Rossi 92 reviews

I have a 16" round barreled .357mag model that I keep next to my bed loaded up with Hornady XTP.
Using .357magnum I have never once had a misfire or problem feeding or ejecting. It's more than accurate enough to be seriously deadly out to 100 yards. It's the rifle that replaced my 870 as my HD long gun.

Fit/Finish does not compare with a 70's or 80s Marlin 1894c, but price doesn't compare either and it's more than adequate.

Do it. If you don't like it, lever carbines are hard enough to find right now that you'll have no trouble unloading it.

I've got one in 357, 24" octagon and it's a tack driver...only regret is that I didn't buy it sooner.

I have a 20'' carbine version with the regular size lever loop. It holds 11+1 of 357 magnum and 12+11 of 38 Special. It feeds either without a hitch. In fact, it feeds any type of these without any issues at all. Semi wadcutters, JSP, RN, HP, and RNFP all feed just fine. Accuracy is great!

Mine works to well that if another turned up at a good price I would grab it for sure. I wouldn't mind adding one in 44magnum or 45 Colt for deer hunting.

Reviews are mixed for a reason. Some Rossi's are great out of the box, others are trash or even non functional. If the action is smooth enough and the wood fit is acceptable, get it. I have had 4 Rossi's, 2 .357's and 2 .44's. I had to return one of each. One .357 24" blue/case hardened octagon, had stock filler everywhere (3-4 knots removed and filled, very ugly), crooked forend, oversized/poor stock to metal fit and a split wrist. The 20" SS .44mag that was also returned had nice wood, but the hammer would bind on the frame, locking it open and the tang screw was far too long. The 2 rifles of 4 that I kept were acceptable enough to keep, especially after I slicked up the actions/triggers.

Bottom line: Rossi's are truly a crapshoot. You can get a good one or a turd, it seems about a 50/50 chance.

I have two, 357 and 45lc. Love them both...................chris3

I bought a Rossi (92) 20" round barrel in .357/.38 at a gun show. It was supposed to be used, and may have had a round shot through it. The action was very rough. When I got it home and stripped it down, it still had the packing grease caked hard inside. the gun was brand new except its age. Several washings and brushings, and oiling finally brought out a smooth action rifle. It's a sweet lil lever gun.

I have a 16" large loop and like it. 357 / 38 and both calibers clear nicely.should be good.

I own 2 of them, a 45 colt and a 454 Casull. Both made a trip to Rossi CS with average turn around of 7 business days, both problems I could of fixed myself. Both are very good guns especially for the prices new.

I love my 24" '92 in 38/357. Action smoothed out nicely with use and functions/feeds perfectly. Shooting 38's out of that long, heavy octagon barrel is like firing a 22LR. With the 38's, the sights were dead on at 50 yards right out of the box.

I have a 16" barrel large loop carbine in .45 Colt. Beautiful high polish bluing and great fit and finish overall. Action was a little gritty initially but has smoothed out with use. Nice and handy little carbine in a caliber that matches my two single action revolvers.

I have a Rossi 1892 Puma .38/.357 sold by Legacy Sports before they switched to the much higher price spread (Chiappa) with Legacy keeping the tradename Puma (I thought "Puma" was originated by Rossi in competition with the Spanish "El Tigre" 1892 clone).

External it is good looking, although the wood stain is very very dark, action a bit tight, but it has smoothed up with use. Mine is a 20" round barrel carbine and kick with my 357 Puma seems harder than kick with my .30-30 Marlin (a much heavier rifle with a modern buttstock profile).

I suspect that Rossi has made the Puma to order for various importers to their price point, much like the trade versions of Savage 340 and Marlin 336 made for chainstores like Western Auto, Sears, etc back in the 1950s and 1960s. So final fit and finish will vary on the used Rossi Pumas. (Although I wonder if they could vary in quality as bad as Winchester 1894 in the last half of the 20th century.)

Hey Carl: My Rifle shown in Post #8 is a Legacy Puma also.

I had a rough one. Needed an action job and some spring replacements badly, but once it had those, worked great. It was always very accurate. The only reason it went away is I got a sweetheart deal on a Browning in the same caliber.

The two I've personally handled from new were a little rough out of the box. But since they were purchased for cowboy action I did the action job and spring swap right away. My own saw 50 or 60 rounds before the action work. The second came right out of the box and got the spring kit and action tuning before a single shot passed down the bore.

Both of these rifles shoot very accurately and consistently.

So basically if you find that you don't like the feel of the lever then you can do two things to fix it. First and easiest is to swap the springs for those in the cowboy action kit. Second is to run a fine honing stone over the flats and deburr the parts in the action. A final and somewhat more risky venture is to reach in with a fine rotary stone and lightly bell out and then polish the lower edge of the chamber mouth to ease the entry of the casings into the chamber.

Springs alone will give you a 70% improvement. The rest of the work described slicks the action up enough that it adds the other 30% to make the rifle 100% better than it comes out of the box. By that time the rifle will be as slick as anyone could wish for.

Annoyed that you have to do the work or pay a cowboy action smith to do it for you? Consider the cost is around $600 for the rifle and the upgrades will add about $150 even if a smith does the work. Now go and price one of the new Miroku made Winchester 1892's. When you do the Rossi option will make a lot more sense.

Granted the Miroku will feel, fit and shine like a newly minted coin. If that justifies the higher cost for any individual out there then great. It's nice to have The Best of anything now and then. We only go around once after all. So if pampering ourselves a little now and then won't take food off the table then what the heck.

I have the 16" big loop in .45 Colt. No problems at all. Nice little gun.
I would not buy one I could not inspect personaly. To many reported problems.

My brother and I bought a 20" .38/.357 for my grandfather a few months ago, it is a great and handy gun. No failures or any problems. My grandfather loves it.