My review of the Rossi m92 stainless

[ziconceo]

Picked up a brand new Rossi m92 rifle on the 8th. I took it to the range and now I'm deciding to write a review on it. If you have any questions about this rifle feel free to ask.

Pros:

Very smooth action

Extremely accurate out of the box

Awesome looking sights

Wont rust

Has a cool built in hammer lock

Almost 0 recoil

100% reliable with round nose bullets (so far)

Cons:

A bit expensive (640$ otd)

Poor finishing is evident (look in the photos)

Unreliable with feeding and loading with semi wad cutters (so far)

safety feels like loose junk (but does work great)

Overall: very fun gun to plink with but nothing more, id NEVER use it in a HD situation!




This 10 shot group was at 30 yards off hand







knicks out of the box

[Rosereader]

Nice, I have one of these in .45 colt and the phosphate finish. Check out http://store.stevesgunz.com/ for some sweet aftermarket equipment. The video and kit to smooth the action are nice as well as the metal magazine tube follower.



And if you don't like the safety there are options for that on this site. Plugs and a rear peep to replace the lawyer switch they cobbled onto the 1892 Winchester design.


All in all they are great weapons. I agree I wouldn't rely on it for HD work but it makes a great range toy for a decent price NIB.

[ziconceo]

Nice, I have one of these in .45 colt and the phosphate finish. Check out http://store.stevesgunz.com/ for some sweet aftermarket equipment. The video and kit to smooth the action are nice as well as the metal magazine tube follower.



And if you don't like the safety there are options for that on this site. Plugs and a rear peep to replace the lawyer switch they cobbled onto the 1892 Winchester design.


All in all they are great weapons. I agree I wouldn't rely on it for HD work but it makes a great range toy for a decent price NIB.

Thanks for the link dude do you reload for the 45 colt or do you only buy factory? How's the recoil?

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[Sutcliffe]

I've got the .45 Colt 20"

Love it. Utterly reliable for me so far. The recoil is negligible.

[golfish]

What caliber did you get? How long is the barrel?

I used some SS parts on a couple choppers I built. They were pretty easy to buff out. Can you do the same thing on the gun parts? I understand its not the same grade of SS.

[Sosoomi]

I have 4 ...2-.357's...2 .44's.... All are utterly reliable and will shoot and cycle anything...

That said I reload and tailor my loads to the guns.... Overall length and crimp seem to be the key.... Bullet type not so much....

I refinished the wood with Tru Oil and it looks pretty good..... I rarely use the safety....either use half cock or leave the empty brass in the chamber if hiking...

If you haven't slicked the action, trimmed the magazine spring and done a spring job.... You should check out Nate Jones website.... He has a video that shows you how....

Rossi Rifleman is a great forum for info and feedback on these guns....

[ziconceo]

What caliber did you get? How long is the barrel?

I used some SS parts on a couple choppers I built. They were pretty easy to buff out. Can you do the same thing on the gun parts? I understand its not the same grade of SS.

I got the 357mag/38spl with a 20inch barrel.

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[anthem]

I would use my Rossi 92 .357 for HD.

[ziconceo]

I would use my Rossi 92 .357 for HD.

Any reasons as to why you would? Is it your only gun? What kind of guns are you choosing it over?

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[The Last American Hero]

great to hear they solved reliability/feed issues from few years ago.

those nicks and dings just give it authentic old west patina.

But I'd take a few blems anyday over iffy cycling, really bad stock wood, etc.

Still, can't help thinking "if they only took an extra 3minutes total making the gun to be perfect" or increased the price by $30, etc.

I'm thinking of getting a Rossi Ranch Hand, but was really balking because it would be a SSE and I'd be pretty 'stuck with it' once I slapped any money down.

[tmh1]

Any reasons as to why you would? Is it your only gun? What kind of guns are you choosing it over?

I DO use my 357, 20" R92 as my first line home defense gun. Why? Well:

1) It has been utterly reliable;
2) Good length for use inside the house;
3) Mount provided with the gun allows installation of a RDS for daylight or night/dark sighting;
4) Comfortable for both me and my wife to shoot;
5) Mounts cleanly and handily in a leather scabbard attached to the headboard of the bed;
6) Ballistics of 357 Magnum (I use Critical Defense) out of a rifle barrel are outstanding;
7) If nothing else, it will allow fighting to other weapons close by (SA shotty and AR-15 type).

My rifle is the model R92-96002, which is no longer current in Rossi's catalog. It came with both the standard rear sight and the Pic rail mount for other sights. The picture from the Rossi catalog archives shows the rifle with a foam cheek pad on the buttstock, but the 357 version did not come with this pad:


I had a couple of the 16" versions of the R92 which were even handier in the house, but alas I sold both of them. At least with the 20" version you get a couple more rounds in the tube, and then can easily keep some more on the buttstock like I do:


I haven't done the safety removal and plug... yet. But I just placed the order for the part from Steve's Gunz.

