Does anyone have a .44 cal Rossi 92?

[TomkinsSP]

I have a .38/.357 model 92, and was thinking about getting the .44 version with a 20 inch tube. My biggest question is, "does this guy chamber shorter .44 special brass?"

Of course, if you have one that fell apart the first time fired, or shoots one ragged hole at 750 yards, that would be nice to know as well.

Thanks for any info.

 

[Tom K]

I used to own a Rossi .44 that was not very reliable at feeding Specials, and it hurt like hell to shoot Magnums with its steel buttplate and light weight. I probably should have just handloaded some light loads in Magnum cases but I wound up selling it.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I've never had a 44 mag Rossi 92 I've had a 357 Mag and several in 45 Colt. I bought out a fellow cowboy shooters 45 Schofield ammo and it cycled fine in both my Rossi 92's, never tried it in my Navy Arms 92.

I had fellow shooter that only used 44 Special in the Cowboy shoots, some used Marlins, and some used Rossi, old Tigre, and other brands of 92.

 

[6518John]

My 13 year old loves shooting ours. I suspect 95% plus of the ammo he has shot through it were .44 Specials. We have never had feeding problems with either special or magnum ammo.

Only negatives are it shoots way high with the factory sights. Google it—very common problem with these rifles. I monkeyed with ours a few hours to fix and gave up. I am just going to order a tang/peep sight for it when I get around to it.

And you will be surprised how much it kicks with .44 magnum loads.

If you have any other questions, let me know.

 

[TomkinsSP]

Thank you. I have boxes of handloads in Special and Russian brass, but don't own a piece of Magnum brass for some reason (I inexplicably have some .45 ACP (SPP) and .45 GAP). IIRC the wedge for the rear sight is removable. Could surfacing this help lower POI?

 

[6518John]

I removed the rear sight wedge. Still way high.

 

[BC38]

Here's a tip to reduce the recoil.
Get one of the thick rubber buttpads for a 10/22. With a little modification it will fit the Rossi reasonably well. You just have to change the angle of the wrap-around tab on the top (bend the interior metal plate) and then trim/grind the rubber sides to better match the shape of the butt.
Takes a LOT of the sting out of the recoil of this light little carbine when shooting full-house magnums.

 

[Alpo]

I have one. I don't believe I've ever put a round of magnum through it. I feed it Specials. Never any problem with them.

 

[Kurusu]

I do have a Rossi 92 in .44 Mag. But it's a 24" octagon barrel rifle. I find recoil mild. Never tried .44 SPL so don't know if it works, theorectically it does.

 

[mtgianni]

I had a Rossi 92 EL Tigre model made before they were owned by Taurus. It chambered everything in 44 Mag and Special with the exception of wadcutters. It also fed them from the tube well. They make a curved butt lace on pad that is good to have. That gun would bruise me in every position I tried it in without that. The older ones are very hard to find but mine shot to point of aim with a 250 gr cast bullet @ 50 yards.

 

[TomkinsSP]

I think the controlling dimention is the part that "elevates" the round from magazine to chamber. If the round to be fed is shorter than this "elevator" (likley the wrong name for this part) the next round will jam the action. My .38/.357 will chamber 158 grain RNFP in .38 LC brass, but not FLUSH seated 148 grain wadcutters in special brass. (It will chamber 150 grain 3 groove flat base wadcutters in special brass crimped in the first groove.) Since both .38 and .44 special brass are the same length I was hoping that Rossi made that "elevator" the same length (heck, it might be the same part.) Since many have shot .44 specials in thiers it must be about the same dimentionally.

I like 225 grain LRNFP in .44 special, I am wondering if those who have had difficulty with special brass were using lighter (shorter) bullets?

 

[Dieseltech56]

I have a 44 mag rossi puma from around 2010. I love the gun now but it wasn't perfect when I got it. The barrel band screws were messed up from the factory and they are tough to track down if you need some. It's something to look out for when you're buying one.

Also my ejector spring was too stiff and the gun wouldn't extract properly because the ejector had the cartridge jammed too hard up against the chamber wall. The extractor claw would just bounce right up over the rim. Once I replaced the ejector spring with one from stevesgunz it has worked flawlessly. I also put a lighter hammer spring in too.

I can't speak for 44 specials but if you want a lighter recoiling gun I would just load some midrange 44 mag loads and call it a day. A 240 grain cast bullet with 10 grains of unique is a joy to shoot.

 

[smoothshooter]

I removed the rear sight wedge. Still way high.

Build up the top of the front sight with some of that metal-impregnated putty epoxy that is sold in auto parts stores. Dress it down to the height and shape you want in a few hours after it hardens.
You will be surprised how well it works.

 

[BC38]

I think the controlling dimention is the part that "elevates" the round from magazine to chamber. If the round to be fed is shorter than this "elevator" (likley the wrong name for this part) the next round will jam the action. My .38/.357 will chamber 158 grain RNFP in .38 LC brass, but not FLUSH seated 148 grain wadcutters in special brass. (It will chamber 150 grain 3 groove flat base wadcutters in special brass crimped in the first groove.) Since both .38 and .44 special brass are the same length I was hoping that Rossi made that "elevator" the same length (heck, it might be the same part.) Since many have shot .44 specials in thiers it must be about the same dimentionally.

I like 225 grain LRNFP in .44 special, I am wondering if those who have had difficulty with special brass were using lighter (shorter) bullets?

I don't know the name of the part, but there is a piece under that "elevator" at the entrance to the tube magazine that catches on the rim of the next round coming out of the tube and holds it forward in the tube as a round is lifted up by the elevator. As the elevator drops below the magazine tube it "bumps" that piece out of the way to allow one round out of the magazine tube.
The length of the round doesn't have any bearing on keeping the rest of the rounds in the magazine tube and out of the way of the elevator.

 

[amazingflapjack]

Like tom k said-the crescent butt plate on 44 mag lever guns can be a killer. On the other hand, a 357 mag lever is still potent, but much more pleasant for everyone in the house.

 

[cowboy4evr]

I have a Rossi 16" in 45 colt . No problem with the sights nor recoil . My std load is 255 rnfp with 8.0 grs of 231/zip . Very accurate and has power . I chose the 45 colt for several reasons .

 

[03hemi]

Had one, got rid of it as fast as possible, biggest piece of **** I've ever purchased.

 

[Bodie57]

I had a Rossi Puma in .44 mag. It shot specials ok. Only thing was it tumbled at .429. I shot Lee 215 SWC. When sized .431 they did fine for Cowboy Action ranges. I later re barreled to .45 Colt and still have it.

 

[jag312]

I don't have one, but I fired someone's Rossi rifle in .44 Magnum. We fired both .44 Special and .44 Magnum without a problem. Both were handloads with 240 grain SWC bullets. Recoil wasn't bad for either.

 

[Kiwi cop]

I had a blue steel/wood saddle ring carbine model in 44/40 for over 20 years, nice little gun.

It was stolen a few months ago and replaced with a Stainless/wood version I have yet to fire. My .357 Magnum Henry Big Boy will load and fire .38 specials but only if loaded with 158 gn projectiles set to a .357 length. It feeds 148gn HBWC unreliably. I suspect that may also be true for the .44 Magnum/44Special combination in a Rossi.