Rossi 44 mag just arrived. Never again.

mcb said:

I seem to have gotten lucky. I picked up a Rossi M92 about four years ago. The wood is very plain but the fit is pretty good, especially stock to receiver, for what I paid for it. It has been a rugged reliable little carbine for me. The action was a little ruff when I got it but after a two or three hundred rounds through it is pretty smooth. For the $400 or so dollars I paid for it I have been very pleased with mine.

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Look's like a winner to me,very nice looking rifle!

Yah, even my cooey 410 looks like a custom purdey shotgun beside that thing.
At Rossi/braztech they should be hanging their heads in shame.
The whole point I suppose is they have no shame or pride in product.

They are just following in Marlin's footsteps.

I haven’t seen a new one in 5 years but the one sold as puma were awesome for the money. I wish I had bought several when they were so cheap. I’d like one in pretty much every caliber.

I wish I’d bought a 454 one too. I have the 480 Ruger and they are worth over double what I paid now.

When other companies were selling Rossi’s under their name, I.e. Navy Arms, Puma, etc., Rossi made pretty nice guns to their specs. So they’re capable of doing it.

Currently, like many others, they’re making them to the lowest price possible, and you, the consumer, become the final quality control check. Sad, but that’s the way things are, with us accepting even high priced poorly functioning pistols with the marketing concept of needing to “break it in”.

The one I have, and the one my dad bought after I got mine were pretty similar. Neither one would win a beauty contest, but they are functional,and hit what I aim at. As far as the wood finish, I would gladly take the couple hundred dollars I saved over a similar marlin, and do a little buffing and varnishing again without complaint. After a little bit of work, my Rossi is prettier than any new Marlin your going to find.

45Fan said:

The one I have, and the one my dad bought after I got mine were pretty similar. Neither one would win a beauty contest, but they are functional,and hit what I aim at. As far as the wood finish, I would gladly take the couple hundred dollars I saved over a similar marlin, and do a little buffing and varnishing again without complaint. After a little bit of work, my Rossi is prettier than any new Marlin your going to find.

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That’s a good thought. A few years ago when I lived in Kansas an old man was offering engraving services on specifically Henry 22 golden boys. Lots of people bought them for their grandkids and stuff. They were beautiful.

natman said:

I've had six or seven Rossis, but finally got fed up with an "oil finish" that looked like it had been soaked in used motor oil, rough parts, poor fit, etc, etc. I sold them all except one 22 revolver I decided to keep so I could take a good look at it in the unlikely event I ever decided to buy another Rossi.

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I conclude you don't like them. I get that. Is that why you have bought so many of them?

My SS 16" 44 carbine is fantastic. One hole groups with a Reddot at 50yards. Zero reliability issues with Mags or Specials. Very good trigger and respectably smooth action.

The wood to metal fit is absolute trash, and the gold bead front sight fell off taking it out of the box the first time.

It's such a good performer at putting down whitetails though, I'm considering gussying it up with a custom stock set from Boyd's and a nice leather butt cuff/sling.

Sounds like you got a Monday morning rifle. Unfortunate experience.

I have two 16” Rossi R92’s...one in .357 Magnum, the other one in .44 Magnum, plus one older 16” Puma 92 in .454 Casull. I did not have any problems with my three. Wood fits well, action is smooth. Only ding I have is the loading gate edges are sharp, but I can live with that. All three function with no hitches. My Puma in .454 has a wide loop lever, and I can John Wayne it, easy-peesy. I would not hesitate buying another.

Yeesh, that is some proud wood...I'll agree; sand it down to fit and refinish it.

tark said:

I conclude you don't like them. I get that. Is that why you have bought so many of them?

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I bought them because they were cheap. I thought I could turn them into decent guns with some TLC and refinishing. After devoting many hours of work toward that end I discovered I was mistaken.

Crowman said:

Sounds like you got a Monday morning rifle. Unfortunate experience.

I have two 16” Rossi R92’s...one in .357 Magnum, the other one in .44 Magnum, plus one older 16” Puma 92 in .454 Casull. I did not have any problems with my three. Wood fits well, action is smooth. Only ding I have is the loading gate edges are sharp, but I can live with that. All three function with no hitches. My Puma in .454 has a wide loop lever, and I can John Wayne it, easy-peesy. I would not hesitate buying another.

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Mine was also initially sharp around the loading gate. With the upper part of a drill bit I peened the edges down, worked great.

