Bone Stock Rossi 92s

[Blaine]

Everyone raves about the slicked up 92s by Rossi, but how do the stock ones shoot?

[3leggedturtle]

Blaine I have a blued 357 and stainless 45 colt. They aint "slick as snot on a brass rail" nor do they feel like they have sand in the action either. I can lever them with my pinky. Tho wouldnt want do a magazine full of ammo that way. All you can do is try one and see. Todd

[Pete44ru]

While I've modified both my .45 & .357 Rossi 92's, I never did, nor had to, "slick up" either one.

Both showed good accuracy, and smoothness - better than several new Marlins I've bought in the 70's 7 80's, which Marlins all needed said slicking before they'd operate smoothly.

.

[Griff]

Everyone raves about the slicked up 92s by Rossi, but how do the stock ones shoot?

Blaine,

A bone stock Rossi will shoot just as straight as a slicked up one will. The 3 I have date from the late '80s for the 2 Interarms imports, and from the early 2000's for the EMF import.

All were serviceable from the factory. None were slicked up until I got them. Comparing them to a factory Winchester mdl 92, I would place the Rossis in the neighborhood of a stock Winchester 94. Even tho' the "guts" don't "fall out", they were a little gritty or sticky as you operated the lever. That's really the way I'd describe them... just not as "smooth" as a well used Winchester. With very little work with a set of stones, the each "slicked" up nicely. I left the EMF Hartford model a little tighter than the other two, as it's primary function was not CAS competition, but rather, hunting. It's still nice and smooth, but a little tighter as the locking lugs rise thru the bolt and receiver.

IMO, (and I'm sure Nate could expound further), the major reason they're fairly "rough" feeling is the heavy detent they use on the carrier. Whereas, with an original, you hardly notice when the carrier is popped up from the down position as your move the lever forward, with the Rossi, you do. And, you'll feel it again on the back stroke of the lever as it's "popped" down by the bolt going forward. You can load up the internals with grease and this seems to go away... as it does with a little "stoning." The explanation that Driftwood gives regarding the rate of feed in the machining process makes a lot of sense... as they just don't have the smooth mating surfaces other manufacturers seem more intent on getting in their production.

The Rossi is a fine, serviceable firearm. It is made ever so much better with some judicious smoothing.

[Pitchy]

I bought the octagon barrel model 44 mag at Fleet farm and other that the magazine tube screw being to long it`s a great rifle. Action is very smooth and shoots good.

[Griff]

Then again Blaine, it could be the different interpretations of "smooth". "Rough" to me, could seem "smooth" to another!

[Blaine]

Then again Blaine, it could be the different interpretations of "smooth". "Rough" to me, could seem "smooth" to another!

If it feeds, is more or less accurate, and ejects, and the trigger is ok...that is sufficient.

[Leverluver]

Before mine arrived, I had planned on sending it to NKJ but found it fine right out of the box. In fact it was much smoother than my B-92 and I've had that for over 30 years. Trigger is about 4# with zero creep and crisp letoff. Obviously, in the age of assembling parts just as they come from the CNC, I was lucky mine was this way out of the box. I was torn between 44mag and 45colt. I went 45 and wish I had gone 44. The 45 chamber is pretty sloppy, just as about all 45 colt chambers are. SAAMI numbers for the 45 are sloppy so they are made sloppy, just as the numbers say to. Rossi is not the only offender as far as sloppy 45 chambers. Foreign manufacturers follow SAAMI specs very closely, whether they are good specs or not. American companies such as USFA and Freedom Arms know better than to make them SAMMI sloppy. Why do I care? Because with light loads, the case won't "fill out" and gas and powder blows back in your face. In all fairness, my Uberti 73 does the same thing with light (<1200fps from rifle) loads.

[Griff]

Well, I know you've read what Nate's had to say. IMO, the trouble most folks have with a Rossi is related to OAL and bullet shape. The SWCs just don't feed as well as a RFN. Too long and obviously, it hangs up on the edge of the mag mortise, too short and the nose can jump around making the feed ramps in the guides darn near useless. Plus a lot of issues with stovepiping are related to how the action is worked. In CAS, with the object being speed, some folks jerk the lever, which in turn jerks the rifle, and ergo, the round flopping around on the carrier is going to go somewhere... just sometimes it ain't into the chamber.

But, mind ya... my opinion is tainted... I happen to love the Winchester 94 in .30-30, so obviously anything I say about smooth and such is probably not what most sane folks would.

[3leggedturtle]

But, mind ya... my opinion is tainted... I happen to love the Winchester 94 in .30-30, so obviously anything I say about smooth and such is probably not what most sane folks would.

Griff, you probably think a "semi" shifts and rides smoothly too

[Griff]

But, mind ya... my opinion is tainted... I happen to love the Winchester 94 in .30-30, so obviously anything I say about smooth and such is probably not what most sane folks would.

Griff, you probably think a "semi" shifts and rides smoothly too

Not "think", KNOW!

