Rossi R92 Lever Action .357 Magnum 24"

I love mine, it's the 24" octagonal barrel

I like mine. Some like the safety some don't. Do a search tons of posts on Rossi 92 lever actions.

I have owned three Rossi Model 92 rifles with the 24" barrel. Two .357 and one .44 mag. The first .357 was very accurate and I foolishly let it get away from me. The .44 mag got sold also but was replaced by a second .357. The .357 is much more accurate than the .44 mag and a bit lighter in weight. I have no complaints about the Rossi 92 at all. I haven't seen any fit or finish problems with them of any consequence, however the action is a bit rough at first but smooths out after a number of rounds through it. Have had no reliability problems with them other than short stroking the .44 one time and a round got caught under the lifter and I had to disassemble the rifle to clear it. Disassembly and assembly is a bit of a pain but after doing it enough times it gets easier.
I shoot mine in metallic silhouette matches in the full size silhouette class and in the 1/2 scale pistol cartridge class. That is the reason I bought the 24" barrel, for the longer sight radius, however the 20" barrel would be easier to move through brush for hunting or casual shooting. I was quite surprised at how flat shooting the .357 is vs the .44 mag. A few years back I bought a Marlin 30-30 lever gun and wasn't impressed with it at all. It had a flat blue finish and the wood was nothing spectacular. The action on it wasn't any better than the Rossi rifles and the fit and finish wasn't any better either. The asking price is pretty decent considering what firearms have been selling for the last couple years.

l have an emf Hartford Rossi .45 Colt from 20 years ago that has no safety and is liquid smooth after being "cowboy" tuned by a gunsmith who specializes in such. very nice wood and fitting better than any Taurus/Rossi distributed one. it is darn near as fast as a tuned 1873 and a heck of a lot stronger. it has a 20" blued octagon barrel with all other metal case hardened .It has a brass bead front sight and a genuine Marbles Buckhorn elevator rear sight perfect for SASS
and it feeds anything , I 'll get pictures.

https://www.northwestfirearms.com/attachments/1892_short_barrell_cs_l-jpg.230491/

357smallbore said:

This lever action is made by: Manufacturer: Rossi USA / BrazTech
Are these reliable and good lever actions? $719.00 nib.
It has that stupid safety o the top.

Click to expand...

I have two R92’s, a 45 Colt & a 454 Casull. They’re both great and accurate. I have the 454 scout scoped with a nice Leupold VX, which is a setup I highly recommend.

I have three. A 20 inch in 45 Colt, a 24 inch hex in 45 Colt and a 20 inch in 44 Mag. I have worked over the actions to the point that the 44 will cycle and chamber empties. No worry about failure to feeds. I load with 231/HP38 powder and feel that this powder is not suitable for the longer barrel like the 24 inch. Both the 20 and 24 inch 45 Colts with an average of 4 FPS greater out of the 24 inch barrel. I don't load 45 Colts heaver than I feel safe to fire in my Colt revolvers (newly made copies). I do load up the 44 Mags and differing powders make a lot of differences, I use 231/HP38 and 2400 and IMR 4227 on a regular basis. Going from a 5 1/2 inch barrel to a 20 inch barrel with one powder will give measured average velocities changing from 1315 FPS to 1787 FPS. Same loads with 200 grain lead bullets.
The Rossi lever rifles are very strong and can handle heaver loads than I want to shoot. I have changes the sights on the 20 inch barrels to rear peeps and a tangent on the 24 inch barrel. Understanding the limits and bullet drops of pistol type rounds, these can be very effective and accurate to over 75 yards. Face it, Mr Rabbit will fall to a 200 to 255 grain bullet quickly.
Enjoy life, I'm trying to.
Þ

I say but it if you want one. Mine is a 20". I installed a Williams foolproof sight for the added sight radius.
It cycled fine out of the box. I didn't like the empties going into orbit. So I changed the elector spring, did a trigger job and smoothed the action.
Now it has a 3 pound trigger with no creep. Cycles easily and can hit a 2/3 torso target at 200 yards. I made 8 of 10. First 2 were finding elevation because 357 from a rifle drops less than expected.
Factory it was a fun rifle. But I like to make things better.

Mine is a 20" and I really like it after installing Steve'sgunz spring kit and a leather wrap around butt pad to make the stock a little longer. Just put the safety in the off position and forget about it.

I consider it the perfect jeep gun.

357smallbore said:

This lever action is made by: Manufacturer: Rossi USA / BrazTech
Are these reliable and good lever actions? $719.00 nib.
It has that stupid safety o the top.

Click to expand...

I have that rifle and 700.00 is a little much for it; I do realize times have definitely changed but that will always be a 400.00 rifle.

Just My Opinion, yours and others mileage may very.

The safety can be swapped out for a blanking plug OR there are peep sights available that mount in the hole.

