Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General Rossi quality

Anybody seen the new ones? I looked at a new one yesterday and I have to say I was impressed, compared to one I bought five or six years ago. The wood now has a dark walnut stain that makes it look like actual walnut instead of Brazilian mystery wood. The bluing looked better. And the action was much smoother and it felt like they quit using an ejector spring designed for and by 800 pound gorillas.

My old Rossi is a good rifle that slicked up pretty easily with just a little work, but this one looked as good as anything any American company has put out in a long time on the rack.

Anybody else seen this or was I just looking at a particularly excellent example?

I have noticed the same. I recently picked up a s/s 44 mag and found it to have some rough machining internally and the rear sight holes were rough, but overall very high quality rifle that slicked up easily. I have seen that the blued guns are really slick and look great. I believe the machining issues I saw were relegated just to the s/s models.

Are the stocks still made of balsa wood ? Hardwood my ass, that shyt dents and scratches about as easy as modeling clay. If they could put some decent wood on them and learn to index barrels properly, they might have something. Some actual finish on the wood instead of just stain, 3/8" dovetails and drilled and tapped for a receiver sight would be nice touches too.

The Rossi Lever Actions I have owned have all been good guns. Not up to Miroku standards but they all worked good and were accurate and cost a third of what most other lever actions cost. I guess I missed the Balsa wood stock version , just lucky I guess. I would like them better with Walnut but that might drive the price up quite a bit.

I bought my Rossi when Interarms was importing them. I can't remember the date, but it was more than 20 years ago. It is a .357, but I bought a 44 Mag too .Then bought a Marlin 94 in 44 mag to. Sold the POS Marlin and gave the Rossi 44 mag to my niece. Anyone with a little bit of manual dexterity can take the Rossi apart and smooth up the actions.

My .357 is my favorite saddle gun. It rides in an old scabbard I think was made for the original 92's. As for the soft stocks I'll run up the BS flag on that. Mine has spent a good bit of time riding in a scabbard and knocking around, plus a couple of years in Cowboy matches and still looks good.Certainly no worse for wear than any of the other hunting rifles I have.I did strip the dark finish to lighten up the color of the stock though.

Yes I have one of the old Rossi 92s imported by interarms I bought like in the mid to late '80s. It's quite a good gun. This is way back before they put the little safety device up there at the top too a lot of people don't even realize these existed before that.

Yours is from a different time than mine. The stock on mine is comparable in hardness to white pine. Those Interarms guns actually had finish on the stocks too. Haven't looked at any of them in a couple years but when I bought mine {2014 I think} the stocks had no finish just stain.

If I'm not mistaken I think some of the newer ones have a plastic butt plate also instead of the metal?

Side note I'd love to find an old original 92 to match my 357 in a 45 Colt

I don't know. All I can tell you is mine is blued steel and it was purchased in 2014. Can't say on anything more recent than that. I'm not in the market for another so haven't been looking recently. I can't help but see them as semi finished, fully assembled kit guns.

I have a M92 from the early to mid 80's in 357 mag that is a solid gun. No complaints. In fact it was the first gun I ever deer hunted with. Had it since new and definitely wouldnt part with it.

I've had three Rossi's, a 357 and two 45 Colts. The 357 took a lot of work to get it feeding well . All of them were very accurate . They can be great rifles but quality control is all over the place and you do not want to deal with Taurus or Rossi customer service. I am told QC has improved a bit since CBC took over. I'll probably roll the dice on a 44 mag this summer and if so, I'll post a review.

Replacing the sights can be tricky because their dovetail dimensions are all over the place too. I wouldn't say don't buy a Rossi but it sure helps if you can do a lot of your own Gunsmithing.

Yep, after you slick up the action/trigger, replace the ejector spring, drill and tap the receiver, put on some good sights and put a decent finish on the stock they generally aren't bad.

I have an old one from theInterarms days ,full rifle in .45 colt, very well made, slick action and very accurate.

Replacing sights is a PITA 'cause the Brazilians use metric specs, so inch specs replacement sights don't work without being modified. I never cared for the lever actions, but have had a few of the Rossi 59s and 62s and had the same issue with the front sights when an old tang peep sight was installed.

I have had really good luck with Rossi revolvers in the 511, 515, 518, 720, and 971 models.

The Rossi Model 62 I had in 17 HMR and the 92 I had in 454 casull were great Rifles. Wish I still had them.
But then that’s just a sample of 2.

I haven't had any of the newer ones, but I had a Rossi 62 in 22LR from the mid 2000s and a couple of the 92s from 2010-ish and had issues with all 3 of them. I don't think I'd ever gamble on another one.

The 92s were both mediocre shooters and they both had feed and extract issues, and one of them had FTF problems from bad headspacing. Took months to get it back from Rossi... headspace was fixed, but it still fed like garbage.

The 62 shot fantastic and functioned fine, but it kept breaking extractors.

They bring big money chambered in 480 Ruger.

Tony

I recently picked up this 92 Puma in .45 Colt. Brass frame, heavy octagon barrel. Yesterday, I installed a new Skinner peep sight. I had a machinist friend of mine size the sight base, as it was no where near a good fit. Off to the range today to sight it back in. I have been well pleased with it so far.

and this is the now sighted in Skinner peep sight on the Rossi