[ollogger]

ive got a rossi in 45 colt
& after bout 2000 rounds ive had no problems, cept shooting out
the mag tube & the stock warping off to the right, witch really hacked
me,
have to see if i can re warp it
its slicked its selve up & feeds & shoots good i use a 255gr lee fp
bullet & been happy with it, mine is a ss rifle


ollgger

[DunRanull]

I had a Rossi SRC 92, Interarms, .44 mag, looks well made. Very smooth action except when the rear lugs seat in the reciever. The roughness of seating make it necessary to use more effort than i would like but then it isnt a Browning. Never had any problems with things shooting loose or dropping off the weapon. IF it seemed that would be a problem, a WEE tad of Loc-tite would cure it. As it is all is tight and unlikely to rattle loose.
It was barely used when I got it and was in love at first sight . Always wanted a slick pistol/rifle match-up with a Western theme and the Rossi paired with a Uberti Colt-clone in .44 mag fit the bill. A previous pair I had tried, a Python and a Marlin in .357 just didnt cut it even with my own reloads.. under-powered. The drop of the .357 was remarkable, simply not powerful enuff for my desires.
Somewhat disappointed in the performance of the .44 mag in a 20 inch carbine- has a rainbow trajectory and simply isnt as powerful as I wanted, so sprung for a Marlin .30-30 with the straight grip and am quite happy. The combo is a "keeper", for the rest of my life hopefully. The wood on theRossi is a lovely, well-figured dark brown, almost black wood, very solid. Anyone have an idea what kind of wood these Brazilian stocks are cut from?
Sorry, wandered a bit o t but Im very pleased with the Rossi.. don't really see a need to stone or polish the action.. with use it will slick itself up and will use some LSA until then... I'm happy that the Rossi is still imported. I look forward to the day when someone makes and imports an affordable .45-70 cav carbine or rifle!

[retmech]

I have 2 Braztech Rossi's, a 20" carbine and 24" octagon rifle in .357. Both will shoot .38 level loads (1150-1200 fps) with the Lee 125 RNFP into about 2"@ 100 yds. They will both shoot the Lyman 358429 "Keith" 173 gr SWC at 1650 fps into 2-3" groups at 100 yds. These are average group sizes not just 1 or 2 "show" groups. I have not fired any jacketed bullets through them so I can't speak to that. The carbine has over 3K rds through it and the rifle over 2K. No problems with either gun.

[Leverdude]

Everyone raves about the slicked up 92s by Rossi, but how do the stock ones shoot?

Mines fine and all I did was work on the trigger a very little. Was smooth as silk & positive feeding right out of the box. The trigger wasn't even bad really, I just like to fiddle with things so I did.

[Old Savage]

CAS guys want to them to shoot at speeds that will never be used in normal use. Mine is fine but I have looked at about 20 or more and of that I may have taken 3 or 4. I think someone like Nate can make them what they can be. Mine is as smooth as I would want it and at least as smooth and tighter than my B92.

[COSteve]

Both my 24" rifle and 20" carbine shot just fine right out of the box. They had no trouble with either my 357mag or 38spl+P loads, however, after talking to Nate before I got mine, I'd loaded my 38spl+P loads at an OAL of 1.500" vs the SAAMI min of 1.460" because the guns are set up for 357mag and if you go too short you may have an issue. Both were a bit stiff at first just like any new rifle these days and both had heavy triggers.

I slicked them up as much to allow me to reduce the spring weights so that they wouldn't chew themselves up because of excessive spring weight and also I wanted to thin the extractor and reduce the eject spring because I wanted a smooth cycle and didn't want to chase my brass into the next county.

The beauty of Nate's action job is that you're making the rifle more reliable long term because the excessive spring forces have been reduced. In addition, you'll end up with a really smooth action, a better trigger feel, and something that you can run fast if you want to.

[Lastmohecken]

I purchased 2 new ones, a few years ago. One was a shorter carbine and the other a rifle, both in .357 mag. These were probably some of the last of the pre-safety models.

I will say that they were accurate, but jam o matics. The actions were kind of rough to my standards, but nothing I couldn't of lived with, if the darn things would have just feed reliably. I tried several different factory loads, and handloads, played with over all length, etc. I gave up on them, traded them back to the dealer, and got my Winchester 94 trapper back, which I had traded in on them, and thankgoodness I was able to trade back.

I have never had the urge to try them again. I did eventually end up with a B92 and that one isn't leaving until I don't need it anymore.

[rbertalotto]

Accuracy is usually spot on for Rossi rifles out of the box. I have three of them that are amazingly accurate.

But the actions can be quite rough. A spring kit for $20 and a bit of India stone , 400 grit sand paper and a small file can really clean them up.

My 454 Casull 1892 was quite smooth right out of the box.

My SS 1892 that I converted to a Take Down has bought second hand and the previous owner has over $300 of work done to it. It is VERY smooth.

Today I did an action job on my Brass Frame 1892. This rifle was extremely rough. After 250 rounds it had loosened up a bit, but still not as smooth as I like. A couple hours with a few stones, sandpaper and file and a Lee spring kit from Brownells and it is not smooth as snot!

[Old Savage]

Apparently there is a wide spread of experience on accuracy.