Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General New Rossi R92, 44 Mag

I just got this rifle and it's my first Rossi. 44 Mag, blue/walnut, 20" round barrel.

Honestly, I am surprised and very happy with the overall rifle. This cycles pretty smooth by my barometer of smoothness. I was really surprised that it feeds/cycles fine with a 310gr WFN load.

After cleaning the bore, I put the first 20 rounds through it this afternoon. Load was a 240gr Speer JHP, over 10.0gr Unique. I didn't chrono it, but QuickLOAD predicts 1400 fps. Pleasant shooting load.

I had my file and drift-punch on hand to get the sights how I want them. I filed the front sight down just enough to delete the brass bead in favor of a square post. Got her one inch high at 25 yards, with the rear sight on the first notch up from the bottom on the rear sight elevator. This zero should hold about 1" high at 50 yards, zero at 75 yards, and about 3 inches low at 100 yards.

A few pics,





Final group on the far left, using a 6 o'clock hold. I pulled one high/right.


Anyhoo, just wanted to share a little bit of my new lever gun.

MM, I bought one of those back in ‘94 with money from my summer job. Absolutely loved it. Had to sell it when a poor grad student but always thought I would get another- you may well have just given me the push I needed!

Have the same model but in stainless. With Starline brass and a 240 gr XTP being pushed by a max load of H110, I get 1770 fps. The metal butt plate gets your attention after session of those. The 10 gr of Unique is a good load with a 240 gr. One thing that frustrates me with Rossi is their bore diameter. Cast bullets do not shoot well due to their larger bore.

For the money, they are decent rifles. I like the fact that they're slim and light unlike a Marlin.

I have been looking at these for a while. I have a Henry big boy is 44 but would like something a little cheaper for tromping around in the swamps of south GA. Might have to pick up a stainless Rossi to fill that job

Yeah I don't think I'll be going for full-house loads with this rifle. I can see where recoil would become unpleasant.

If you look at the historic cartridges the Winchester 1892 came in, it was 25-20, 32-20, 38-40, and 44-40. None of those were hard kickers.

I'm real pleased with a 240gr at 1400 fps, kind of a 44-40 +P load. I think the classic 44-40 is a 200gr at around 1250 fps or so.

They are fun little rifles, that's for sure. I like the classic style as well.

I was on the fence about blue or stainless. I opted the blue for the classic look, and in our climate moisture is not such an issue.

I saw a stainless 16" model at the gun store, it is a good looking setup too.

MM,
How does your brass look after fired? Rossis as of late are polishing chambers too much creating an unsupported section at the base of the cases. Therefore, cases are bulging at the base. It's more pronounced with full-house loads.

Fired brass looks normal. After firing the outside diameter in .460" from just above the web, all the way to the mouth.

The load I was firing is predicted to generate 26K psi.

I bought a stainless one several Months ago and just got around to shooting it.

I wanted to shoot 44 special in it for low recoil and low muzzle blast,
when I went tp a local Sportsmans warehouse I was wanting to buy a box of the HSM 44 Special 200 grain RNFP but all they had was a box of HSM 44 Special 240 Grain Semi-wadcutter.

I had heard that the Rossi 92 was very tempramental with the semi-wadcutter design but bought them anyway.

Mine feeds the HSM 240 Wadcutter ammo just fine as well as a 44 Magnum Dummy shell loaded with a 260 Grain LBT WFN from about 30 years ago.

The HSM is approximately 850fps when fired from a 5.5 inch barrel and loaded with Titegroup according to the company. I do not know what the velocity is from the 16 Inch barrel of my Carbine but is very mild to shoot,at least it was with the 5 rounds that I shot for function test and to have a few brass to reload a few to test.

I see the Rossi 92 44Special/44 Magnum Carbine Handloaded with Lead bullets as a relatively Inexpensive way to shoot Centerfire ammo for plinking,as a compact home defense option with softer lead bullets,or as a rather capable short range deer rifle.

And I can see it doing all that in 44 Special .
And of course in 44 Magnum if that is your pleasure.

love mine. 240 gr HCSWCS are great out of it

We have 2 Rossi 454 Casull rifles, no complaints.

I'm glad to hear from others that the R92 44 is not as finicky about ammo as I had imagined from just reading about it.

