New toy Rossi R95

LoonWulf

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Jul 3, 2010
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Hawaii
Finally got my hands on my new r95 yesterday. A friend of mine gave me a little rmr based green dot, that came with an adapter plate i modified to run on the 95 last night. Came out pretty decent.
Had it at the range for a few mins today. Weather was bad, bordering on miserable...... We were supposed to finish the shooting portion of our CCW course today, but my buddy who's instructing it sissy'd out because its wet and cold.

Id already loaded all the stuff so off we went. I only had 20 rnds, so its dot got a rough zero (on berm trash at that), and my dad an I wasted the rest of the round plinking stuff.

So far im quite happy with it. Fit and finish are as good as anything ive seen and the action runs without any hiccups. Weight with the dot is just under 7lbs.
If theres a complaint its that the trigger, while very crisp, breaks at 6lbs.

In use it points well and running the action from the shoulders is intuitive and comfortable.... Pretty much like shooting any decent lever gun lol.

All in all im very happy with it.....ill update accuracy next time i have it out. Ill also be re-chambering it to 30-30AI here shortly.

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Very cool! The idea of a reflex sight mounted low like that is excellent for a lever gun like that. If you end up using it a lot, consider picking up a used RMR over the clone. That sight has proven remarkably tough in my experience and the auto adjust brightness is super practical.
 
Cleaned and inspected the guts tonight........there are a few sharp edges, but no major machining marks or blemishes inside. I did brake a few of the sharp edges as i could see where they were causing some finish ware.
Scoped the barrel, and it's pretty nice. Theres some character evenly spaced but it dosent deform the edges of the lands so i guess its very shallow. This carries a pretty nice barrel for a factory gun.

I took pictures of the bolt, as it shows the finish level of the rest of the gun well.
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And dad shooting
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Nice rifle. I like the wood. Not fancy hardwood but a solid looking grain. Looks where there would ordinarily be in line checkering they made a gripper grip instead. That's kinda neat. I like Rossis. They are becoming more mainstream as a purposeful rifle.

I like the idea of the dot on it, a qd mount would be cool if it was low I kinda like you can still see the front sight. The stimppling looks good better then pressed checkkering.
Yep, stipplings is much preferable to pressed checkering.

I do wish they stippled after finishing.....least im pretty sure its done before. Its not as grippy as it should be and dosent show as much contrast.



LoonWulf, Not a dig or anything, but, why 30-30AI? Just curious is all. Thanks.
No down sides, some performance gain, and i like the way AI cartridges look lol. Nothing beyond want really.

Very cool! The idea of a reflex sight mounted low like that is excellent for a lever gun like that. If you end up using it a lot, consider picking up a used RMR over the clone. That sight has proven remarkably tough in my experience and the auto adjust brightness is super practical.
I havent decided if ill stay dot or go scope yet, but if i do stay dot ill probably take that advice.
I've had good luck with cheap scopes, and really ****ty luck with cheap electronic sights...... Well really cheap electronics.... $150 ones are still going real well. Same battery 6-8months in too....
 
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That extractor and firing pin setup is a nice update for the old design, kinda wished ruger would have done some updating with marlin. Put a o-ring over that red safety to deactivate it, nothing worse then pulling the trigger on a animal and you get that thud when you for got or pushed the safety on by accident. The real safety is in the hammer, the broadhead type o-rings work good.
 
Yeah im very happy with the extractor change, Ive fixed a couple of marlins who had their extractor clips fail. I MIGHT get a safety delete (until I replaced my 92s safety with a peep, I sometimes switched it on by accident), but that oring idea actually appeals to me more....I don't have the rabid hatred for lever gun safties that some folks do.
 
Yeah im very happy with the extractor change, Ive fixed a couple of marlins who had their extractor clips fail. I MIGHT get a safety delete (until I replaced my 92s safety with a peep, I sometimes switched it on by accident), but that oring idea actually appeals to me more....I don't have the rabid hatred for lever gun safties that some folks do.
Maybe since you weren't really raised on lever guns, there some functions that you do unconsciously and the safety may actually make them dangerous in a way. The saddle ring delete would be cool or I always wanted one that had the thread for the peep sight, I like to pull the eye piece of when hunting.
 
Maybe since you weren't really raised on lever guns, there some functions that you do unconsciously and the safety may actually make them dangerous in a way. The saddle ring delete would be cool or I always wanted one that had the thread for the peep sight, I like to pull the eye piece of when hunting.
thats true. having a safety does, at times, necessitate a change to the manual of arms, and familiarity is a big thing. The lever guns I used growing up were old marlins and winchester, and quite honestly I couldn't tell you if they had safeties or not lol, we ignored them if they did......BUT Ive always been a bolt gun guy, so lack the in-depth familiarity.

