Rossi M92 Carbine

[PALADIN85020]

I have a Rossi 92 saddle ring carbine that I'm very happy with. This one was made in 1980 before they started equipping their 92s with the "safety thingy" on top of the breechblock. Here it is:



Prior to this I had another Rossi with the safety thingy. After aiming and squeezing the trigger on a target and hearing it go "click" instead of "bang" I got rid of it after a friend said he coveted it. The gun is ideal for home defense, and the last thing I wanted was a failure to fire. John Browning designed it perfectly from the start - no embellishments required. Here's a photo of the two guns side to side - the safety thingy model on the left. If you get one of these, consider removing that damn device.

John

 

[Faulkner]

^^^ I agree with John ^^^

That hideous bolt safety thingy is very easy to replace and plug with a kit from Steve's Gunz. Took me about 10 minutes.

 

[xtrtsqrt11]

I have a 16" in 357. It's most reliable with 357, 38's take a little fidgeting with the lever.
I've had it for about 3 years, haven't removed the little safety on top of the bolt. Yet....

Very decent little rifle. Fun to shoot, mild recoil in 357. All in all, I like it very well.

 

[jag312]

I don't own a Rossi 92, but I have fired one in .44 Magnum many times. It worked as designed, but the action seemed a little gritty compared to my Winchesters. Before I retired, sometimes we would get a special visitor and we would allow them to shoot a gun in our indoor range. I would always have them shoot a Winchester 9422. That always seemed to satisfy them. One day, a visitor wanted to shoot something with more power. I took the Rossi 92 in .44 Magnum and loaded it with some of my mild .44 Special cartridges. After he fired it a couple times, this delicate flower asked how it was legal to manufacture such a powerful rifle. Two thoughts crossed my mind. One thought involved using inappropriate language to tell him what I thought of him. The second evil thought was allowing him to shoot a .458 Magnum.

 

[BB57]

I don't own a Rossi 92, but I have fired one in .44 Magnum many times. It worked as designed, but the action seemed a little gritty compared to my Winchesters. Before I retired, sometimes we would get a special visitor and we would allow them to shoot a gun in our indoor range. I would always have them shoot a Winchester 9422. That always seemed to satisfy them. One day, a visitor wanted to shoot something with more power. I took the Rossi 92 in .44 Magnum and loaded it with some of my mild .44 Special cartridges. After he fired it a couple times, this delicate flower asked how it was legal to manufacture such a powerful rifle. Two thoughts crossed my mind. One thought involved using inappropriate language to tell him what I thought of him. The second evil thought was allowing him to shoot a .458 Magnum.

Another shooter / concealed carry / coworker / friend and I had some college students over for a barbecue. During the course of the evening it came up that we both owned and fired handguns and they expressed interest so we got one out as an opportunity to go over some basic safety stuff.

One of the students was amazed that neither one of “changed” when we picked up a hand gun. I guess he thought it was some sort of evil, possessed relic that automatically imbued evil into its holder. (I didn’t complicate matters by adding I also conceal carried and that he’d probably never actually seen me without a handgun.)

Those kind of off the wall, ignorant beliefs by non gun owners is why it’s so important for responsible gun owners to be good ambassadors of firearm ownership and 2A rights.

A recent survey that (finally) asked one of the right questions found that only about 30% of Americans actually own a gun. That varied from a high of around 55% in MT and with only 16 states having percentages above 50%, with VT being 16th on the list. My home state of SD was 9th and my current state of NC is 26th.

But…the important question was how many people considered possibly owning one on the future that percentage was also around 1/3rd nation wide, with another 1/3rd who could never imagine wanting to own a gun.

Think about that for a minute. Gun owners are a decidedly small minority at just 30%, but our rights are protected by another 33% or so who want to keep that option open. That’s the third that will help us preserve our 2A rights from the third who see no downside at all in banning something they have no interest in owning.

That’s why it is very important that gun owners present themselves as normal people who are for the most part not covered by the negative red neck far right stereotype that is often portrayed by the media.

It’s also why it’s a good ide to take advantage of opportunities to expose people to shooting sports and let the, find for themselves that it is an enjoyable experience that has often has little or nothing to do with a desire to kill animals, and never involves a desire to kill other people unless the shooter is a psychopath.

