Rossi 44 mag 2 inch revolver purchase

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hboy35

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I picked up a Rossi 44 magnum revolver this weekend at my local Academy, as part of their black friday sale. I can't find much info on the web about these things other than Taurus imports them as 4 inchers, then cuts them down to 2 inches, reblues them and sells them under the Rossi name.
Anyways, got it to the range yesterday. Amazingly accurate. Was putting 44 specials holding it two handed into touching holes at 10 and 15 feet (give me a break--I am not Harry Callahan), and kept them within a 4 inch circle at 20 feet--when I concentrated. Has a hiviz front sight and fixed rear sight. Action wasnt real smooth but appears to be getting better after the range time--ran 80 rounds through it. Then I calculated how much the ammo cost that I ran through it--yikes! Going to explore reloading.

Did anyone else get one of these or am I the only crazy one? I feel good about my purchase and was wondering if others made the plunge.

I will get some pics up tomorrow if anyone is interested.
thanks
 
just took the pics

Here is it--pretty poor pics. I am very happy with my purchase.

I had a bunch of 44 ammo for my marlin laying around from years past and started looking online at ammo prices this weekend. Holy cow! Going to have to consider reloading or selling kidneys!
 

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Nifty little gun! I've been tempted to pick up some form of .44spl revolver for a while now. Not that it can do anything my existing guns can't (9mm, .357, .45) but just for something new and different.
 
My dealer he gets more for 44 spl than 44 mag. He says it now cost him more to buy than th mag . Guess this falls in the over priced 380 against 9mm family.
 
I've been thinkin' about getting one, would have to buy dies, mold, cases, etc. Be a fun carry, but I rarely hip carry preferring pocket carry and this thing ain't no pocket gun, LOL! I handled one at Academy, seemed pretty heavy, probably a good thing with full on magnum loads.

One thing that puts me off a LITTLE is lack of an adjustable sight. I know, I know, not desirable in a carry gun, but when you shoot light vs heavy loads, often it's necessary to raise or lower the sight for POA adjustment. I've had a couple of .357s that bucked this wisdom.

If this thing shot to point of aim with heavy magnums, the big 300+ grainers, it'd be a pretty nifty woods/hiking gun. It's only 29 ounces on the hip and, if it's like my other Taurus and Rossi revolvers, probably VERY accurate. I think it actually has a 2.5" barrel or so says the Rossi site.
 
I was concerned about the lack of adjustable sights, but mine shot to point of aim using 44 specials (PMC brand). Using some 44mag loads I had, they also hit close to point of aim, maybe off an inch from the PMC specials. Way accurate enough for a carry gun (or truck gun).

The clearance between the cylinder and the barrel (forcing cone) is incredibly tight. Will measure it in a couple days. Like paper thin--no way a credit card even comes close to fitting. Very little residue on the frame after shooting over a box of ammo. I did get a little binding during one cycle, probably around round #10. Wiped the gunk off the face of the cylinder and it never gave another problem.

Hey thanks Hondo for the reloading tips. I read a bunch of the links today. Maybe santa will bring me a Lee 1000.
 
Hey thanks Hondo for the reloading tips. I read a bunch of the links today. Maybe santa will bring me a Lee 1000
Click to expand...

I have one....and a Dillon. Ask Santa for the Dillon.... laughing-smiley-014.gif The Dillon gives me less hassles, but the Pro 1000 works.

I'd wanna see what the gun does from sandbags at 25 yards. That's my marker for accuracy of the gun, not the shooter. I can adjust for some offset of POI, like take a fine (6 o'clock) bead with the high load. I'm betting a 340 grain load would be WAY high. I don't hike in bear country much anymore, and when I did, it was just black bear country, so really, it'd be a carry option for me, so sounds like the lighter .44mags might shoot acceptably close to a special for that. Thanks for the info.
 
I bought one of these a couple weeks back, I paid more than you did but am ok with that, I'd rather pay more than deal with black Friday sales.

Seems to be a great gun, uncomfortable with magnum loads but .44 special is great through it. I love the rubber grips and the red front optic. I will be sticking with the .44 special for defense because of the much lighter recoil and muzzle blast...and you still get to fling that massive hunk of lead towards bad guys.

This thing replaced my Armscor M202 as the bedside gun. Whoever mentioned the tight fit between the cylinder and forcing cone is dead on, that thing is snug.

Here's mine:

November42012037.jpg
 
I purchased this one, first thing i did was get it home disassemble it, remove all the extra metal shavings they give you as a bonus... Clean every part, apply some gun oil, put it back together...

Action is 10x better...

Probably not a gun you'd get for your wife.
 
They seem like reasonably priced bad guy ventilators!! Although I'd probably stick to the .44 special loads for carry, it's nice having the magnum option.
 
