How are the newer Rossi stainless M92s?

[Float Pilot]

In the past I owned five or six Rossi levergun in 357, 45 Colt and 44 mag. All were blued. None had the goofy safety on the bolt.
They were OK but nowhere near as nice as my old Browning B-92.

I have been eyeballing a couple of their stainless 16 inch carbines in 44 mag. They are new and have the goofy lawyer induced safety.

Has anyone played with one lately ? How was the accuracy and reliability?

 

[Jackal]

If you buy one, you'd best figure on working on it. Of the last 4 I've purchased, one was returned to the distributor for a cracked stock, canted rear sight and hammer bind. The other 3 were barely serviceable, with crude actions, impossibly stiff loading and 2 also had hammer bind (hammers rub on frame).

Spend $450 on a brand new rifle and expect to either clean up the action/deburr yourself or pay someone to do it.

I found out that by the time I got them to a reasonable level of smoothness/fitment/reliability, I could have just purchased a Miroku...

The older stainless "Puma" Rossi I had was a wonderful rifle. The new ones are sadly garbage (in my experience).

 

[benzy2]

Mine is blued but with the goofy safety. It was over sprung from the factory. It was fine beyond that. I tore it down, replaced a few springs and sanded/lightly stoned anything rough. It's been great ever since and wasn't terrible before. For the money it's been a great firearm. I haven't done any bench accuracy testing but it shoots well enough on 4"steel plates from 50-100 yards that my eyes seem to be the limiting factor.

 

[ClickClickD'oh]

The safety can be removed in seconds.

 

[Curator]

I bought the stainless M92 Rossi from BPS about 6 years ago. It did need a little smoothing up at first but it is a very serviceable and accurate firearm. I opted for .45 Colt as a friend had the earlier blued model in .44 Magnum and it had very slow twist rifling (like 1 in 38") and wouldn't shoot heavy bullets accurately past 25 yards. My .45 Colt has 1 in 20 rifling and shoots my 454-280 LBT LFN bullets very accurately to 100 yards. Oh yeah, forget the original sights. I installed a Marbles tang sight which really helps with putting the slugs where you want them. It is too bad that Rossi/Taurus can't get reliable quality control or customer service. Most of the guns they make in Brazil are pretty decent and good value. Unfortunately they are suffering from labor problems and very difficult regulatory environment.

 

[Cump]

I have a 357. Yes, the action is heavy if you are after speed. Springs could be changed to lighten it, but I'd worry that reliability might suffer. I've cycled 357 and 38 without trouble and its accurate considering the cartridge. Mine didn't need any stoning.

I'm sure that many of the complaints are justified, but I also wonder if some problems arise from too much slickin' up.

 

[Stuffs]

Got a blued one last year because the stainless disappeared on budsgunshop at the time. I wish I searched more for the stainless only because I hate RUST.....on anything. I have had no problems on my .357/38. It has got to be my most fun gun. I have read of jams with certain ammo but I don't mess with those flat bullets. I don't like that it ejects brass all the way down the street though, and I decided to take out the loading gate to chamfer the edges of the loading port(kinda sharp).

Oh, mine didn't need any slicking up. It was smooth and even smoother after cycling for a couple of minutes. Fit and finish was great. Accuracy is good although I only shot it at 30-50yds.

 

[bannockburn]

I bought mine used (LNIB, .45 Colt, blued with the "goofy" safety), a few years ago. Action was already smooth and trouble free. Decent accuracy and I like the way it handles. Can't remember the last time I came across a stainless model.

 

[bocefus78]

A very good friend has one that was produced in 2014. It's ok. Finish on stock is crappy but it shoots good. I had to disassemble it and bend the loading gate fpr it to feed properly.

From what I hear, the remlins are getting better. If I was in the market, I'd look at them too. I have a jm marlin and much prefer the extra weight over the rossi for recoil reduction.

 

[Hoppes Love Potion]

Henry is now making their centerfire levers with a steel receiver. It's a couple pounds lighter than the brass ones. The Henrys are noted for the smooth actions and top-notch customer service.

 

[Speedo66]

I bought a new blued .357 a couple of weeks ago. From what I've seen, the quality has improved. The stock came with a nice walnut finish, and everything worked and looked as it should. Action was smooth out of the box.

The ejector spring is strong, it sends the cases into low orbit, but function is fine. I changed the spring to a lighter one, and now it drops the cases at my feet. The loading port did have sharp edges, I rubbed the plain top half of a drill bit over it with some pressure, and it smoothed it without removing metal.

I think the gun is a major bargain for the $430 I paid for it. That's less than half the price of just about any other center fire lever gun.

Lots of information on them at www.rossi-rifleman.com

 

[pirkfan]

I've got one in 45 colt, 20 inch SS that's about a year old. It needed a good clean right out of the box, and like Speedo66, I changed the ejector spring for a lighter one which just drops them at your feet. Also burnished the sharp edges on the loading gate. Put about 50 rounds through it yesterday, 145 grain semi-wadcutters and 160 grain gas checked semi-wadcutters, handloaded with 8.3 gr of Unique. Performed flawlessly.

 

[bluejeans]

I got a ss 357 16" two years ago and the action was quite smooth out of the box. Accurate. The only problem I've had is the loading gate: when loading a full 9 rounds, twice I've had the action lock up after the first shot. Pushing the loading gate in 1/8" releases... But obviously something is not right in the lockwork. Other than that its been great.

 

[mgkdrgn]

I have a stainless in 454 Casull (mainly shoot in 45 colt) and if I had to sell off my collection it would be the LAST one to go.