We are starting to make progress as the percentage of Americans who want stronger gun laws has decreased from 60% to 53% over the last couple years. 49% do not believe that stronger gun laws will reduce mass shootings. It’s a positive sign that just less than half of Americans understand that it’s not the guns that create the violence, but rather the long list of social issues that have not been properly addressed over the last couple decades.

 

[BB57]

I don't own a Rossi 92, but I have fired one in .44 Magnum many times. It worked as designed, but the action seemed a little gritty compared to my Winchesters...

Some are worse than others but all three of my Rossi 92s benefitted from a good cleaning to remove grease, gunk and in some cases metal chips and swarf from the manufacturing processes.

As noted in some posts above about half the benefits of slicking up the action can be gained by putting in a lighter ejector spring. If you only do tow things do those - clean it thoroughly and change the ejector spring.

Lighting the main spring, magazine spring and loading gate springs also help (the latter two making it easier to load). I’m not a big fan of lightning the lever detent spring, as polishing the lever plunger and detent accomplish the same thing without increasing the risk of the lever dropping on its own.

Polishing the cartridge guides and the camming surfaces on the bolt accomplish the rest.

When all that’s done, it’ll feel like a Winchester 92 or the Armi Sport copy of the Winchester 92.

 

[Miami_JBT]

I'm in the process of hunting down a blued 16" model in .45 Colt. I have a Marlin 1894CSS and a Winchester 94AE Trapper, both in .357 Magnum, but no .45 Colt chambered lever action.

My two .357 Magnums.

A good friend of mine has a Rossi in .357 Magnum and it works very well. I've shot his enough to make me want it in .45 Colt, instead of a Henry.

 

[Puller]

Another shooter / concealed carry / coworker / friend and I had some college students over for a barbecue. During the course of the evening it came up that we both owned and fired handguns and they expressed interest so we got one out as an opportunity to go over some basic safety stuff.

One of the students was amazed that neither one of “changed” when we picked up a hand gun. I guess he thought it was some sort of evil, possessed relic that automatically imbued evil into its holder. (I didn’t complicate matters by adding I also conceal carried and that he’d probably never actually seen me without a handgun.)

Those kind of off the wall, ignorant beliefs by non gun owners is why it’s so important for responsible gun owners to be good ambassadors of firearm ownership and 2A rights.

A recent survey that (finally) asked one of the right questions found that only about 30% of Americans actually own a gun. That varied from a high of around 55% in MT and with only 16 states having percentages above 50%, with VT being 16th on the list. My home state of SD was 9th and my current state of NC is 26th.

But…the important question was how many people considered possibly owning one on the future that percentage was also around 1/3rd nation wide, with another 1/3rd who could never imagine wanting to own a gun.

Think about that for a minute. Gun owners are a decidedly small minority at just 30%, but our rights are protected by another 33% or so who want to keep that option open. That’s the third that will help us preserve our 2A rights from the third who see no downside at all in banning something they have no interest in owning.

That’s why it is very important that gun owners present themselves as normal people who are for the most part not covered by the negative red neck far right stereotype that is often portrayed by the media.

It’s also why it’s a good ide to take advantage of opportunities to expose people to shooting sports and let the, find for themselves that it is an enjoyable experience that has often has little or nothing to do with a desire to kill animals, and never involves a desire to kill other people unless the shooter is a psychopath.

We are starting to make progress as the percentage of Americans who want stronger gun laws has decreased from 60% to 53% over the last couple years. 49% do not believe that stronger gun laws will reduce mass shootings. It’s a positive sign that just less than half of Americans understand that it’s not the guns that create the violence, but rather the long list of social issues that have not been properly addressed over the last couple decades.

We're kinda getting off topic, but the anti's are actually winning the "guns-are-bad" war. With the constant propaganda to our young people in schools and the (purposefully or not) high price of ammo, the next two generations could pretty much kill the gun ownership out of apathy if nothing else.

Back on topic, there is obviously a high demand for .357 lever guns of all brands, if the OP has a chance to nab that one I'd say jump on it.

I think a Rossi '92 in .327 magnum would be super cool as well.