I'm thinking I'll get some Missouri Bullet Co coated 240gr RNFP in Brinell 12. I'm thinking that should be a good bullet in the revolvers and maybe soft enough to 'slug up' in the rifle at midrange load pressure.

I haven't slugged my barrel, but the internet sez, they run a bit large as in .431" or so???

I have the same gun,20 inch blued, in 45 colt. Great little rifle. Standard 45 colt loads are very pleasant. +P loads are pretty much 44 magnum equivalents.

I think a stainless one just like yours in 44 magnum would go nice with my blue 45.

I was on the fence between 44 and 45 myself. I have revolvers in each caliber, so it wasn't easy to decide. Both chamberings are so versatile.

MM,
I tried the .430 MBC 240 TCFP with 18 Brinell and the bore was too large. I couldn't get a group when pushing them with 10 gr of Unique. I've since opted to stay with cup and core for it. I went this route as they were cheap enough:

https://www.rozedist.com/mm5/mercha..._Code=R177-A&Category_Code=ZBJ-44MAG

Thanks for the link!

I slugged the bore of mine (using some unused Bore slugs I had left over from when I slugged a Ruger stainless Blackhawk, that I got from Veral Smith at LBT )and did it from the Muzzle.

From the muzzle it was almost .431 and felt the same to about 6 inches and then the slug started to push easier toward the chamber throat.

I have not slugged the throat yet but intend to do so to find out what it is.

I am wanting to use a Brinell hardness of less than 10 in hope's that I can achieve some expansion at a 1,000 FPS or so and so that the bullet will slug up and fill the bore well .

Does anyone know of a Lead bullet suppler that sells .432 Semi-Wadcutter or .432 RNFP Bullets at Lower Hardness levels ?

Does anybody know what the Rossi .357 R92 bore size is? I inherited a whole bunch of bullets sized .358 and was thinking about getting a lever action to plink them with.

I have the stainless 44 mag with a 16” barrel. I haven’t tried 44 special in it butte only feed issue I had with mg loads was hand loading them too long. Mine is more accurate with the Lee 310 grain cast bullet than the jacketed bullets I’ve tried. Love the gun.

Some chronograph results,

Rossi R92 20" barrel, 44 Magnum.

Speer 240gr JHP
CCI Large Pistol (350)
OAL 1.59"

Unique 9.0 gr:
1172
1183
1192
Avg - 1182 fps, 744 ft-lbs

Unique 10.0gr:
1281
1285
1282
Avg - 1283 fps, 877 ft-lbs

Recoil calculations (from QuickLOAD),

Rossi R92, 44 Magnum, rifle weight 5.6 lbs.

Speer 240gr JHP



H110, 26.0 gr: 1858 fps/1842 ft-lbs. Recoil: 17.6 ft-lbs at 14 fps

Unique 10.0 gr: 1283 fps/877 ft-lbs. Recoil: 6.7 ft-lbs at 9 fps

Unique 9.0 gr: 1182 fps/744 ft-lbs. Recoil: 5.7 ft-lbs at 8 fps

I haven't shot any heavy loads through this carbine. The mild loads give solid power and fairly flat trajectory to 100 yards, with a 75 yard zero....and they are fun to shoot.

As Far as recoil is concerned with the slightly curved cresent buttplate, I have read (not tried it yet)that instead of shooting from the shoulder, to shoot from the upper arm at the top of the bicep basically where the top of the bicep meets the armpit best I can tell.

Standing closer to a 90 Degree to your target with the rifle across the chest.
I immediately noticed that the curve of the buttplate was comfortable resting against my upper arm with the bottom point of the buttplate slightly under my armpit with none of the Point actually touching my body

I tried it standing in the houseand just pointing the Carbine and and it felt pretty good, but I have yet to try it while actually shooting.

I will see if it works for me.

I'm getting similar with my stainless model...1300 fps with 10.0 gr Unique, Starline brass, 1.600 OAL and a Zero 240 gr JSP.

