scottishclaymore
Member
As promised I finally managed to make it to the range with my new Rossi today. What follows is the range report and my summary of the weapon.
Range: All shots were fired from a distance of seven yards. As this weapon's purpose is to serve as a car/ccw gun, this is the maximum distance I ever expect to have to use it at.
Stance: All shots were fired standing, two-handed, weaver stance.
Action: All shots were fired DA only. I do not expect to have the time to thumb back the hammer in a real social situation. Most shots (after the first couple of cylinders) were fired about as fast as I could reacquire the sight picture.
Ammunition: Fired 50 rounds of .38 Special, immediately followed by another 50 rounds of .357 Magnum, without giving the weapon time to cool or rest.
Review
First the .38 Specials. I fired off the .38 Specials without any kind of hiccup or problem. Recoil with the .38 was absolutely negligible -- it was enough to make you aware the gun had just fired, but beyond that it was pretty much nil. I attribute this to the fact that this gun has a little bit of heft and weight to it, being a true .357 magnum. Accuracy with the .38 Special was extremely high, with the total grouping for all 50 rounds being a tad under 6". Everybody has their own accuracy standards, but for any defensive handgun I call that good.
After a box of .38's I figured it was time to break the .357's out. Recoil was a little sharper with this round, but still manageable and not at all uncomfortable. Again, this is something that I attribute to the gun's heft. Shooting .357's out of this gun feels like .38's out of my Dad's Airweight.
At about round 70 or 80 I started noticing the cylinder would freeze up and not want to cycle. I have heard of this happening with Rossi's sometimes and typically happens because the heat causes the cylinder to expand a hair and become too large to turn. Waiting about three to four seconds before firing and letting the gun cool solved this problem. That's not a problem of course for the task for which this gun is intended.
The .357's were also very accurate. Most of my rounds were a little high of the bullseye, but I still managed to keep them in about a 5-inch grouping. There were about five fly shots in there that didn't make that grouping, but again, for almost rapid-fire shots from a defensive handgun, I call this good.
In summary, I would say that this is a very good gun for the amount of money that I paid for it and is certainly as good a performer as many other more expensive options out on the market right now. I have no doubts that this gun and I will have many more enjoyable range trips together.
Now to get the reloading gear set up so that I can start saving on the ammunition costs...
Range: All shots were fired from a distance of seven yards. As this weapon's purpose is to serve as a car/ccw gun, this is the maximum distance I ever expect to have to use it at.
Stance: All shots were fired standing, two-handed, weaver stance.
Action: All shots were fired DA only. I do not expect to have the time to thumb back the hammer in a real social situation. Most shots (after the first couple of cylinders) were fired about as fast as I could reacquire the sight picture.
Ammunition: Fired 50 rounds of .38 Special, immediately followed by another 50 rounds of .357 Magnum, without giving the weapon time to cool or rest.
Review
First the .38 Specials. I fired off the .38 Specials without any kind of hiccup or problem. Recoil with the .38 was absolutely negligible -- it was enough to make you aware the gun had just fired, but beyond that it was pretty much nil. I attribute this to the fact that this gun has a little bit of heft and weight to it, being a true .357 magnum. Accuracy with the .38 Special was extremely high, with the total grouping for all 50 rounds being a tad under 6". Everybody has their own accuracy standards, but for any defensive handgun I call that good.
After a box of .38's I figured it was time to break the .357's out. Recoil was a little sharper with this round, but still manageable and not at all uncomfortable. Again, this is something that I attribute to the gun's heft. Shooting .357's out of this gun feels like .38's out of my Dad's Airweight.
At about round 70 or 80 I started noticing the cylinder would freeze up and not want to cycle. I have heard of this happening with Rossi's sometimes and typically happens because the heat causes the cylinder to expand a hair and become too large to turn. Waiting about three to four seconds before firing and letting the gun cool solved this problem. That's not a problem of course for the task for which this gun is intended.
The .357's were also very accurate. Most of my rounds were a little high of the bullseye, but I still managed to keep them in about a 5-inch grouping. There were about five fly shots in there that didn't make that grouping, but again, for almost rapid-fire shots from a defensive handgun, I call this good.
In summary, I would say that this is a very good gun for the amount of money that I paid for it and is certainly as good a performer as many other more expensive options out on the market right now. I have no doubts that this gun and I will have many more enjoyable range trips together.
Now to get the reloading gear set up so that I can start saving on the ammunition costs...
