So I have recently acquired two similar type .22 revolvers. Both are typical kit gun, small game getters, and plinkers. One is a blued Rossi Model 70, the other a stainless S&W Model 63. The S&W is a mid 70’s vintage, the Rossi is early 80’s. Both were bought used but in excellent condition. The Rossi is a 3 inch barrel, the S&W is a 4 inch. I decided to do a little comarison of the two.
The Rossi has a far better and smoother trigger than the S&W in both single and double action. This is an informal comparison, so trigger pull weights were not measured. The S&W has far better sights than the Rossi. The Rossi has a drift adjustable rear that is pretty small, but looks very durable. The front is just blued steel ramp as part of the barrel. Tough getting a good sight picture, especially against a dark colored target. The S&W has typical S&W fully adjustable rear sight, with a stainless ramp with orange insert. These are far superior to the Rossi.
The S&W came with a very nice after market, walnut grip with finger grooves that fits my hand perfectly. The Rossi had checked, factory walnut round butt grips that were perfectly sufficient for a gun with no recoil.
Shooting from the bench using a rest, the little Rossi actually gave smaller groups than the S&W with both CCI SV ammo and CCI MiniMags. I didn’t measure them but you can judge from the photos.
Above is the Rossi
Above is the S&W.
Easy hits were made on a 5 inch steel plate using double action at about 50 feet standing using either gun.
The S&W was far more than twice the price of the Rossi, and the Rossi is a great little revolver, but if I could only have one, it would be the S&W. So no surprises here, the higher quality, more expensive gun is my choice.
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