Rio Grande?
Alright, I know I said I wasn't interested in anything but Marlins and the Rossi 92, but I was at the store this afternoon and couldn't help but walk over to the gun counter and ask to check the different guns they had.
Well, I looked at a Marlin GBL 45-70, Rossi Rio Grande 30-30 and Rossi M92 357.
I was a little disappointed and shocked to see how poor the fit/finish on the Marlin was and listen to the shop guy talk it up. The stock was about 1/8-1/4'' above the tang on either side on top and the screws going into the bottom stuck out so far they had apparently already scratched the lever were it touches. This was the same with 2 other ones I asked to look at as well. One of them had tooling marks when I worked the lever to look into the chamber as well.
The next gun I checked out was the M92 which I don't really have anything negative to say about, other than not really liking the wood very much.
I decided to look at the Rio Grande just out of curiosity and ended up comparing the 4 they had (1 stainless, 3 blued) just to compare their quality. I can't say enough about this gun after handling the other ones. The fit and finish was very impressive on all of them! 3 of the 4 cycled smoothly and with a little work (clean/lube) I'm sure would be even better. The wood's not great, but it fit the rifle exactly how it's supposed to. It has barrel bands, which I'm not too excited about, but for a brand new rifle that will cost about $400 OTD I can get over that.
Does anyone have experience with these Rossi RG models? I've been cruising the net looking for anything I can on these after seeing them and haven't been able to turn up too much, unfortunately. I'd love some perspective from owners =) Thanks for listening and the continued advice.