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I was out at Gander Mountain this evening and saw a Rossi M92 in 45Colt and 357mag. They were very lightweight. I came home and looked up their website. The site said they are 4.8lbs. Large loop lever and 16" barrel. I think this might make a good kicking arond rifle. Does anyone here have any expierence with either of these rifles? Will they take full power loads? Just curious.

Tex - if you get no replies here, post this on leverguns.com and you will find a host of Rossi shooters.

CR thanks,I may have to do that.

I have three of them, two 357's and one .44 (with another 44 on order from Bud's gunshop).

one 357 and the 44 are stainless "trappers" (16 inch barrels). I have previously owned a blue 45 Colt trapper, but sold all my 45 Colt guns to standardize on the 44 Mag for big bores.

I would say that a Rossi 92 would be nearly ideal for a knock around truck gun. My preference would be for the 357, which becomes a potent tool in a carbine, it will gain close to 500 fps over a revolver with the same loads.

Now for the bad news, many of these guns are very rough out of the box. One of my 357's is an EMF Hartford, which is made by Rossi but for a different importer. It is acceptably smooth right out of the box. The other is a recent production Rossi imported by Braztech. It's rough as a cob.

My 44 was bought from Steve Young of www.stevesgunz.com and he did an action job on it before I took delivery. It's extremely smooth and I will probably send him the 357.

The Rossi's also have two things that need attention right off the bat. That worthless little safety on the bolt needs to go. And the plastic magazine follower plug should be replaced with a metal part. Steve Young has a fix for these problems.

I second the suggestion to check out the leverguns.com forum.

I have had one in 44 mag and stillhave a .357. Anyone handy can strip one down and stone/polish the action as they are rough.

The .357 does not like SWC bullets, nor does mine function reliably with 38 specials

I've got a NavyArms 92 in .45 Colt. I think it's the same gun as the Rossi.

I'm loading mine with 300 grain Hornadys and a max load H110.

From what I've read the 92 action is very strong.

Virgil B.

I've owned two over the years. The first was in .44 Mag. My current one is in 44-40. They were/are both acceptable in every way. The comment about them being "rough" is spot-on. I had a '92 Winchester in 32-20 and the Rossi, out-of-the-box, can't compare. Rossi's aren't nearly as high-dollar though. I haven't worked mine over yet, but I'm sure with some elbow grease and emery paper, they could approach Winchester's smoothness. Taurus now owns Rossi, so I can't speak to the quality of the new ones as mine are both pure Rossi. IMO the South Americans know how to make a decent copy of the old Winchester, if not as finely tuned.

I was going thru manuals this morning and saw that Hornady 7th edition uses the Rossi M92 for load data.I went back to GM today to check it out again. What caught my eye to begin with was the wood. Straight grain and poorly stained, but cool looking still. I went on the levergun website and saw some good stuff.The coolest thing I saw was the safty sight conversion. This might be the way to go. The rear ghost ring type site and the longer site plane would help my eyes.

Neither of mine have/had safeties. I think they're good guns.

Without the Steve Young fixes, I want no part in any Rossi lever. They are a total POS without his parts and work.

While I'm sure Steve does fine work, I've been perfectly happy with my 16" 357, after a little polishing inside, and shortening the extractor and main springs.

I really like mine. It gets shot and carried alot more than other more expensive rifles I have.

Andy

I bought two new Rossi 16" big loop Model 92 carbines last Spring - a .357 and a .45 Colt.

I removed the bolt top safeties from both, replacing them with plugs - and installed a Williams top-mount peep on the .357, and a Skinner Lo-Pro in the safety plug of the other as a bolt peep sight.

I made metal replacement magazine followers, and put about 500 rounds so far through each - mostly CorBon +P hunting loads (I don't handload any more), w/o any issues.

Both zeroed perfectly, using the issue front sight blades - to which I applied a daub of orange BRIGHT SIGHTS paint.

They both proved to be smooth-working, sweet-handling, accurate carbines - as issued, except for the changes noted above.

.

I have a 62-A .22 clone with the safety on top of the bolt and would be very interested in getting rid of it if you are willing to share the information. Thank you.

I have one in a .480 Ruger. Could it use some tuning? Yes. My rifle was about $500 dollars and I don't expect it to be as smooth as a $900.00 or $1000.00 gun. Out of the box with my handloads 410gr @ 1300fps it works fine.
pak

I have an M-92 Puma lever-rifle, imported by Legacy Sport's, Mfd. by Rossi - it has a 'long' octagon bbl, blue/case colored reciever, and is chambered in .45 Colt. (Same as my Ruger Vaquero.)

It seemed to be quite a bargain, price-wise. I had often 'looked' at similar rifles, but they cost 2 to 3 times the price. Anyway, I had some gun money in my pocket, and I had already looked all over town for "some-kind" of a new firearm.

I really liked this Puma rifle, so I bought it. I was afraid to show it to a couple of skeptical but discriminating friends ... They however, found NOTHING wrong with it ... and were even a little jealous.

My friends wanted to go out and shoot the rifle right away. I'm always a bit hesitant to shoot my "NEW" firearms ... (Then they won't be new anymore.)

But, I said, "OK, let's see if we can find a box of .45 Colt ammo for sale somewhere, and split the cost 3 ways ... and we'll all shoot it up." They jumped on my offer.

Right out of the box that Puma 92 shot accurately and functioned smoothly without any kind of a hitch. It still does, and I am just GLAD that I came across it.

I have an M-92 LSI Puma in 454/45 Colt. I have been shooting it for the last three years and I must say it has been trouble free. At first the action was pretty rough, usable but not smooth. After around 250 to 300 rounds the action smoothed out quite nicely. I shoot 45 Colt for the most part, I found the 454 to be a bit much in this light rifle, it delivers a pretty sharp pop. I've found it to be a blast to shoot. The only thing I changed was the rear sight, I put a Marble semi buckhorn on it which works well. I'll be hanging on to it.

I ordered a Model 92 Rossi in 357 magnum from Navy Arms about 6 years ago. I wanted walnut and got really nice walnut, sans the finish. It is a 24" octagon barrel. I didn't like the fitting of the ejector, and extractor and called them, and they after some talking sent me two of each as I wanted to do the work myself.
SO! I re-cut a new ejector, and extractor, and hand honed the action. Next I striped the finish off the wood, and hand rubbed 6 coats of True Oil for a finish that looked like the same finish that is on my 1958 Winchester Model 94 when it was new. I drilled and tapped it for a Lyman 66 aperture identical to the one on my old Model 94, and replaced the front sight with a white stripe post also like the one on my Model 94.
Now this seems like a lot of work on a new rifle, BUT! I have it just like I want it, and it isn't for sale. It is a tack driver, and I carry it a little more than my Model 94 3030, and I never go anywhere without one of them.
It is an excellent rifle, and a many a shooter has had a far more expensive rifle customized to suit their needs and tastes. JMO
Someone may have already mentioned that the 357 mag. picks up another 400 to 600 fps in a rifle rather than a revolver. I shoot a 158 grain jacketed soft point at 2000fps, and of course a lot of 38 special SWC. I have been reloading both rounds for well over 35 years. Both are good round.

[I have a 62-A .22 clone with the safety on top of the bolt and would be very interested in getting rid of it if you are willing to share the information.]

model70man - please check your PM's, for the link to a tutorial elsewhere that I sent you, and a purchase website (also elsewhere).

.

Thank you Sir! I appreciate your help very much.

Best Regards...Bill.