Install a 'saddle ring' and use a single point bungie for carry.
If only they would come back on the market in great numbers. The prices would go back down and maybe I could find one in 44-40 to go with my 1875 Remington in that chambering.
I only use lead bullets and normal grease works very well till I get up in velocity. Then I move to powder coating. I like the 'Powder by the Pound' clear. If anything it cleans the barrel. Good stuff.
Þ

357smallbore said:

This lever action is made by: Manufacturer: Rossi USA / BrazTech
Are these reliable and good lever actions? $719.00 nib.
It has that stupid safety o the top.

Click to expand...

it hardly makes sense to ask about Rossi levers being one guy will say his feeds everything another guy says his jams a lot. you hear the same about other guns but it seems Rossi lever actions get the most opposite reviews

I have owned 4 rossis. One stainless 357 24" in octagonal, 2 x 357 20" blued and a stainless 44 mag 20". The 24" octagonal in 357 was a good shooter but they are quite muzzle heavy. Original octagonal barrels like winchesters had a degree of taper to them, Rossis are almost paralell. The 357 is heavier than the 44 because they have the same muzzle diametre but a smaller hole, aka more weight in steel. Handle the gun before buying is my advice, some people arent bothered by it.

They can all be rough out of the box, about 1/4 of a guns cost goes into final fit, polish etc and this is how Rossi keeps it prices down. Usually any issues can be smoothed out if you are DIY guy or by any competent smith. Of my guns one needed no work at all. One needed quite a bit, load gate was sharp and scraping brass( and thumb!) extractor was nicking rims, a bevel in the mag tube was shaving the side of bullet noses and the magazine spring was so tight it was hard to load. Another needed minor smoothing and one I had smoothed anyway. Note, none of it effected the guns ability to fire fast and accurately and once smoothed they ran nicely.

barrels are all 1:30 twist which handles all standard bullet weights at normal speeds but running low speed loads and long bullets( say 180grains+) you may have issues stabilising. I found with subsonic loads 158 grains was as heavy a bullet as would shoot well.

An advantage of Rossis is they are arguably the strongest of all the 1892 actions, 1892's being the strongest of all pistol calibre actions. Not that I would suggest doing it, but some people have run them all the way to 50,000 PSI.

As to whether Rossi are better or worse at feeding cases, all lever actions vary as to what loaded length they like to feed. For example some like 357 length but dont feed short 38 specials as well. All my guns fed any length 357 and 38 specials no problems. The 44mag also feeds 44 specials no problem. Not sure if I got lucky ...but 4 for 4 is a pretty good statistic.

I guarantee if you started a thread on what action feeds both 38 and 357 best you will get equal votes between Rossis, brownings, Win/miroku, 1873 and 1894 actions! Im serious, I have seen the threads. It always runs the same way, everyone logs on saying they heard one model feeds the best... but some other one dont : )

Rossi has quality issues. I had to make modifications on my Rossi w/20" barrel.

Get online and read about the various issues before purchasing the rifle. With the 24" barrel, you will not have to cut the magazine spring to get it to accept a full magazine of ammunition. I had to cut the tubular magazine spring in my 20" barrelled rifle to allow a full magazine.

The tables I've seen for barrel length vs. velocity on the .357 inform that past 18" of barrel, one is not increasing velocity. What one does gain with longer barrels is increased sight radius. I've had a lever rifle, Winchester, with a 16" barrel and moving up to the 20" barrel I feel I have lost maneuverability. I passed the 16" barrel rifle on to youth, else I would have surely kept it.

trekker73 said:

stainless 44 mag 20". The 24" octagonal in 357 was a good shooter but they are quite muzzle heavy. Original octagonal barrels like winchesters had a degree of taper to them, Rossis are almost paralell. The 357 is heavier than the 44 because they have the same muzzle diametre but a smaller hole, aka more weight in steel. Handle the gun before buying is my advice, some people arent bothered by it.

Click to expand...

I had an original Winchester '73 with a 24" octagonal barrel, and tapered barrel or not, that was one heavy gun.

To me, one of the nice aspects of the Rossi is they're short and light, my 20" round barrel .357 feels very well balanced. Having an extra 4-8" of heavier steel out there would seem to negate that.

I have owned five pistol caliber lever guns, of them I still have three: a Rossi 16” .357, a Rossi 16” .45 Colt and a 16” Winchester 1894 Trapper .44 Mag.

I had a beautiful 20” Rossi .357 many years ago that just did not want to feed anything I put into the magazine. Even after two trips to CAS gunsmith Walker ‘47, it still was cranky. I sent it packing with no regrets.

I also had a 24” Winchester 1894 Legacy in .45 Colt that I bought to pair with my .45 Colt revolvers shooting SASS matches.The gun was, to me, juuust too long and a bit unwieldy for a pistol caliber carbine. That, plus that horrid Winchester cross bolt safety abomination, made selling it easy.

Long barreled levers can look really good, especially with a full sized action like a Win 1886 or a Marlin 1895. My 24” 1895CB .45/70 is a beast with a full magazine of 450 gr LFP, that heavy gun mitigates a bit of the .45/70 recoil (but not much!). In a .357, a fully loaded 24” gun would probably kick like a .22 Hornet.

