Rossi model 92 .38/.357 carbine feedback

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ELMOUSMC

New member
I spend quite a bit of time wandering the river valleys and hollows here in N.E. Iowa and and often I will kick a coyote out.I have carried a lot of different gun from pistols(useless for me) shotguns,.22 semi autos,Ars ect
A friend has a Rossi md 92 16in carbine in .38/357 its a handy little lever gun that weighs6+ lbs,he swears by it and carries it every where
Iam hoping some of you all have some experience with this gun and could give me some feed back on quality,fit,finish and reliablity.The 1 my friend has is about 10 years old and it looks like it was used as a fence stretcher any imput would be great:D
 
IMHO, your friend's already given you the best feedback/reference available - they're a no B.S. using gun, slicker than a green snake and handier than an extra arm.


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what he said. Cosmetically I like the older ones better and functionally the no safety ones as well, which were all the Interarms era (late 70s/early 80s to early 90s, EMF "Hartfords" up 'til '06, and the few Navy Arms variants out there. LSI (Legacy Pumas, which "replaced" Interarms, all had the fukakata safety as do all the current Rossis (under Braztech/Taurus ownership). (The safety does have a "fix" out there, however).

But...I'll take a Rossi in any form. Early ones 'til the factory retooling in 2000 or so were said by many to be a little rough out of the box. True of some, not of others. For those that required smoothing, shooting and/or dry levering usually did the trick, or Steve Young (aka Nate Kiowa Jones) of www.stevesgunz.com, can help directly with one of his tune ups (or above safety "fix"), or with a DVD and parts he sells. NKJ's the acknowledged 92 guru.

All 'n all, like their Winchester forebearers, Rossis are very handy - light, and smooth with a very strong action. The 20" carbine is my overall favorite and the one I'd have if you can have only one, but the little 16" trapper sure is handy.
 
I also have one of the Rossi (Interarms) guns and it is a great gun, mine is a pre safety model. It is light weight and fun, I love to run 38spl loads out of mine for a fun all day shooting. I believe you could do alot worse for a good run about gun. I also picked up one in 45LC and could not be happier.
 
I have one in 44 mag and it's the best gun I have purchased given the low price and high fun factor. Super reliable and much more accurate than I was thinking it would be. Busting little clays at 70 yards is pretty easy. Plus mine feeds any bullet profile I've tried including semi-wadcutters.
 
I thought about getting one. My son wants to steal my marlin 1894 trapper. When and if that happens that leaves me with out my favorite deer harvesting rifle. I have looked at the Rossi but had the guy behind the counter tell me they are junk... it nice to hear that guy may be wrong.

Still I am wanting a Winchester Trapper.

Is there not any 357 magnum carbines made in America any more?
 
Lever-wise, no American-made Winchesters any more, and when they were they were just 94s, no 92s. AFAIK, there has NEVER been an American-factory Win 92 made in .357, period--or in any other calber since 1941. Model 94s are another matter, made here 'til the Connecticut plant closed eight or ten (?) years ago,...and from many posts in this and other forums, .357 is not a good chambering (yes, some report no problems). The 94 was not designed for "pistol-length" rounds in the first place, but the larger bores among them supposedly fare better than the .357. Stick with the Japanese (Miroku plant) Win 92 if you must have Winchester---though far from cheap. Same plant that made the stellar Browning 92s--which are getting precious in .357 especially (lower production than the .44s). Otherwise, another American made .357 would be Marlin. I'd pick an older Marlin before a Win 94 or Henry (too heavy) in this chambering.
 
No 92 but a Marlin

Do't have a Rossi 92 but do have a Marlin .357. The .357 lever carbines are indeed handy and useful shooters and mine gets steady use as a GP and walking abouit rifle. I shoot mine better than any handgun, and the .357 ctg gets a useful boost from carbine length barrels. Loaded down to .38 power, or simply shoot .38 in you don't load, and the carbine is no more trouble to shoot for beginners than a .22.

You will not go wrong w/ a .357 lever carbine.
 
I have one of the rossi 38/357's with a longer 24' barrel and I absolutely love it. It was a little stiff right out of the box, but not bad at all and after working the action a bit it smoothed up real nice. The sights were dead on with 38's and I can get nice little groups out at 50 yds. Haven't tried grouping it any further than that yet. Fit and finish is great for such an inexpensive rifle and it is loads of fun to shoot. I imagine one of the 16 or 20 inch versions would be quite handy to carry around.
 
