Rossi plan thwarted; now what?

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Squeaky Wheel

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After lots of reading and careful thinking, I had concluded that a new Rossi 92 lever in 44 magnum would be ideal for fun at the range (with the intent to reload to hold down ammo cost). I asked my LGS to order one for me. Several days later the owner tells me that he can't find any. Ok, I thought, I'll just go for my second choice caliber (45 Colt) and ask him to order one of those instead. Yesterday, LGS owner called me to say that he can't find any 92 in 45 Colt either. Dagnabbit!!! I prefer not to order used online.

My requirements:
Target shooting (plinking) at range for fun
I like 'some' recoil (no 22 LR)
Don't like or want black/tactical options
Lever action is my top preference (and traditional looking)

Any suggestions? I thought about Henry, but they don't have side loading gates. I want something that bears resemblance to the cowboy lever guns of the old west. Uberti is out of my budget (wanting to stay under $500).

Thanks in advance!
 
a used marlin 1894 .44 would be a good choice. I picked up one a year and half ago, and it didn't appear to have more than 100 rounds thru it. Got it at a lgs at my parents house for 350, out the door. I love it. She shoots great, but the 300+ grain hollowpoints are a little finnicky on feeding.
 
Honestly, you're probably better off. Granted you may have fared better with your .44 and .45 caliber rossi levers than I did my .454 but I won't take the chance on another one of their products.

If you have to have a rossi, have you considered a circuit judge? Granted, those are reported to have their own problems, but you'll probably find them a bit more widely availible.
 
Rossis are certainly built to a cost factor so there's the odd one that slips through. But I would not let Panzercat's bad experience sour you on the idea of getting one if it is what the budget can swing. Just be patient and keep watch. They are hard to find because all the cowboy action guys that are on a budget are snapping them up as soon as the ship docks. When you find one don't delay on laying down the plastic.

My own Rossi certainly has some life to it when shooting .357Mag rounds. But it's certainly far from being a perfect amount for grin filled plinking. On that idea the .44Mag is pretty much a perfect balance of lively recoil but still low enough that you can easily shoot all day with it.

My own is rather particular on ammo. It really doesn't like SWC shapes. But RNFP with a proper ogive shape with not too big a flat on the nose slips into place as slick as snot. So watch your bullet choices for this. Oh, truncated cone fed well too. So that's a good option. Just stay away from the stepped SWC shapes.
 
I appreciate BC trying to marginalize my concerns, but I'm hardly the only one. Using the forum search will reveal more than just a vocal minority. Either way, the used marlin advice is pretty sound anyway.

Older rossi's have a better pedigree as I understand it and i already admitted the more common calibers will probably yield less issues.
 
Panzercat, since it's a thread about Rossi lever rifles could you relate what happened or post a link to some previous thread about your experience? I certainly don't want to marginalize or minimize what may have happened by any means. Just that any gun maker that produces product to a lower price with less than ideal skilled labour is going to have some issues. It comes down to how well such issues can be corrected and the attitude the warranty center has towards the customer.

Luckily my particular rifle has been trouble free. But then I'm mostly shooting .38Spl for the cowboy action days. .44 Mag and .454 Casull is a whole other level obviously.

I know of a shooting buddy that bought one of the stainless .454's and has had nothing but grins from it. Not sure how much it gets used though. But it's up around probably 300 rounds through it.... yes, he has lots of toys to keep him distracted so it takes a while to rack up the round count... :D
 
BCRider said:
Panzercat, since it's a thread about Rossi lever rifles could you relate what happened or post a link to some previous thread about your experience? I certainly don't want to marginalize or minimize what may have happened by any means. Just that any gun maker that produces product to a lower price with less than ideal skilled labour is going to have some issues. It comes down to how well such issues can be corrected and the attitude the warranty center has towards the customer.

Luckily my particular rifle has been trouble free. But then I'm mostly shooting .38Spl for the cowboy action days. .44 Mag and .454 Casull is a whole other level obviously.

I know of a shooting buddy that bought one of the stainless .454's and has had nothing but grins from it. Not sure how much it gets used though. But it's up around probably 300 rounds through it.... yes, he has lots of toys to keep him distracted so it takes a while to rack up the round count... :D
Click to expand...

I tell ya, if your buddy ever wants to sell his stainless Rossi in .454, I'm all ears.

I have a Freedom Arms model 83 single action revolver in .454 and I would LOVE to have a Rossi 92 in stainless as a companion rifle in that caliber.

I've been looking for some time for one and they are no where to be found.

Dan
 
I've been looking for a Rossi 92 SS in .357 and that has been very difficult to find.
BTW I bought one in .45 Colt a year or so back as a companion to my S&W Mountain Gun and that has been what led to my quest for one in .357. No problems at all with the first one and finally found the .357 one yesterday, perfect companion for my Ruger SP101.

