I have a Rossi 92 20” carbine in .45 Colt as well as a Rossi 92 20” short rifle and a Rossi 92 24” rifle, both in .357 Magnum, and I have some history with various other Rossi 92 rifles and carbines going back about 30 years.

Here are my thoughts and observations.

1) Quality of the stock finish has varied over the years. Way back in the at the stock finish and appearance was very similar to vintage Winchester Model 1892s.

From 10-15 years ago until recently, the stocks used were some sort of mystery hardwood with a finish with all the charm of shoe polish. It would even run in the rain. The saving grace was the factory stock finish made an acceptable base stain for an oil finish applied on top, whether it was Tru-Oil, pure Tung Oil or boiled linseed oil. The first couple coats of Tru Oil would take a day or so to dry, but the rest would dry down in the normal 90 minutes.

I did look at a Rossi 92 a few weeks ago in a local gun shop and Rossi is now doing a good job with the stock finish.

2) The exterior metal work and finsih has always been good, with good polish and blue.

3) The “you get what you pay for” side of things shows up in the internal finish of the metal work. A Rossi 92 won’t compare smoothness wise to an Armi Sport, Uberti, or Winchester made lever gun out of the box.

However, those guns all cost at least twice as much as a Rossi 92, and most of the difference in smoothness can be corrected with some not very difficult do it your self work.

Steve’s Guns sells a DIY action job kit for $63 that includes a DVD on how to completely dissemble the Rossi 92, make a few detail changes, and then reassemble it. The Kit also includes a stainless steel magazine follower and a replacement ejector spring.

Rossi 92 - DIY Action Job KIT [DVDComboPak 1] - $63.40 : Steve's Gunz, Rossi 92 Specialist

Much of the action stiffness occurs because Rossi uses a really strong ejector spring. Just replacing that spring with the lighter one in the Steve’s Guns kit will get you about 75% of the way there is terms of improved smoothness.

The rest of it comes from:
- thoroughly cleaning all the preservative grease and left over machining swarf out of the gun;
- lighting the hammer spring by shortening it slightly;
- polishing key surfaces on the bolt and locking lugs;
- polishing the lever detent; and
- polishing the detents in the cartridge guides.

The DVD also covers thinning the spring on the loading gate and shortening the magazine spring slightly to make it easier to load the rifle.

The stainless magazine follower avoids the issue of the plastic follower eventually expanding and cracking, causing cartridges to hang up in the magazine tube.


4) I own an Armi Sport 1892 24” take down rifle in .45 Colt and it was butter smooth out of the box. I also own an Uberti Model 1894 that was also exceptionally smooth out of the box (by Model 94 standards). Neither of the three Rossi 92s I own were anywhere near that smooth out of the box but all three are just as smooth after doing the full Steve’s Guns DIY treatment above.

5’ As noted above, I applied an oil finish on all of my Rossi 92 stocks made during the shoe polish era. But adding an oil finish on top of the original finish puts them on par with other lever gun finishes:

Rossi 92 20” carbine in .45 Colt:




1990s era Wichester Model 94 20” carbine in .45 Colt.



Armi Sport Model 1892 24” take down rifle in .45 Colt:



Rossi 92 20” short rifle in .357 Magnum:



Rossi 92 24” rifle in .357 Magnum:





1979 Winchester Model 94, 2022 Uberti Model 1894, and 2022 Winchester Model 94:

[IMG]https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/h470/SDBB57/FullSizeRender_8WSY***esY38Y6otb9YUJt.jpg?width=590&height=590&fit=bounds[/IMG]


Accuracy wise there are a few things to consider:

- Rifle pattern lever guns (fore end cap, magazine tube hangar and no barrel bands) are generally slightly more accurate than carbines (barrel band around the fore end and another around the barrel and magazine tube).

- In the Rossi Model 92 and Winchester Model 92, .357 Mag is more accurate than .44 Mag or .45 Colt. The barrel walls are a little thicker making the barrels a bit stiffer, and the recoil is a lot less, reducing vibration and improving barrel harmonics.

- A tang sight will improve accuracy over a barrel mounted partridge or semi buckhorn sight.

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My two Rossi 92 rifles in .357 Mag at solid 5 shot 2 MOA rifles at 100 yards with a tang sight installed. They will launch a hand loaded 125 gr XTP at 2210 fps and a 158 gr Federal JSP at 1820 fps - all with 2 MOA accuracy and without beating you to death.

My .45 Colt carbines are 3 MOA with lighter loads and 4-5 MOA at 32,000 psi, .44 magnum performance levels. The recoil with the heavy loads is fierce in what is a fairly lightweight carbine.


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In short, the Rossi 92 offers great bang for the buck, and if you put a little DIY effort into it they are very slick functioning rifles and carbines.