vincyr
Member
I've been on the lookout for a concealed carry gun for the last couple weeks. After actually handling a Rossi 351 at a local gun shop, I put it on layaway. Fit my hand beautify (I've got big mitts, so a small gun is kinda hard to shoot comfortably if their grips aren't big enough, and most aren't), trigger was better than most all of the other choices, lockup was solid, and it was much more affordable than other makes.
In discussing possible choices with coworkers and others, most immediately dismissed Rossi/Taurus as a "Bad Choice", and usually because of things they had heard(friend of a friend sort of stuff, typically) and in the case of the one guy who had bought one himself because the firing pin broke after repeated dry-fires. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't that the reason we are told not to dry-fire ANY firearm? Because it could break the firing pin. Sounds to me like that was a user error, not a fault with the gun. Plus, Rossi did replace the part, free of charge. Seems like a non-issue to me.
As to the "common problems" that I keep hearing about(from someone who heard it from someone else who heard it from someone else, etc), I have experience with several Rossi longuns, which get badmouthed just as hard, and have yet to encounter any of those supposed problems(such as the firing pins "mushrooming", the hammers snapping off, or the singleshot models popping open when fired) I hear about these things all the time, and a from people who will swear that it happens even though they usally will admit that they never saw it themselves.
So my question is this. Why do people insist on running down Rossi/Taurus guns? Is it because they are comparatively inexpensive, and people can't believe they can be a good gun at that price? Is it a brand loyalty thing?( a common piece of "advice" I heard was " save yourself the hassle and get a -insert person's favorite brand here-") Did Rossi actually earn a bad reputation in the past that they just can't crawl out from under?
In discussing possible choices with coworkers and others, most immediately dismissed Rossi/Taurus as a "Bad Choice", and usually because of things they had heard(friend of a friend sort of stuff, typically) and in the case of the one guy who had bought one himself because the firing pin broke after repeated dry-fires. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't that the reason we are told not to dry-fire ANY firearm? Because it could break the firing pin. Sounds to me like that was a user error, not a fault with the gun. Plus, Rossi did replace the part, free of charge. Seems like a non-issue to me.
As to the "common problems" that I keep hearing about(from someone who heard it from someone else who heard it from someone else, etc), I have experience with several Rossi longuns, which get badmouthed just as hard, and have yet to encounter any of those supposed problems(such as the firing pins "mushrooming", the hammers snapping off, or the singleshot models popping open when fired) I hear about these things all the time, and a from people who will swear that it happens even though they usally will admit that they never saw it themselves.
So my question is this. Why do people insist on running down Rossi/Taurus guns? Is it because they are comparatively inexpensive, and people can't believe they can be a good gun at that price? Is it a brand loyalty thing?( a common piece of "advice" I heard was " save yourself the hassle and get a -insert person's favorite brand here-") Did Rossi actually earn a bad reputation in the past that they just can't crawl out from under?