action. This is a pretty decent repro of the Win. 1892 but at its price will just not match up to Miroku, or Uberti quality. The wood is not quite as nice, the front of the forend is squared off rather than rounded, and the sights might be not right and need regulating.

The only thing I did to mine was to buy a metal follower to replace the cheap plastic one that comes with them..
I also have a Winchester 1894ae in .30-30, a Browning 1892 in .44 mag (a 1980s Miroku ---- very good carbine) , Uberti repros of the 1873 Winchester saddlering carbine in .44-40, 1873 Winchester short rifle in .45 Colt, Colt Burgess 1883 in .44-40, Miroku made Winchester 1892 deluxe takedown in .32-20..
The Rossi 1892 is a good rifle at the price, just not as well made or finished as those. I would want to carefully look at the particular Rossi I'd be purchasing and checking for misaligned sights and wood/metal fit.
If you like the particular one and it cycles nice, it's likely a good bargain.

How can you comment of how well they function when you haven't shot them? Or how they compare to other manufactures? You bought them, refinished them but don't shoot them? Sounds like more of an art project than shooting. jmo

Not an art project. More like good looking dump material if the need arises.

I can only speak to the 16" or 20".
1. 16" if this is just a range toy and is fun. Lighter, handier.
2. 20" if you think hunting is on the line. (This has been my consistent preference even if not my consistent practice...)
I love all my lever guns. I vote for anyone to get one that is remotely interested. They are the AR of the 19th Century!

YMMV,
Greg

I had one in 454. It was a very fun gun. Surprisingly slick too. The gun weighed only 5lb at 16”. I sold it off however as I found parts were very scarce. I planned to use the gun a lot and I couldn’t have things break without being able to replace them easily

I don't own one of these but I shot one belonging to a friend recently and was impressed. It was a stainless .480 ruger with I believe a 16" barrel. Surprisingly smooth, very light, wood was nothing special but the finish was otherwise good. It compared well to my older Marlin 357. Only thing I didn't really like was the safety, but I have seen online that someone makes a peep sight that replaces the safety which would be very nice.

I've had a .357 16" for about ten years and really like it. It's always a big hit with newcomers to shooting.

Got a 24" 45lc rifle and a 20" 38/357. Both cycle well. I have no problem ringing steel at 200+ with either.

The 45 is playing the bit of a howitzer at 150yds + range with my trail boss loads. Not much better with my 800x loads either.

The only problem I occasionally have is in firing short oal 38 special loads. They'll hang up once in a while. The 357s haven't been a problem .

After reading some threads here about the Rossi being a fixer upper, I decided to take a chance. I was able to pick up a new .357 20" for a good price.

Surprise, surprise, it worked perfectly right out of the box, and quite accurate to boot. It took every different .357 and .38Spl variation I had and fed them all perfectly. It's also remarkably light at only five pounds.

As previously mentioned, just working the action a number of times smoothed it up considerably. Although ejection worked perfectly, it was very strong and threw the cases quite a distance. Changing to a lighter spring has them dropping at my feet. The magazine follower worked perfectly, but looked like cheap plastic, I homemade one from brass and now looks better. The wood finish left something to be desired, so I refinished it with several coats of Tru-Oil.

You can see a pattern here, everything worked fine as is, I just changed things to meet my personal wants. In my experience, if you're looking for a light, accurate well made lever action, I don't think you'll go wrong with a Rossi.

My experience is years old. We were doing some informal Cowboy Matches and needed a lever action rifle. A decent Rossi in 45 Colt turned up in a pawnshop. The rifle functioned very well with no problems. My concern came, at the time, when some Bubba work was to be undone on the front band. I was told at the time by the importer that parts were not necessarily interchangeable. Everything worked out fine. Overall, I'd get another if the price was right.

I love the 92 action. Twin locking lugs make for a strong, short action that can be slicked up to race gun lightning quickness. It’s the perfect action for pistol calibers.

The traditional steel butt plate is bruisingly uncomfortable in hot big-bore loads. I have taken to mounting a Winchester 94 butt stock on the 92 to get a plastic or rubber butt pad. Perhaps untraditional heresy, but a rifle stock will tame bite of the the hot pistol carbine. Or just wear a shooting coat and don’t shoot it in a t-shirt.

Rossi’s were always roughly finished and sported the uninspired Brazilian mystery wood for the stocks. They are an aftermarket art project, but can be rehabbed into a fine gun.

Price point is the biggest challenge with the 92. To get the fit, finish, and function you want you have to buy the Miroku 92. If you’re a cheapskate like me, Rossi is your gun, but it will need some work or some compromise before you can love it.

My 16" 44mag SS R92 is my main deer hunting rig. It'll put 5 rounds of my 240gr XTP/4227 hand loads into one ragged hole at 50 yards. It's put a few bambi in the freezer.



The longer barrel only gets you more capacity and a longer sight radius. With the drop of the pistol cartridges, and their accuracy (or lack thereof compared to bottle necked cartridges) I don't see alot to gain with the long barrels. The 16" handles so great that's what I went with.

Feeds specials and SWC's, great slick action. I'm not getting rid of mine.

After working on two of these for some local guys, I say buy it but put the time and effort, or the money for a gunsmith, into slicking it up. They are so-so from factory but are a nice rifle with some TLC.