My .357 functioned fine out of the box, only gripe was the distance it threw the ejected cases. An inexpensive hardware store replacement for the ejector spring solved that, they now drop at my feet.

At half the price of other 92’s, I think it’s a bargain. Handier and lighter than other current pistol caliber lever actions.

Around 8 years ago I purchased a new Puma labeled 38/357 with the 24" octagonal barrel. It wasn't Winchester or earlier Marlin level but was quite well done for the price I paid. Shot great but like a dummy I sold it to finance another purchase. Last year I bought a recent manufacture stainless Rossi 92 in 44 Mag with the 24" octagon barrel from a friend. He had bought it new a year earlier from Whitakers in Owesboro, KY where there were a few on display and he picked the one that looked the best. Fit and finish of the wood is very good except at the forearm cap but it isn't bad at all, just not Winchester or Marlin. Rifle shoots great, functions as it should and I'm quite happy with it. I guess I've been lucky.

Had a Rossi 92 back in the early 2000's in .45LC it was a very reliable lever gun, and the wood to metal fit was quite adequate. The wood was rather bland but definitely not ugly, the bluing was very nice. I used it extensively for CAS and did very well with it. I ended selling it, in view of purchasing a Marlin (that was prior to the Remlin) in .45LC and just didn't need it anymore. I'm really sorry to hear how far down the toilet Rossi has fallen.

I picked up a new r92 in .454 last year, and exact fit as you described. The wood is bigger than the metal! I have a theory. The climate/humidity is vastly different in brazil than in texas or alaska or most places in the U.S. Rossi is mass producer of “cheaper” firearms. My theory is, they do not have time or just plain dont care about letting their chosen brazilian hardwood stabilize properly; so they ship the gun out with oversized wood with the assumption it will likely shrink or shift more. Bigger is better than smaller right? You cant sand down smaller. Just my theory. I sanded mine down and i love it.

I got an EMF imported Rossi 92 rifle. It is beautiful. The wood looks good and the fit is good.

Bought a Rossi 92 in 2016. .357, "16 carbine. Fires .357 and .38 speacials flawlessly. Fine accuracy out to a hundred yards. Fit and finish as I would expect for a $450 carbine. I fine mine a great bargain and would have no problem buying another. YMMV

Bought a Rossi 92 in 2016. .357, 16"carbine. Fires .357 and .38 speacials flawlessly. Fine accuracy out to a hundred yards. Fit and finish as I would expect for $450.I find mine a great bargain and would have no problem buying another. YMMV

I had a .357 Rossi I purchased several years ago. It was decently accurate and I did the trigger so I enjoyed shooting. However loading it was another story because the loading gate was hardly machined and it was all you could do to force the rounds in. Also if you open the action you could see deep machining marks. For the money I guess it was okay. I wouldn't buy another. I would rather pay the extra money for a used JM Marlin. They look nicer and don't have that ugly safety on top of the receiver.

I've only had good experiences with the R92s. The short rifles are really pretty guns. For those of you complaining about the finish, do you not have even basic woodworking skills? I've always thought refinishing stocks made for a fun project.

I bought a Rossi 92 357 stainless steel model and I hate to say that it was junk right out of the box. Long list of issues (would not chamber 357, hard to load tube mag, brass bead on front sight post was not centered, lousy finish/machine work etc...). I sent it back and they had it for 5 months. By the time I got it back, the only thing they did was re-work the ramp. I knew I was taking a chance buying Rossi but won't buy another. Luckily for me, I posted on THR looking for suggestions and a member told me about Steve Young in Texas. I bought his DVD and a few parts. Worked on the gun myself and slicked up the mechanicals per Steve's instructions and it is now a fine piece of lever action goodness. Stained the furniture black and refer to it as my "tactical lever gun". Best part was I did it myself.

I got a M92 Stainless Rossi in 45 Colt. I took it apart as soon as I got it home. Before it was shot a single time. You get what you pay for. The price was low enough that I considered it my job to do all the fit and finish work that the maker could not. Wood to metal finish isn't too bad. Not as good as my Marlin or Winchester. It was to be expected. The action wasn't too smooth. So I polished all its moving parts. The finish was chrome like, so I had a nice satin finish applied with a little bead blast. Drilled and tapped for a ghost ring, stupid bolt safety removed. Springs replaced. Its now slick as cow droppings without the smell. It still has one problem, it doesn't extract too good when its about zero degrees outside.