Rossi lever action ?

I'm looking for an SS 16" one. My friend and a guy he knows bought one last year and they both feed everything he's put through them as long as you aren't gentle about working the lever. If you work it slowly, they WILL jam, if you work it like you're angry, all is well. Rossi seems to have fixed the insanely powerful loading gate spring problem they had in the past, as well as the edge of the loading gate was smooth enough not to cut your thumb all up like a lot of the old ones did out of the box. The only thing it seems to need is a metal mag follower, as the plastic one is not going to last.
 
"Work it like your angry"

My Henry is the same way with .38's. Just gotta give her hell....... Hand does get sore from the lever after a while though. :(
 
Nobody really makes a good .357 lever gun these days.

Marlin discontinued theres, the Rossis are very hard to find right now, and the Henry's ar heavy and have a strange loading method.
 
Don't forget about a Browning M92. While they too are no longer made, they are a great carbine, especially in 357mag.
 
The Miroku made Browning 92s were great. You had to load your 38 specials a little longer to get them to feed reliably though.
 
Recently, I found a new Miroku-made Winchester 1892 saddle ring carbine in .357. Checking around these seem to be quite rare. I believe that is the same gun as the Browning 92. It has the large loop lever and 20 inch round barrel. I paid more than I was budgeting but it is a beautiful little carbine and it’s not like I could find a better price down the street.
 
One problem people have had with the Rossi is not cycling it quickly. If you try to do it slowly it can jam. If you go to the Rossi forum they can figure out any problem. The one I had the machine work was awful and should have never left the factory but I made it work. Got the trigger perfect and smoothed things out. The worst thing though was the loading gate was only partly machined so loading it was a bit of a pain. The groove in the gate was merely a lowered area in the center that did not reach the end of the gate where the ammo goes in. It was also totally rough. I may decide to buy another but next time it won't be ordered online.
 
I love mine...however, I only use .357 cases...no benefit in using the .38 cases...and a pain in the butt to keep them separated.
 
Bought my Rossi .44 mag off the rack - it was there quite a while, and all the handling by customers at the LGS, had it all nice and smooth!
 
Mine has shot everything I've put through it, both .38 and .357, lead and jacketed. The only thing I'm not too thrilled with is the safety location on top of the action.
 
I have one of the pre-idiot lever ones and I originally had problems with cycling your standard .38 Special ammo as well. However, it must have been around 2000 or 2001, the SASS community did a special run of Lee gang moulds using what was known as a "snakebite" bullet. This was a 160 grain round nose lead bullet that was designed by a cowboy action shooter called Snakebite which is how the bullet got it's name. It's a little longer than your standard .38 bullets that took care of the cycling problems when loaded into .38 Special brass. I got 2 of them when they were doing the run but I'm not sure where you would get those moulds now.
 
My 16 inch barreled .357 carbine has ended up well. The journey to get there was rough though. The action was rough, I bought her new, and she would not cycle .38s. I had a rough ride with a local gunsmith and finally had to give it to another gun smith to get her right. The gun is slick and accurate at this point. I sanded and spar varnished the stock so she looks good. This it to my knock around woods rifle.
 
Never had one in 357 but I did have one in 44 Magnum. Would not feed 44 Specials but gun smith said he could correct that. I never bothered.

The wood on these tends to be less than spectacular. Otherwise they look OK and work OK.
 
Easy stock improvement is to stop at the local antique mall and get a can of "Briwax". I got a dark cherry color, applied like wax, buffed off, does a beautiful job of filling in scratches and giving the stock a nice, satin sheen.
 
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