Rossi lever action ?

[Wendyj]

My Rossi is gone. Wouldn't cycle 357 or 38. No good for me. Traded for another hand gun.

[Targa]

Well that sucks Wendy. Why wouldn't it cycle?

[Laz]

Recently, I found a new Miroku-made Winchester 1892 saddle ring carbine in .357. Checking around these seem to be quite rare. I believe that is the same gun as the Browning 92. It has the large loop lever and 20 inch round barrel. I paid more than I was budgeting but it is a beautiful little carbine and it’s not like I could find a better price down the street.

[warnerwh]

One problem people have had with the Rossi is not cycling it quickly. If you try to do it slowly it can jam. If you go to the Rossi forum they can figure out any problem. The one I had the machine work was awful and should have never left the factory but I made it work. Got the trigger perfect and smoothed things out. The worst thing though was the loading gate was only partly machined so loading it was a bit of a pain. The groove in the gate was merely a lowered area in the center that did not reach the end of the gate where the ammo goes in. It was also totally rough. I may decide to buy another but next time it won't be ordered online.

[shootniron]

I love mine...however, I only use .357 cases...no benefit in using the .38 cases...and a pain in the butt to keep them separated.

[Tony Z]

Bought my Rossi .44 mag off the rack - it was there quite a while, and all the handling by customers at the LGS, had it all nice and smooth!

[Mike1]

Mine has shot everything I've put through it, both .38 and .357, lead and jacketed. The only thing I'm not too thrilled with is the safety location on top of the action.

[COSteve]

Mike1, the 1/2 cock safety that the original Winchester's came with is there so that stupid bolt safety is both a pain and an eyesore. Best way to slick up your Rossi is to remove it and plug the hole with a safety plug from Steve's Guns. For $19, it's a great deal. While you're at it, Steve's action and trigger slick up kit and DvD explaining how to do each step is a deal at $58. I've done both on mine and couldn't be happier.

[USMCGrunt]

I have one of the pre-idiot lever ones and I originally had problems with cycling your standard .38 Special ammo as well. However, it must have been around 2000 or 2001, the SASS community did a special run of Lee gang moulds using what was known as a "snakebite" bullet. This was a 160 grain round nose lead bullet that was designed by a cowboy action shooter called Snakebite which is how the bullet got it's name. It's a little longer than your standard .38 bullets that took care of the cycling problems when loaded into .38 Special brass. I got 2 of them when they were doing the run but I'm not sure where you would get those moulds now.

[jersurf101]

My 16 inch barreled .357 carbine has ended up well. The journey to get there was rough though. The action was rough, I bought her new, and she would not cycle .38s. I had a rough ride with a local gunsmith and finally had to give it to another gun smith to get her right. The gun is slick and accurate at this point. I sanded and spar varnished the stock so she looks good. This it to my knock around woods rifle.

[SaxonPig]

Never had one in 357 but I did have one in 44 Magnum. Would not feed 44 Specials but gun smith said he could correct that. I never bothered.

The wood on these tends to be less than spectacular. Otherwise they look OK and work OK.

[Tony Z]

Easy stock improvement is to stop at the local antique mall and get a can of "Briwax". I got a dark cherry color, applied like wax, buffed off, does a beautiful job of filling in scratches and giving the stock a nice, satin sheen.