With H110, Starline brass, OAL: 1.600 and a Hornady 240 XTP, it puts it in another gear. Velocities were:

23.0 gr: 1704 fps / SD: 23.1
23.3 gr: 1747 fps / SD: 9.0
23.6 gr: 1762 fps / SD: 9.9
23.0 gr: Didn't get readings. This load was most accurate)
24.0 gr: 1771 fps / SD: 11.7

I’m glad you picked up a Rossi, I had a older one and traded it off, I liked it a lot, but traded up, still have a 357 in SS that I will never trade, just got the new 16” 45 colt, and shot it yesterday with Remington 250 grain at 87 yards open sights, nailed gong every time, can’t wait to shoot Mackey’s 270 grain, tell you Marlin guys what good, solid levers they are, your loss. I will say I have slicked up the old ones, but this new one is smooth.

It's good to see we are getting similar velocities with 240gr and 10.0gr Unique.

I'll probably be ordering some of those Zero bullets. I see they are advertised as .431". The Speer I'm shooting are .4295" on my caliper. The Zero bullet at .431" probably builds slightly more pressure/velocity.

Angus, yeah I was really surprised/pleased with how smooth this rifle is, right out of the box.

I was honestly expecting it to be a little rough and hitchy, but it is just as smooth as my Marlin 1895.

They are fun rifle

I've owned a '92 Rossi in .357 for over 10 years. I never have slugged it to determine the actual groove diameter, but I size all my cast bullets .358" and it shoots them plenty accurate enough for hunting out to at least 100 yds.

That has been my observations with mine as well.

Thanks to you and 35whelennut for the information! I will have start looking for one to try out.

I know this is old but been looking at Rossi’s lately. I would like to hear more about this is it a common occurrence lately or isolated incident?

You'll see a lot of talk on Cast Boolits and the Rossi Rifleman forum regarding this. My 92 in .44 Mag will bulge the case web with full-house loads. It looks akin to the Glock bulge of years past. Mine isn't so pronounced that they won't chamber in other guns. However, it does concern me to reuse this brass over and over with top loads. The .357 R92s seem to exhibit more of this issue.

Source for .432" cast bullets, moyerscastbullets.co. Are stated to be 15 BHN. They shoot good with no leading in my presafety Marlin 1894 with a .431" Microgroove barrel. Moyer is old school, must order by telephone.

I love my little 16" Stainless model, but promptly cut off the curved butt plate and added a pad. I added a ghost ring site that they sell for the safety hole and a fiberoptic front post. Not as "classic" but infinitely more useable for me in my environment. Killed my biggest buck to date with that rifle in Ohio a few years back.

I want to say after re-reading this whole thing, had forgot about Mack’s hot loads, they are too long for ramp to lift to chamber, in my 45 colt , so I’m sure 44 mag to, Mack’s loads are for hand guns, But, if I got the 92 in 454, the 45 LC would fit perfectly, 😂 just give me excuse!

i kinda want to get a Rossi lever rifle in a 357 Mag. but would it be better to get a 44 mag in a Rossi lever ? i do always carry a 357 mag. revolver in the woods with me .thanks Pete53

I tried Mack’s 325 grain in my Rossi 45, they would not ramp up, tried the 270 grain, same thing, the wide flat are to long, he told me they might be to long , he said pistol only, so I tried 325 grain that are rounded, they work fine, so I’m sure the 357 will not work either in my Rossi, now I wish I had a 454, they would be long enough to ramp up in it. Seems rounder bullet will work I heavy loads in any caliber.

I don't think you would go wrong with a 357, especially if that's what you generally carry anyways.

gtbullets.com has .432 cast bullets of 96-2-2 alloy which (I believe) is BHN 10-12ish. Montana Bullet Works also has .432 cast bullets but they range from 15 to 22 BHN

glad you think also ,thank you ,Pete53

MM,

I'm glad you found a good Rossi on the first try. I've had three (357 and 45 Colt) and they've run the gamut from 'needs internal work to run' to 'pretty damn good'. People I trust are of the opinion these newer CBC R92s are the best ones yet.

Another source for oversize 44 bullets is Bear Creek Supply. I had an old 70's Cattleman 44 mag which had 0.433" cylinder throats and it really liked that outfit's 200 grain 44 bullet, ordered at that diameter. BC has pretty much become the only lead bullet I use these days. I've used them in various calibers and have never had a bad one yet.

https://www.bearcreeksupplybullets.com/bulletselection

Best of luck with your new rifle.