I have a Rossi in 38/357 and it is not as smooth as the older Marlins and Winchesters. Mine works fine but If you are looking for smooth and perfect fit I think you may be a bit disappointed.

I guess you get what you pay for... unfortunately there is no such thing as a 357 magnum lever gun made in America any more. (as far as I know)
 
I've had a Rossi 357 carbine for several years now. The ABSOLUTE BEST thing you can do if you own one is to do the action job (or get it done) described on the Stevesgunz DVD referenced in Post #3.

It will make the Rossi the slickest lever action you have ever worked.
 
I have been impressed by the 38/357 Rossi with a 16" barrel I recently purchased. With little effort and some different springs you can do an action job which makes it about as smooth as any other lever gun. There never was any roughness even when new. I also lightened the trigger pull considerably. Btw the trigger pull was nice and crisp with very little over travel. This gun will shoot 1 1/16" and 1 1/4" groups with 2 different bullets at 50 yards and with older eyes and iron sights. It didn't take but a few different loads to try to get what I consider satisfactory accuracy.

I've only taken it out 4 times and functioning is perfect. I tried some SWC loads for the heck of it and it stumbled a bit but usually fed them. Other bullets not a single issue feeding. I have used Remington 125gr jhp, Zero 125 gr jhp and Speer 125gr tmj bullets.

The fit and finish is good with wood to metal. The quality of the parts fit is good with no slop. The wood on the stock is stained. I used a museum quality wax which removed some stain and lightened the color. You can see the grain of the wood and it looks much better.

I've read you need to look them over before you buy one but other than that I'm very pleased with it and will buy one in .44 now. From what I can tell from reading especially at the Marlin Owner's forum the Rossi is the better choice over a new Marlin. Apparently there have been alot of bad Remlins released. Those guys report seeing numerous Remlin lever guns that should not have made it out the door for sale.
 
Rossi's are great lil rifles. That said I sold mine because I had trouble getting my thumb in the loading gate to load. I much prefer the marlin for that.
 
Not so fast

I totally wish I had the money back from buying this gun. What a piece O S. The stock is underwhelming. The operation of the hammer/safety is stupid. I can (barely) laod 38's but cannot load more than 2 357's. Worst lever action ever.
 
I have the 20" 44 version and like it. Not perfect out of the box, but once you get the action smoothed out its a pretty good gun. I used several coats of Tru-Oil on the stock which really improved the looks, and had a problem with the loading gate which the shop I bought it from quickly fixed.

To smooth the action I removed all the wood, sprayed a lot of brake cleaner into the action, cycled it a lot, sprayed in more brake cleaner, cycled it a bunch more, and after it dried applied gun oil and grease, and cycled it a bunch more. Slick as snot now.
 
The concept of a small lever gun in 357 is good, but I'd get a Marlin instead.

I've owned several Rossis - two 92s, a 20 ga coach gun, a 22 pump and a 22 revolver. All were rough, poorly finished and accuracy was so-so at best. I spent hours trying to make the 92s work smoothly and finally got them to function acceptably, but accuracy was poor. The 22 pump never fed right.

I finally sold them all off except for the 22 revolver, which I kept as a reminder in case I ever got the urge to buy another Rossi.

To be fair, the last one I bought was 10 years ago, so maybe things have improved since then.

But I doubt it.
 
The concept of a small lever gun in 357 is good, but I'd get a Marlin instead.
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I've got a Marlin .357. I like it, but it's pushing 7 pounds, which seems heavier than it ought to be, and, for me, a bit heavy for a walking around gun. I'm not a heavy person myself though, so maybe others wouldn't mind. The 16" Rossi 92 is listed at 4.8 pounds. If that's accurate, the two guns would be quite different.
 
My Rossi is the LSI/PUMA with a 20" Octagon barrel. I bought it 7 years ago and it's been trouble-free from day one. Great rifle, especially for the money.
 
I've got a Marlin .357. I like it, but it's pushing 7 pounds, which seems heavier than it ought to be, and, for me, a bit heavy for a walking around gun. I'm not a heavy person myself though, so maybe others wouldn't mind. The 16" Rossi 92 is listed at 4.8 pounds. If that's accurate, the two guns would be quite different.
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If you prefer the lighter 92 action, fine, but find a Browning 92 instead. It's more expensive than the Rossi, but worth every penny.
 
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