Rossi .22 LR

I have the lever action and I like it but.....

....I get the feeling you won't I'd go handle it a bit more see if they'll take off the lock and work it a little. It has a safety that locks the hammer and just generally is non traditional in a few ways..

If you were asking about giving it to a kid or tossing it in the back of a gator and not worrying about damaging something nicer I'd say get it.

Nothing wrong with it but I feel like you would be left unsatisfied.

New Rossi pump? I’ll pass. They sort of layed an egg with the look, fit and finish of that one.

An older Rossi 62A? That’s a different animal. I went looking to rekindle my early love for pump .22 rifles and found a winner on Gun Broker for about $450 bucks shipped. (I cut my teeth on a Marlin Golden 39A and a Winchester 1890.) The older Rossi is a well made, reliable rifle that follows the lines of the old Winchesters pretty well.



I’ll second the Henry lever guns, too. My son has one and I have two of the Henry rimfire guns and they’re all slick-handling, well made little rimfires (A youth .22 LR, a standard .22 LR and a .22 WMR).

Stay safe.

Rossis and Henrys are really apples and oranges comparisons because they're worlds apart wrt price points. For the given price point I think the Rossi is a decent gun. However, if the price is not a factor, I'd go with the Henry any day. I did go - I have three.

I can say this; I have a Rossi R92 in .45 Colt and a 1860 Henry Rifle by Henry Repeating Arms in .44-40. The Rossi is a nice, serviceable rifle that might do well as a trunk gun if necessary, but the Henry is beautiful and the action cycles butter-smooth. Really quite different rifles.

Henry is more $$$ but you get what you pay for. It's worth it, but otoh if you have limited resources the Rossi will serve well too.

wiscoaster said:

Rossis and Henrys are really apples and oranges comparisons because they're worlds apart wrt price points. For the given price point I think the Rossi is a decent gun. However, if the price is not a factor, I'd go with the Henry any day. I did go - I have three.

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Surprisingly, in the rimfire area the Rio Bravo and Henry H001 are pretty close price-wise… with the Henry selling for 50-75 bucks more on average.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/909822425 a sample Henry

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/905452571 a sample Rossi.

The Henry centerfire lever guns sure can get pricy .

The pump guns favor the Henry in quality, and the prices of those reflect it. The Rossi 62 was a good gun but their latest pump offering falls short.

Overall I’m in agreement with you, go with the Henry .

I own an H001 Henry and a Rossi RS22. I was looking at Henrys in .38/.357 and dad goes out and buys me an H001 hmm....

Out of the box the Rossi was not reliable, had to file on the magazines to get the ejection failures to stop.
Off hand plinking at steel etc. both guns are equally accurate (for me), though the Rossi makes nicer groups benchrested/on paper. I also find it harder to 'get down on the sights' with the Henry (tall/long arms) vs. the Rossi. Neither of them is ideal for me that way. Definitely not impressed with the rossi/mossberg magazines.
I like them both for different reasons. The Henry is better looking and better made with a better warranty plus it was free lol. No contest there. The Rossi has better sights and is easier to strip/clean plus I am not worried about dinging it up.
Let a couple of new shooters try them out and both had prolems the first time reloading the Henry (jamming the rod). Only do it once kind of thing.

Was looking .22s again for a friend recently - saw Simpson Ltd had quite a few not plastic 22s on hand. Maybe worth taking a look?

The older Rossi and Taurus pump guns replicating the classic Winchester are usually considered good guns.

The current Rossi pump I have seen is a pump action version of their .22 lever action and I have heard and read complaints that they are stiff compared to the classic pump .22s. The look does not appeal to me, unlike the Rossi rifles that replicate the classic Winchester lever and pump rifles.

I have one of the current Rossi pump guns with a synthetic stock. Bought it to see how it was.

It is a very rough action compared to a classic Rossi 62. HOWEVER. If you're just out shooting and having fun, you are not going to notice or care.

You won't worry about a new shooter dropping it or getting it dinged up. You won't care about taking it out shooting if there is a light drizzle. Keep it in the trunk of your car for a year? No bigie. "Cheap" guns have a purpose and the Rossi pump fills it well.

I honestly prefer it to my 10/22 simply because of the work required to keep a 10/22 clean and working vs a manually operated action.

I have a Rossi pump gallery gun. I take it hiking and plink at stuff the ATV riders drop. It loosened up action wise as i used it. For a 250.00 gun it's ok.

As far as the lever gun goes, get the Henry. They just got it right.

As far as the RS22 semi you have, it is actually kind of a diamond in the rough....well, maybe an emerald. It is pretty much the same gun as a Mossberg 702 Plinkster, but to me the Rossi stock (believe it or not) is better. The sights on both are pretty badly molded plastic. The trigger is...meh. But I enjoy tinkering. And I like building rifles like Appleseed Liberty Training Rifles. I did this on mine:

Mcarbo trigger spring - A little tricky to assemble, their video and tips are good. - https://www.mcarbo.com/store/p/38-Mossberg-702-/-Mossberg-715T-Trigger-Spring-Kit.aspx
It lightened the pull, but it is still not a Volquartsen 10/22 kit by any means.

Tech-sights are pretty much obligatory on any 22 I buy, unless I am definitely planning to scope it. And I only have 2 of those (soon to be 1 - I found out I am not a Savage Mark II fanboy. ) The Mossberg ones work. Yes, they are expensive, but if you shoot iron sights, they are the Cadillac for .22s. Great adjustable aperture and almost double the sight radius. https://www.tech-sights.com/product/mossberg-702-rifle-aperture-sights/

I took it to our last club .22 match (Timed Iron sights) and took 1st place. I used it just to make it more competitve for other shooters, but it put 10 rounds of Aguila into a 3/4" circle at 50 yards. On this day, that was enough.