Rossi lever gun

[Hokkmike]

I handled a stainless Rossi 357 lever yesterday at a gun shop. They had about 6 in various calibers. I always associated Rossi with garbage guns.

It appeared to be a nice rifle! Very good fit and finish.

Are they decent guns? I wouldn’t know a good lever from bad, aside from the name.

I have done a serious study of lever guns and consulted the opinions of SASS shooters who use them a lot. Bottom line on the Rossi is that they are fine if you are willing to do some after market smithing to smooth out the cycling of the lever and feeding/ejection of the cartridges.

Order of preference seems to be Taylor & Uberti, Winchester '71's, Marlin, Winchester, then Rossi. This is just what I have read. I saw a Rossi in .45LC at a gun show. It was sold before I could do a lap around the isle to come back and look at it again.

I certainly would have no problem buying or shooting a Rossi. It is not in the junk category.

 

[halfmoonclip]

The tang sight is the real magic on these lever guns, especially the trapper lengths. It adds substantially to the sight radius, and solves vision issues for we well seasoned shooters.
The Marbles offers the ability to adjust windage on the rear sight. Had an angle eject Winchester that I fitted with a Lyman (more drilling and tapping....), and that required adjusting the windage with the front sight.
The barrel sight will almost certainly need to be removed, as it will foul the sight picture.
I'd still like to slick mine up a little, but thus far have resisted the urge to detail strip it.
Moon

 

[Carl N. Brown]

I have read older Rossi 1892's were made to the price point of the contractor for particular production runs, including South American police orders and US. importer orders.

I would expect more recent commercial Rossi's to be a bit more consistent in quality.

 

[P89DCSS]

....Bottom line on the Rossi is that they are fine if you are willing to do some after market smithing to smooth out the cycling of the lever and feeding/ejection of the cartridges......

I think your info is old. Sometime after 2011 Steve's Gunz traveled to Rossi/Brazil as a paid consultant to help Rossi make improvements to Rossi's production process to address the points you made. I have a pair of 2015 vintage, 38/357 and 44spl/44mag and they feed specials and magnum cartridges very well without any "after market smithing....". The triggers are excellent too.

The latest production examples continue the improvements with nicer wood for the stocks and better finishing/fitting of the stocks.

Here's my two Rossis. The 16" is 38/357 and the 24" octagon is 44mag. I wiped off the factory finish with acetone and finished them with satin UV resistant poly varnish. I thinned the poly varnish ~30% paint thinner and brushed it on insides and outside. Essentially sealing the wood. Hanging the stocks up wet allowed any runs to run out. The newer Rossis tempt me to buy a Boyds stock set in walnut for my octagon 44mag.

 

[Hokkmike]

I think your info is old.

You may well be right. I was thinking of shooting SASS in 2018-19. It was then that I started reading and studying the subject of getting the most efficient, cost effective (ammo wise), reliable, and long-last gun for Cowboy shooting. Like many Brazilian products, quality may vary....

 

[CraigC]

Historically, they were good guns for the money. Nowadays, they are just plain very good guns. They have obviously upped their game because the rifles they're shipping now are very nice indeed.

 

[trekker73]

I have done a serious study of lever guns and consulted the opinions of SASS shooters who use them a lot. Bottom line on the Rossi is that they are fine if you are willing to do some after market smithing to smooth out the cycling of the lever and feeding/ejection of the cartridges.

Order of preference seems to be Taylor & Uberti, Winchester '71's, Marlin, Winchester, then Rossi. This is just what I have read. I saw a Rossi in .45LC at a gun show. It was sold before I could do a lap around the isle to come back and look at it again.

I certainly would have no problem buying or shooting a Rossi. It is not in the junk category.

These guys are heavily influenced by action speed of ''race guns' with light competition loads and short stroke kits installed to reduce the lever throw. Taylor, win and uberti 73's rule the roost, since the 92's cant have the lever throw shortened with such kits.

The downside of such kits is the modified guns arent safe for hunting loads. If you asked the SASS fellas what their favorite 'hunting' lever action is Rossi will be higher up the list IMO