Oh and the one above linked to in Kachok's post is "special order, not in stock"....which is kinda useless. I've had several dealers tell me they haven't been able to get 92's in any fashion for quite awhile but have had them on order for months.
 
I have a 4 digit s/n Rossi that is lots of fun to shoot! However... It was given to me as a gift, and was rusted up solid. We had to use it as a single shot until I had the time to strip it and get the rust out. After 2 tries I got it freed up. Then.... It still wouldn't feed. The pivoting ramp in the bottom of the receiver wouldn't lock into place in the "up" groove. I had to hammer out a small pin about the diameter of a straight pin, pull out the stop, remove a spring about as long as a car key is thick, and get it all clean. It wasn't fun getting it all back together, but well worth it.

So.... A few range trips into having a cleaned up 10 shooter, I pulled the trigger.... No bang. The hammer had gotten stuck right after it's release. I couldn't cycle the action for some reason either, so now I have a 30 minute drive home with a rifle in the trunk ready to fire a live round. That fix required a Dremel and 600 grit sandpaper and the hammer was binding on the receiver.

Got that all fixed up and we're back to shooting. The Rossi is one of my favorite guns in my safe, but it's been my most high maintenance as well. It's also the least accurate. I don't say all this in an effort to talk you out of one but given the external appearance of my rifle, I just can't figure out why the internals would have rusted up tight. The outside looks great. The inside was hurt.
 
If you have a Rossi 92 you really ought to get Steve Gunz DVD/spring/follower kit and do an action job on your Rossi. It's simple to do, he walks you through it step by step.

It's the best thing you can do for your Rossi. Mine was nice out of the box, about equal to my Marlins. But the Steve Gunz action job made it unbelievably slick and smooth. It's easily my favorite lever action now.

http://www.stevesgunz.com/dvd.htm
 
Hey Sqeak,

have you given any thought to getting a 45/70? I don't know if rossi offers one now. I have one by another maker and it is awesome. Chunk'in those 405 grain watermelons down range is a blast. Just an idea.

kenken
 
have you given any thought to getting a 45/70?
Click to expand...

Not very much. I've never fired a 45-70 but would love to if I ever get a chance. I'm afraid that the recoil may be too much for my tastes and that the ammo costs will be too high (even reloading). Any comments on recoil and ammo costs (reloading) for this round? Thanks for the suggestion!
 
I have a Rossi 92 in 45 Colt with 20" oct. barrel, case hardened, blued finish. I put a few hundred rounds through it of factory ammo then invested in the Steve's Gunz DVD and tune kit as well as the safety removal plug. Followed the DVD with great result and now with over 5000 rounds through it very happy. Now if they would make the 454 in the same finish I would buy one in a minute so I could shoot both 45 and 454. Here is Steve's site for the products and about the best Rossi rifle gunsmiths out there for them. http://www.stevesgunz.com/
 
The big portion of the cost for reloading 45-70 would be the greater amount of lead in the bullet. A fast check shows a range of from 350 to 450 gns. That's a HUNK of lead any way you look at 'em. So you can expect to pay more for cast bullets simply due to the lead used.

Powder cost to reload those big cigar tube like casings would certainly go up. Even for lighter "starting" loads you're still looking at 45 to 50gns of powder depending on the type of powder. That's clearly more than the little 10 to 12 gn dribbles used in a handgun type round such as a .44Mag. So you can expect to get more like only a quarter the number of loads from a pound of powder for the 45-70 vs the .44 Mag.

All in all for a plinking gun? I think I'd hold out for the .44Mag just to keep costs down.

Because the cowboy shooters are buying up the .357 and .45Colt versions as fast as they can load them off the boats you SHOULD stand a little better chance of getting a .44Mag version. You just need to have some patience and begin the hunt through the local as well as online options.
 
This past weekend I happened to stumble upon a Winchester 94 Trapper in 45 Colt at my LGS. The carbine was in very good condition so I bought it. Today was my first chance to shoot it and I was only able to shoot 20 rounds of cowboy loads before the range closed. It was enough to convince me that I really like this little carbine and also think I'll really like the 45 Colt -- can't wait for my next outing with it.

Thanks to everyone for your comments and suggestions.
 
I had a Puma 454 Casull slick little gun but it had a big wart of a safety on it.
Click to expand...

There was a fella that made replacement safety levers for those rear of the bolt "warts" that were also rear peep sights. When turned so you could see through the peep it was in fire mode. When it was turned 90 degrees to the Safe mode you couldn't see through it. A rather inspired idea I thought.
 
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