Grizzly,
I bought a used Rossi .223 at the gun shop where I work part time last year .It had a 3X9X40 scope on it.I shot it for several months and really liked it.It was accurate as heck just like the .44 magnum I just bought.I let a friend of mine have it for his boy and doggone if he didn't kill a deer with it first time he used it.
Lots of people poo poo the Rossi as being cheap and junk.Tain't so in all models.I say in all models cause last year I also bought a Rossi with three barrels.20 gauuge,.243 and .22.The .243 barrel would not be accurate for nothing.I never shot the other two and sold it quickly.
The little .44 would be a good gun for a young person because you could shoot lighter .44 special loads in it.It is funny that there are just some calibers in these break tops,both Rossi and New England Firearms(Harrington&Richardson),that are just inheirently accurate and I have proved that in some that I have owned.The 30-30 and 45/70 are accurate in NEF.The .44 Magnum and .223 are accurate in Rossi.None of the NEF super lightweight .223 and .243 guns are accurate but the standard models are accurate in those calibers.The list goes on and on.Over the past ten years I have owned probably 12 NEF and Rossi break top single shots.The accurate ones I still have,the difficult ones went down the road.A few of the accurate ones went to friends after I shot them enough to want to move on.
I just like single shot break open firearms that shoot really good.
Sorry,I didn't mean to go on and on.It's just one of my favorite subjects.

Stan in SC

The more I listen,the more I hear....and vice versa.

45/70,it's almost a religion.

If you have to take a second shot then you probably shouldn't have taken the first shot.