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Old July 17, 2014, 08:12 PM   #1
jaughtman
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Rossi Lever Rifles....

I have an offer to trade a S&W 357 for a Rossi 44 Mag rifle....anyone want to chime in on the quality of Rossi rifles? I had a Rossi 357 revolver in the 90's and it was not the best quality.....

J
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Old July 17, 2014, 08:27 PM   #2
Polinese
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I have a 357 stainless and I love it. It's not finished as nice as a winchester or uberti but it's also half the price. Action is a lil rough/stiff out of the box bot wore in after a while.
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Old July 17, 2014, 08:39 PM   #3
rightside
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Rossi rifles, in my opinion are good guns, if... you are handy doing a little internal work. They are generally roughly finished on the inside and require some attention. If you don't mind doing that , you'll be happy with them.

http://www.rossi-rifleman.com/
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Old July 17, 2014, 10:23 PM   #4
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I have the .44 mag. It was a bit rough when I first got it, but it smoothed out pretty well. If you want to bring it up to full potential:

http://store.stevesgunz.com
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Old July 17, 2014, 11:39 PM   #5
Colt46
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Quality product

I've got a '92 stainless carbine and love it.
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Old July 17, 2014, 11:49 PM   #6
Water-Man
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I've had one in .357 for six years. It was good to go out of the box and still is.
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Old July 18, 2014, 08:47 AM   #7
az_imuth
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I have one of the 38/357 Rossi 92's with the 24" barrel and haven't had a single issue with it. Smoothed out quickly as it broke in and has been a blast to shoot, and quite accurate.

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Old July 18, 2014, 03:15 PM   #8
Nakanokalronin
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I have a 20" Rossi 92 in 45Colt. The only modifications done to it is a stainless follower, a safety delete plug and some leather strip on the bottom of the loop. It's very accurate and reliable and is the only Rossi/Taurus product I'll own. It's not a bad buy at all, but I like it for the price more than anything. I had a Uberti 1873 in 45Colt that was way above the 92 in quality, but I didn't need something that expensive just to plink with.

This 20" is perfectly balanced. I've read the 16" 92 has the best balance when it comes to the .357 models.

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Old July 18, 2014, 07:24 PM   #9
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I've got one on 44-40, couldn't be happier with it.
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Old July 19, 2014, 05:05 AM   #10
Mobuck
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Rossi must be getting more expensive. I saw a SS 357 last week that had a $1200 price tag on it(and used to boot). Maybe he was expecting to take a couple $400 roosters in trade.
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Old July 19, 2014, 08:07 AM   #11
Sarge
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Quality is all over the place. I had a 45 Colt that was essentially trouble free; my recent 357 required a ton of work to get it running well.
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Old July 19, 2014, 08:51 AM   #12
rebs
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A friend has the Rossi 38/357 model and it will not feed both rounds, he bought it used. A gunsmith told him it had to be tweeked for one or the other, but would not reliably feed both rounds. He had it tweeked for 357's which it feeds perfectly and it will not feed 38's.
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Old July 19, 2014, 11:32 AM   #13
Airman Basic
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My 16 inch stainless Rossi feeds 38 and 357 fine, as long as the boolit is RN or SWC. Full WCs need not apply. That dang crunchy magazine spring feels funky, though.
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Old July 19, 2014, 02:42 PM   #14
HungryHunter
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I'm glad so many people have had such good experiences with theirs. I'm not a Rossi/Taurus flamer I promise I tried really hard to like Rossi. I was really excited to get mine. It was a Rio Grande RG4570B. The 45-70 with the big loop lever.

All I will say is mine was hands down the worst firearms related experience I ever had. I just really don't even want to get into it. That was just MY experience. From this thread it sounds like there are a lot of great ones out there. Unfortunately I guess I got one that slipped through the quality control cracks. If this person is wanting to trade I would ask to shoot it first. I don't know what kind of Smith you have but give the Rossi a thorough check and shooting before I'd even consider.
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Old July 20, 2014, 09:08 AM   #15
natman
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I've owned a lot of Rossis. Two 92s, a rifle and a carbine. A 20 ga coach gun. A Winchester 62 22LR clone. A 22 revolver and a 38 revolver. Finish was fair, fit was fair to poor. The 92s took hours of stoning and polishing to work smoothly, the wood finish was terrible and accuracy was unacceptable. The 22 rifle never fed properly.

I gave up on them and sold the lot with the exception of the 22 revolver that I kept as a reminder not to buy any more.

To be fair, I bought my last Rossi ten years ago. It's always possible that they've gotten their act together since then.
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Old July 20, 2014, 04:21 PM   #16
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I have a Rossi 92 carbine with 20" bl. It worked fine with both .38 & .357 right out of the box. It was a little ruff, I took it apart and stoned all the part & cleaned it, then refinished the wood. Long story short, It's a fine carbine that shoots great. As for trading a S&W .357 for one, that depends. Is It a pinned barrel ? I don't think I would trade. I'd save and buy a Rossi 92 in .357 and have a rifle/revolver in the same caliber.

My Rossi 92 after I refinished the wood and installed marble iron sights
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Old July 20, 2014, 11:27 PM   #17
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i bought a 20 stainless rossi 92 in 357 about 6months ago, it has become my family and friends favorite rifle, super light-weight and always dead on target, no adjusting sights or playing with anything, just always dead on no matter what we are shooting

a great no-nonsense gun, i have heard of some having QC issues, but not any of the newer ones that ive seen, the internals LOOK rough, but dont feel rough imo
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Old July 21, 2014, 10:28 AM   #18
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Recently got a 20 year old Interarms Rossi 16" Trapper in .357. Awesome rifle. My wife loves it.

They say the new ones are hit-or-miss, so I would want to inspect any potential purchase for fit and finish, loading & ejecting dummy rounds, etc.
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Old July 21, 2014, 04:16 PM   #19
Sarge
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Oddly, the old Pumas with the cat head emblem were generally thought to be excellent lever actions. This new one I got, in the spring of 14, was all kinds of screwed up and it took numerous times to get it right. Cartridge guides required the most work.
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Old July 21, 2014, 07:17 PM   #20
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best group ever at 50 yards, with any rifle with irons only
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Old July 22, 2014, 12:17 PM   #21
Unlicensed Dremel
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Rossi good.
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Old July 24, 2014, 09:15 AM   #22
Danny Creasy
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I purchased one recently in .45 Colt. I have been shooting some 250 grain handloads in it. Surprisingly smooth out of the box, brand new. Accuracy is satisfactory.



After sighting in, I put a whole magazine full (9 rounds) down range from offhand at 15 yards as fast as I could cycle the action, aim, and squeeze the trigger:
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Old July 27, 2014, 12:58 PM   #23
badlander
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My Rossi on 45 Colt seems to be A good gun. The .357 I had was junk. Not sure I would trade A nice S&W for either of them.
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Old July 29, 2014, 06:05 PM   #24
Super Sneaky Steve
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My 16" .357 cycles .38's and .357's perfectly.

It was rough around the loading gate so I melted that area a bit, then I cut the magazine tube spring down 3". It's now much easier to load.

I made a video of the fix here if you're interested.
http://youtu.be/iKi2YYSTrJQ

I've got a skinner peep on the way. I hope it shoots well with it.
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Old July 29, 2014, 10:47 PM   #25
gyvel
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You don't specifically say what model of Smith & Wesson you have, but, given the tremendous increase of value in "pre-Hillary Hole" guns, I would hang on to that gun like you were hanging on to a lifeboat in the North Atlantic.

And to answer your other statement, Rossi are still not the best quality.
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