I have owned several Rossi 92s, currently down to two, both are stainless trappers, 357 and 44. I also own or have owned Marlins and Brownings in these calibers. The Rossis shoot better than the Brownings,, even if they don't look quite as nice. Marlin 357s seem to all shoot pretty well, but I have yet to find a Marlin 44 that met my expectations for accuracy. The Rossi 92 44 that I have is a great shooter.

Both of miy R92s have been to Steve Young for an action job, money well spent. At a minimum I would remove that silly bolt safety and install a steel magazine follower, both available thru Mr Young's shop.

I have owned Rossis in 45 Colt. One was a 20 inch stainless carbine, the other a blued trapper. I had some very stout Ruger only loads that I tried in the trapper. I ran out of recoil tolerance before I found the guns limit. The Rossi 92 trapper is around 5 to 5 1/2 pounds, and with the steel butt plate it can dish out some punishment. 300 and 320 grain heavy hardcast loads were more recoil than I wanted. Also, I ran out of adjustment of the read sight elevator with the heaviest loads.

All that said, I think the Rossi 92 is a dandy little lever gun, and in 357 mag is one of my favorites.

If I wanted to shoot heavy 45 Colt loads in a Rossi 92, I'd try to find one in 454 Casull. The recoil pad alone would be reason enough, but I also like the tube loading feature on the 454.

I really like the accuracy, but the action is crunchy. It was, however, brand spanking new in the box. It's an Interarms import, so that puts it at close to 20 years old at least and I bought it 6 months ago. I'm hoping that a bunch of shooting smooths things out.

Steve Young has a nifty bolt peep sight that replaces that goofy safety on the newer ones. I like the way it looks. Haven't used one though.

A good lubing helped a lot. I did have to change the sights to a higher front and low rear to get the sights on. Amazing the difference in 357 out of a rifle versus a revolver. If I were restricted to only one rifle, that would be it.

a Williams Foolproof. I load Rugerish 300 gr. loads in it and use jacketed bullets ILO cast which I save for the revolvers so I can tell the two loads apart (I have USFA revolvers). It shoots very well, I think. I need to use it more. I could almost say that I like it better than the Marlin 1894 .44 Mag.

http://shootingwithhobie.blogspot.com/search/label/RossiLever

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Sincerely,

Hobie

bought mine in 1999 over the years I've added a Marbles tang sight and Williams front. Here's what it does to a +/- 700lb feral boar.

to get action slickered up. Have thought about a shallow checkering job on the butt plate, for traction. [skateboard tape IS fugly, after all] Remedied the stock sights to the recently shown here, 'flat-top and bead' Have pondered mounting one of the resident tang sights, but I like that smooth and easy straight grip. .357 -- everything this person can use; in civilized areas, anyway. Martha Anne [lefty]can run it OK, for center of silly-wet purposes.

Rossi's are like a poker hand... you get a great one, an OK one or a dud.

My great one is the 16" 45 Colt I've posted about recently. See... that rifle snookered me. I thought they were all that good. The NIB .357 that followed it was the dud. I eventually made a rifle out of it, but suffice it to say I can now disassemble/reassemble a 92 with a fifth of whiskey in me and table salt in my eyes.

Personally, I'd take an older Rossi 92 over one made after the Taurus takeover.