13th Disciple--I had thoughts of removing the sideplate and cleaning out the "extras" but have never ever done that. I have torn down all manner of semi-auto pistols, rifles and shotguns--but revolvers have always been a mystery.

I am curious, is there anything I need to know about taking off the sideplate? Any springs that will go flying? How do the screws take it--meaning, I dont want to damage them and make the gun look like it was messed with, and I understand that I must absolutely use a quality screwdriver that fits the slot perfectly, but are there any other tricks or tips? Sorry about all the questions. She is such a slick looking piece and I dont want to detract. thanks
 
The easiest way to clean the gunk out of revolvers, including metal shavings, burned powder, and so on is just to blast it out with an aerosol spray. It gets all the gunk out of there easily without disassembly.
 
BREAKFREEclp is your friend.

Are these guns steel frame or alloy frame? I've got a S&W 629 .44 mag 2.5" fixed sight revolver. It is steel and is a chunk to carry.
 
I blasted it at first with rem oil, when 10+ small metal shavings come out, I take it apart.

FIRST AND FORMOST, I AM NOT SAYING YOU HAVE TO DISASSEMBLE, I AM ONLY STATING THIS IS WHAT I DO... I MAKE NO CLAIMS OF BEING A GUN EXPERT. I AM ONLY SHARING MY EXPERIENCE.

SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH COULD OCCURE IF YOU DO NOT REASSEMBLY CORRECTLY!

IF YOU ARE NOT COMFORTABLE IN DOING THIS THEN DO NOT PROCEED.


As you said, quality correctly sized driver, screws are loctite, so prepare to take your time and slowly apply pressure to break them loose...

Remove the grip.

There is small spring in the most forward screw, its not going to pop out, just a heads up to take note of that one.

When you remove the cylinder assembly there is a small button head springed assembly. Again no pressure on it, just take note of it.

These two springed items work together to work to cylinder stop.

Once you remove the screws you can rotate the cylinder assembly to 45 degrees and pull it forward, the springed button head is on the end of the shaft.

Going from the bottom, of the plate, if you look straight into the assembly, from grip, you will see a ledge to the left and right of the opening. Using a small pry tool wedge between the cover plate and ledge.

Dont try to remove the plate from one side only, work between left and right slightly moving it up. Take your time...

Nothing should come flying out at you.

Take note, there is a dog ear on the plate around the hammer. The plate is designed to remove from the bottom of the gun swinging upwards toward the top.

Use quality pry tools, plastic when you can and most important take your time.

Once plate is removed, inspect/clean or what ever you had planned to do.

take plenty of pics.

I ended up polishing all internal pieces which resulted in a very nice action. I dont mean mirror finished 24" rims polish... I buffed pieces with 000 steal wool. Small file followed by emory cloth followed by wet paper followed by steal wool when needed, AVOID TRIGGER CATCH, YOU DO NOT WANT TO FILE/POLISH ON IT, ALREADY HAIR TRIGGERED AS IS!

Lighty oil, LIGHTLY LIGHTLY LIGHTLY!!! I hate an over oiler...

Reassmble in reverse...

When placing plate back on, remember the dog ear on the top, it goes in from top to bottom... Use a small rubber/plastic mallet, such as a jewlers mallet or place a plastic handle on the surface and tap it.

Again, take your time...

Apply blue loctite, small amout goes along way...

If you do happen to scuffthe finish, reblu kits, this finish is the super blue...

I did not take picture, but i would recommend that you snap a pic of a screw before you remove it, when you remove it and after you remove it... Then just follow your own pics backward to reassemble.
There are many time this has saved my butt when i torn into something i wasnt familiar with, sure it will take longer, but you loose/break/assemble wrong, it can take weeks to replace parts, worse even is that you could cause a malfunction which could lead to serious injury or death.
 
hey 13thDisciple, thanks for the detail breakdown. I may have to give it a try. The action on the display one at Academy was smooth, and mine is alright, but it feels gritty at times. I have only put 80rds through it, but I did notice a small shaving coming out of the trigger area after firing, so I feel confident my piece has some "extra" material in there needing to get out. I may look at a few Youtube vids to get a feel for revolver sideplate removal and then refer back to your description. Thanks for the help.
 
I picked up one of these. Can't complain about missing features like adjustable sights. The gun was only $260
 
I bought one of these at Academy yesterday, although I missed out on the Black Friday price special. After checking a Sig P-250 and Beretta Nano, I decided that I needed something different. For a 44 Magnum, it's fairly compact, and I bet that the recoil will be monstrous with that short barrel. I'm hoping to try it out tomorrow.
 
Bought for wife

Bought one of the 2.5" Rossi 44mags for my wife. She loves it and isn't a big woman. The kick isn't bad at all with specials, the short barrel makes it mostly a rising recoil. I would concealed carry if I didn't have my own but it makes a great home defense blaster for her. I haven't found any disagreeable traits yet. great special purchase.:)
 
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