Rossi 720 44 Special

[Arizonan]

I carry my Rossi 720 as one of my ccw weapons. Any fellow gunners carry a 44Special as a ccw? I love the way this weapon feels in my hand. It conceals very well. It is reliable, accurate and has a very smooth trigger and hammer. Recoil is not that bad either. I shoot 200 Blazer GD for defense. For practice I roll my own.
I believe this is Rossi's best handgun they every made.

 

[KSCCHTrainer]

I really like my Taurus 445 as a carry gun. It's a stainless, 5 shot, DAO, bobbed hammer .44 special with a 2" barrel. Size and weight are only very slightly larger than a 2" S & W Chief's Special and it fits in a slightly modified Uncle Mike's pocket holster.

Hornady XTP ammo running about .45 ACP velocity - great expansion in gel at around 800 fps. Good accuracy and very manageable recoil even out of the 2" unported barrel.

Bought it off a forum member here several years ago and very glad I did.

Jim

 

[Sock Puppet]

I have that pistol, but don't use it for CCW...on the heavy side for me. While I don't believe they are the best pistols ever made, I'm quite fond of the Interarms imported Rossi pistols. I wouldn't be in a hurry to get rid of that one.

 

[MagnumDweeb]

Back when Rossi was owned by Interarms, the 740 was the best gun they offered. And it still may be against Taurus's ownership. My Rossi 462 is a good little .357 but after I got the hang of my XDS .45 ACP, I find myself carrying the XDS more often for weight comfort.

With an XDS in the left pocket, and a Kel Tec P3AT in the right, my jeans and dress pants droop less than with the Rossi 462. That said, if I could find a 740 for $300 for a 85%+ condition, I'd take it in a heartbeat and take it to the range every few months (sorry shoot lots of .44 magnum).

 

[calaverasslim]

I have a friend who is here on THR named corner pocket, who has one of the Rossi 44 specials and loves it. We were out at the range and put about 200 rounds down range with out a hiccup.

I carry my Taurus 3" concealed most of the time, but do trade off with my 4".

 

[macadore]

Many years ago when I was working out of town and coming home on the weekends I got a Rossi 720 44 Special with the bobbed hammer for my wife. My wife is a natural born shooter. She doesn't shoot often but she seldom misses. Doesn't matter if it's a handgun, rifle, or bow. I tried to show her how to use my 1911 but she said it was too complicated and she wanted something simple. The Rossi 720 44 Special with the bobbed hammer is as simple as it gets. Aim at the target and pull the trigger. I've loaned to to my daughters several times when they were going out of town and would be staying in a hotel by themselves. It fills that niche quite well. It's an excellent weapon at bad breath ranges.

 

[hAkron]

Back when Rossi was owned by Interarms

I think Interarms is/was just an importer. I don't believe they ever owned Rossi. Having said that, they made some great guns during the years they were being imported by interarms (Mid 1990's). I have a 6" Cyclops and a 720.

 

[MCgunner]

Back when Rossi was owned by Interarms,

Interarms had an import contract with Rossi, never owned the company. Taurus bought out Rossi and IMHO Rossi is a better product for it. I've owned Rossis from 1981 through the 80s and 90s. The late 80s, early 90s Rossis were pretty pathetic for fit and finish and had firing pin breakage issues.

I had a 971 4" .357 from the early 90s I rather liked. I fixed the firing pin by fitting a K frame firing pin to it. It snapped, sent it back to Interarms, and it snapped on the second round. Good gunsmith fitted the K frame pin and THEN the gun was good. Didn't cost that much to fix it, either.

What I liked about the 971 was it was rather light for a four inch full lug .357 and something just over 30 ounces unloaded. Made for a great hiking gun and hunting back up. .38s were accurate in it and took many a rabbit for camp meat for me.

I believe the 720 is on the same frame as the 971 so should be similar in weight per given barrel length. I never owned one, not really in to .44 Special, but they should be good, serviceable guns. Not high on my list, though, but then, no .44 Special is. I have given thought to the Taurus 405, though, a .40 Smith and Wesson using moon clips, but never picked one up. I'm into .45 colt in my single actions. Taurus made a .45 Colt snubby that seemed like it might be the way to go for the big bore guy.

I had and sold a 1917 Smith and Wesson. The gun was pretty worn, so building a carry out of it was not really in the cards. The N frame would be a huge snubby, i'd think, BUT I've seen some really nifty 1917 snubs built, one particular was a Fitz special I read about sometime back. Seemed like an interesting project, that.