I had ONE problem with my M971, that hammer mounted firing pin snapped off. I sent it back and it was replaced and it snapped off the very first range trip. I had my gunsmith fit a new firing pin, and I never had a problem one with it after that. My gunsmith just said it "needed proper fitting". It must have had a burr where the pin goes through the hole or something. Never did quite figure out why it did that. After I had it fixed, I had no problems with it.
It had a not so smooth DA, but plenty good SA trigger. Rossi DA is acceptable, but not up to Taurus or S&W out of the box and I'm not sure who would take it for trigger work. My smith passed away from cancer or I'd recommend him. I never had the trigger worked over, though, 'cause I used it for a field gun, mostly single action shooting.
Another observation of that gun, it had light strike problems on CCI primers. I had to use Winchester or Remington primers with it, standard pistol. It did fine with factory ammo other than CCI.
Accuracy on the gun was danged decent, 2" off bags at 25 yards with either .38 or .357s it liked. It timed perfectly, handled hot handloads just fine, never got loose on me. It was a rugged little stainless gun and a joy to tote being fairly light. The full underlug combined with the excellent rubber grip it came with handled recoil better than my old Security Six.
One other criticism, I'm never seen such a cheap attempt at a red ramp in the front sight, piece of plastic that over-hung either side of the sight. I just slid it out and tossed it.
It was a good gun for the money and very easy to carry. I sorta miss it, but traded it for a .45 Colt stainless 4 5/8" blackhawk, killer deal that I'd surely do again!
There's a pic of me and a Javelina I took with it here. I took some rabbits using wadcutter ammo with it, too, on my hunting trips. It was an accurate gun for hunting out to 50 yards or so. The 4" barrel sort of limited my abilities with it past that. But, as a gun to wear while rifle hunting, it excelled.
I now have a Taurus M66 nickeled that I like more than the Rossi as a shooter, though it's a little heavier on my hip for totin'. It is 1" accurate with the same wadcutter loads and with 140 Speer JHP .357 loads. I'm pretty happy with this gun. It's a better quality gun with a MUCH better DA trigger, S&W quality. I bought it used. Not sure if the trigger got smoothed on it, but it's excellent. I could carry that Rossi IWB pretty easily, though, and the Taurus is a bit much.
I don't think Rossi offers the 971 anymore, though, but I've come across used ones. I have owned six Rossis, still own a M68 .38 special and a M511 .22. My overall impression is well worth what they cost and decent little guns, but not up to Taurus in trigger or fit and finish. Would I buy another one if I wanted it? Sure! If I could find another 971 in good shape used cheap, I'd pick it up, especially if it were a 2.5" gun. I'm sorta looking for a short barrel K frame sized gun in either .38 or .357. The 971 was not quite a K frame in size, but bigger than a SP101, though I'm sure the Ruger is a lot stronger gun. Still, it handled everything I dished out to it.
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