[ziconceo]

I DO use my 357, 20" R92 as my first line home defense gun. Why? Well:

1) It has been utterly reliable;
2) Good length for use inside the house;
3) Mount provided with the gun allows installation of a RDS for daylight or night/dark sighting;
4) Comfortable for both me and my wife to shoot;
5) Mounts cleanly and handily in a leather scabbard attached to the headboard of the bed;
6) Ballistics of 357 Magnum (I use Critical Defense) out of a rifle barrel are outstanding;
7) If nothing else, it will allow fighting to other weapons close by (SA shotty and AR-15 type).

My rifle is the model R92-96002, which is no longer current in Rossi's catalog. It came with both the standard rear sight and the Pic rail mount for other sights. The picture from the Rossi catalog archives shows the rifle with a foam cheek pad on the buttstock, but the 357 version did not come with this pad:


I had a couple of the 16" versions of the R92 which were even handier in the house, but alas I sold both of them. At least with the 20" version you get a couple more rounds in the tube, and then can easily keep some more on the buttstock like I do:


I haven't done the safety removal and plug... yet. But I just placed the order for the part from Steve's Gunz.

Those are some really good points, does it feed reliably with ALL types of ammo? How many rounds do you have through it? I'd still personally choose either my ar15 or my mossberg 500spx but the Rossi m92 is still better than a knife!

[tmh1]

Those are some really good points, does it feed reliably with all types of ammo? How many rounds do you have through it?

Between the 3 R92's I have owned and shot I have never had a single issue feeding a round. Mostly I try to rack the lever in 2 discrete motions - down, pause, up. But sometimes during rapid-fire fun, I don't always remember to do it that way. I DO always move the lever with deliberate authority: "Finesse" is not required nor good for reliability with these guns.

I probably have shot between 1700-2000 rounds between the 3 guns. Mostly I shoot 38 special jacketed round nose (generally 130 gr) and round nose flat point (153 gr, I think). I have shot a variety rounds from Winchester white box, Remington, Fiocchi and professionally reloaded ammo (bulk from Selway Armory and boxed from Freedom Munitions). Of the round count specified above, I have probably shot 250-300 Critical Defense 357 magnum rounds to verify reliability and POI vs POA compared to the 38 special rounds.

The only ammo I won't shoot is the cheaper (sometimes $2-$3 less per box of 50) "lead round nose" ammo. I don't shoot this as I don't want the lead barrel fouling, but the softer bullet may also impact reliability. Don't know for sure as I haven't shot it.

One of the points I did not remember to bring up in my original post is accuracy, which I find to be very acceptable for HD purposes with the R92's. I have found the R92's to be plenty better than "minute of torso" accuracy offhand at the distances where I feel I will need to shoot these guns, which is typically under 50 yards.

BTW, a very interesting read on the ballistics of the 357 magnum round out of a carbine or rifle-length barrel (with lots of comparison to the 30-30 round) can be found here:

http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2011/05/chris-dumm/lever-action-ballistics-30-30-vs-357-magnum/

EDIT:
P.S.: I have a very reasonable number of long guns in my safe which I get to shoot (too many, according to my wife), in calibers from 17 HMR to 308, from single shot to bolt action to semi-auto to lever action. I really do enjoy the lever guns both for the nostalgia, their round capacity and just the overall shootability which comes from an incredible design well over 100 years old. In fact, I decided last week to get another R92, but in this case a "pretty" one. This time I bought a Rossi with the 24" octagonal barrel and the color case hardened receiver. I do hope that it performs as smoothly and reliably as my other R92's, but I am not worried that it won't. Here is the new baby I have on the way, also in 357/38:

[golfish]

I got the 357mag/38spl with a 20inch barrel.

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Very nice choice, have you shot .357 rounds? My 24" rifle didn't cycle .357..It got sent back to Braztech for some tuning. It also shot 12" high at 50 yards. Its ok now and is my favorite gun.

My 44 carbine cycled everything, it just shoots high. I have a taller sight for it, I just need to get a bigger hammer to drift out the sight...

[Grumpyoldretiredcop]

OP, I have the 92 in .357 Magnum. It has the same feeding issues with some semi-wadcutters, not with others. Bearing in mind that the original design was meant for RNL ammo, it's surprising to me that any SWC fed in mine. I can't recommend strongly enough that you take a trip to Steve's Gunz website for advice and parts to improve your 92 (getting rid of that stupid safety, for example... mine is long gone!).