Ill admit I don't intend to USE the safety on this gun, but HAVING it in case of un unforeseen situations might be nice.

I was looking at the 3/8th fillers that have threads to hold the peep inserts......I hadn't even looked at saddle rings lol, might go do that.
 
Since you can't stop by somewhere and purchase the marlin 16 inch compact I'd say good purchase. Didn't know it existed and like it very much.

Safety, there is only one way to unload my R92's. I left safeties on because of my youth shooters. Never had an issue with the old Ted Williams though.

A 16 in. Is so handy in a ladder stand in the woods. Sits on my lap at nap time. The 24 inch can be a bit much when in silent stealth no motion mode when surrounded after nap is ending.

Rechamber a blasty 16 inch? I'm not feeling it. But I'm nobody.

Edit. Just had to look. 850.00 at bass pro.
My opinion is.......
 
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Since you can't stop by somewhere and purchase the marlin 16 inch compact I'd say good purchase. Didn't know it existed and like it very much.

Safety, there is only one way to unload my R92's. I left safeties on because of my youth shooters. Never had an issue with the old Ted Williams though.

A 16 in. Is so handy in a ladder stand in the woods. Sits on my lap at nap time. The 24 inch can be a bit much when in silent stealth no motion mode when surrounded after nap is ending.

Rechamber a blasty 16 inch? I'm not feeling it. But I'm nobody.

Edit. Just had to look. 850.00 at bass pro.
My opinion is.......
Believe his is the 20"
 
It is. I like the handiness of the trapper length guns, but 20" is about as short a barrel as i want for shooting comfort.
I like the 20 on the marlins, 16 is nice but I'd only want one in a big bore round since speed doesn't really matter with them. A 24" 7-30 on the other hand would be cool.
 
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I'm glad you're enjoying the R95, my wife sure does enjoy hers, haven't shot it very much but she picked it out off the rack and now it'll be her main woods deer rifle. Hers is the 20" barrel just like yours, she said the 16 didn't point as nice and wasn't as balanced. You're making me wanna run a scope down the barrel of hers now.
 
I'm glad you're enjoying the R95, my wife sure does enjoy hers, haven't shot it very much but she picked it out off the rack and now it'll be her main woods deer rifle. Hers is the 20" barrel just like yours, she said the 16 didn't point as nice and wasn't as balanced. You're making me wanna run a scope down the barrel of hers now.
Shoot it. Bet it's fine. Some very good shooting rifles have chatter marks from stem to stern. What you don't know won't hurt you. My bore scope circuit board went bad and I don't miss it at all.
 
Shoot it. Bet it's fine. Some very good shooting rifles have chatter marks from stem to stern. What you don't know won't hurt you. My bore scope circuit board went bad and I don't miss it at all.

Thats exactly why I don't own a bore scope. It would drive me nuts if I found my bore had marks in it, If it looks good looking down the bore with a bore light thats good enough for me.

My local Academy has an R95 I have looked at and I thought it was a good looking gun. They want $799 for theirs and Buds has them for $718 and I have a $10 off coupon. If I got one I would put a 2-7 Vortex on it. I have a 2-7 Nikon on my Marlin 30-30. Thats about perfect for me. Plus I am so well set up to shoot and reload 30-30. I will never run out of ammo. at least not in my lifetime.

Thats a good looking gun and I hope you can get a good range report with some targets posted of the groups. I think I have watched every YT video posted on that gun and they are all positive.
 
It says here that the barrel is hammer forged. So not sure why there would be chatter from a cutter. I thought hammer forged meant the barrel was formed around a mandrill with reverse rifling made in it. Maybe I'm wrong.

 
It says here that the barrel is hammer forged. So not sure why there would be chatter from a cutter. I thought hammer forged meant the barrel was formed around a mandrill with reverse rifling made in it. Maybe I'm wrong.

I actually didnt check.....so not button chatter.
Ive seen plenty of character in hammer forged barrels, i have guess there too, but no real information.

Ruger American 6.5G....still shoots sub-moa.
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Thats exactly why I don't own a bore scope. It would drive me nuts if I found my bore had marks in it, If it looks good looking down the bore with a bore light thats good enough for me.

My local Academy has an R95 I have looked at and I thought it was a good looking gun. They want $799 for theirs and Buds has them for $718 and I have a $10 off coupon. If I got one I would put a 2-7 Vortex on it. I have a 2-7 Nikon on my Marlin 30-30. Thats about perfect for me. Plus I am so well set up to shoot and reload 30-30. I will never run out of ammo. at least not in my lifetime.

Thats a good looking gun and I hope you can get a good range report with some targets posted of the groups. I think I have watched every YT video posted on that gun and they are all positive.
Don't look down a savage or mossberg lol, few look as bad as those.
 
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