It really is up to your intended uses to get a long barrel on a pistol caliber lever gun. The 8” of difference between a 24” barrel and a 16” barrel on a lightweight rifle is significant while the velocity gain isn’t quite as much as you may think. IMHO these handy little guns lose their spry handling after the barrel hits 20”, for me that is my max length when buying a pistol caliber longarm. YMMV

Stay safe.

I've got a 16" .357 Rossi, and I like it pretty good. It replaced an Uberti 1866 in 38spl that had a few issues, and so I was happy to trade it off for the Rossi. I'd looked at the longer barreled ones, but thought that she and I would both appreciate the shorter carbine over the 20 or 24 inch offerings. I don't like the stupid safety, and I had to cut about 6" off the mag spring to make it so the wife could load it and smooth out a couple rough spots. I've had no trouble with it feeding, seems to not really care if it's loaded with 38's or 357's. It cycles both as fast as you can shoot it. As far as accuracy, it shoots very well, though the wife shoots it more than me. It's "her" rifle now, though she despises the big loop lever and I'm waiting on Rossi to send me a standard one to replace it with. She says, and I agree, that the action is smoother than the '66 that it replaced. Overall, I recommend them to anyone who asks me, especially if you're willing to do a hour's worth of minor work to it.

Mac

robin banks said:

it hardly makes sense to ask about Rossi levers being one guy will say his feeds everything another guy says his jams a lot. you hear the same about other guns but it seems Rossi lever actions get the most opposite reviews

Click to expand...

This is because "Rossi" model 92s have been made by a few manufacturers over the years, and everyone mistakenly assumes it was always one manufacturer.

Every manufacturer who ever made anything at some point has had quality control issues. Throw several other manufacturers into the mix, all trying to make the same product under the same brand, and you get what we see today with the Rossi 92.

The currently made 92s are reportedly much better than the ones from years past.

I have three, spanning about 30 years of the Rossi brand, and they're all good, serviceable guns. After a lot of shooting, and replacing a couple of springs, they're excellent.

A really wonderful Rossi 'gallery gun' pump ('06 Winchester?) led me to try one of their R92s, a 16" carbine in .45 Colt. It is light and handy, the action relatively smooth, and the trigger has a noticeable creep. It has run just fine. The wood is attractive, the blue looks good from 6'.
Mine wears a Marbles tang sight (one hole to drill/tap), which really solves the sight radius issue, and a replacement, fold down midbarrel sight. This last is actually handy for fast, close shots. I've blanked off the silly safety on the bolt.
I can whack an 85 yard clanger off my hind legs.
Now, full disclosure, have a ricer Winchester 92 as well, which is bunches more nicely finished, and a cleaner trigger. But it's a 20", so I've been keeping the Rossi.
Moon

Old Hobo said:

Rossi has quality issues. I had to make modifications on my Rossi w/20" barrel.

Get online and read about the various issues before purchasing the rifle. With the 24" barrel, you will not have to cut the magazine spring to get it to accept a full magazine of ammunition. I had to cut the tubular magazine spring in my 20" barrelled rifle to allow a full magazine.

The tables I've seen for barrel length vs. velocity on the .357 inform that past 18" of barrel, one is not increasing velocity. What one does gain with longer barrels is increased sight radius. I've had a lever rifle, Winchester, with a 16" barrel and moving up to the 20" barrel I feel I have lost maneuverability. I passed the 16" barrel rifle on to youth, else I would have surely kept it.

Click to expand...

The tables saying no increase in velocity past 18" are mostly using factory ammo meant for handguns. With heavy handloads of magnum burners like lilgun, H110 0r 300MP you can keep getting slight gains all the way to 24", about 80-100ftps or so over 18". This has been hashed out plenty on the net.

Not a great amount no, and whether its worthwhile is up to the user, but its there.

I’ve got two Rossi 92s, a 16” 357 and a 20” 44. I like both of them, though I admit they both could benefit from a trigger job.

The 44 has a NOE rail with a Weaver scouting scope mounted to it. It does 3moa at 100 yards consistently. I get close to 1800fps with handloads using Zero 240gn JSP and 300MP powder. Being such a light gun, those loads really kick, I had to put a leather butt pad on it to help cushion my shoulder.

The 357 has a Marbles tang sight mounted. One hole drilled and tapped. With 158gn bullets and 300MP it also gets close to 1800fps.

The longtime 'hunting rifle' is a Marlin '94 in .44 Magnum; H110 loads that do @ 1400 in a 6" 629 do @ 1600 in the 16" Marlin.
That load level isn't objectionable as regards recoil; our 100 lb daughter took a deer with it.
But the Rossis are a little lighter, and my .44 Mag load has been an absolute hammer on deer; they have been relentlessly DRT. Perhaps it isn't worth the trouble of increased recoil, chasing a couple hundred feet/sec.
For that matter, took a deer with a 1000'sec .45 Colt load, and that was DRT as well.
Moon

I have a R92 with the 24 inch octagon barrel. As someone said previously it is barrel heavy and it isn't light, short, and handy like a 20 inch round barrel. I have had it more than 15 years and it never misses a lick. I love it.