 

[AJ]

We're kinda getting off topic, but the anti's are actually winning the "guns-are-bad" war. With the constant propaganda to our young people in schools and the (purposefully or not) high price of ammo, the next two generations could pretty much kill the gun ownership out of apathy if nothing else.

Back on topic, there is obviously a high demand for .357 lever guns of all brands, if the OP has a chance to nab that one I'd say jump on it.

I think a Rossi '92 in .327 magnum would be super cool as well.

I am the OP and will buy the rifle. The seller is holding it for me and I will pick it up when I am out of Covid Jail!

 

[ISCS Yoda]

I still have my Navy Arms M92 Rossi in .45/c and it's a gorgeous rifle and I had a generic M92 Rossi in .44-40 and it was a great rifle, too. Many of my cowboy action shooting compadres shot M92 Rossis in .357 Magnum (okay, they shot light loads but that's not the point and one friend took a deer every year on her farm with her M92 in .357).

 

[erikpolcrack]

I have had nothing but good experience with my three Rossi 92 guns. I have an older model SRC in 357 Mag and a beautiful newer octagon barrel case-hardened short rifle in 44 Mag. I also have a new Ranch Hand mare's leg in 45 Colt. The SRC is one of my top knocking around/plinking long guns and is a real favorite with my kids - even the grown-up ones.

 

[BB57]

We're kinda getting off topic, but the anti's are actually winning the "guns-are-bad" war. With the constant propaganda to our young people in schools and the (purposefully or not) high price of ammo, the next two generations could pretty much kill the gun ownership out of apathy if nothing else.

Back on topic, there is obviously a high demand for .357 lever guns of all brands, if the OP has a chance to nab that one I'd say jump on it.

I think a Rossi '92 in .327 magnum would be super cool as well.

I heard a girl interviewed on NPR a couple months ago talking about the stress of going to school and having to worry about school shootings.

There have been 15 people killed and 61 people injured in school related shootings in the US in 2021. Looking at the data, it appears a significant number of the “school” shootings occurred near a school, such as a drive by shooting near a school or a shooting in a parking lot, or stray rounds that from off campus hit a student on campus. If you add in the shootings at ball games after regular school hours the majority of “school” shootings occur at times and places other than in a school with classes in session.

But let’s just go with 15 killed and 61 injured *out of 48.1 million students nation wide*. That’s a .000158% chance of being killed or injured in a shoot shooting.

To add more perspective, on average 128 students are killed in school bus accidents every year. That’s still decimal dust, but twice the rate of school shooting related injuries and 8 times the rate of school shooting related fatalities.

Yet I didn’t hear a peep out of the student interviewed about living in fear of riding the school bus.

The whole point here is that it is indeed schools creating a culture of fear based on literally almost non existent gun violence. It’s not just the schools either, but also the occasional mis guided local PD with a woody over the idea of doing an active shooter drill.

I’m not real sympathetic given that I grew up during the Cold War in a state chock full of missile silos and a SAC B-52 base. I understood from a pretty early age that if I ever saw our missiles going up, I see Soviet missiles coming down about 30 minutes later.

We did duck and cover drills in schools, but by then the schools were smart enough to address them as part of the usual severe weather drills as well and downplayed the whole nuclear apocalypse angle.

They need to do the same thing with active shooter drills and frankly they need to be upfront about the incredibly low probability,it’s if it ever actually occurring, rather than treating it as an almost inevitable occurrence.

——-

Owning both .45 Colt and .357 Magnum Model 92s I’m firmly in the camp that less is more and that .357 Mag is far more practical and far more effective than .45 Colt or .44 Magnum in a Model 92.

And I’d also love to see one in .327 Federal Magnum.

 

[BC38]

...Owning both .45 Colt and .357 Magnum Model 92s I’m firmly in the camp that less is more and that .357 Mag is far more practical and far more effective than .45 Colt or .44 Magnum in a Model 92...

Just curious but what definition of "more effective" would you apply to conclude that a 357 magnum rifle is more effective than a 44 magnum rifle? 45 Colt, I can see that maybe, but 44 magnum?

So then you'd choose a 357magnum over a 44 magnum for bear protection?

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

So then you'd choose a 357magnum over a 44 magnum for bear protection?

And there you have it, a Bear Gun Thread!

I too own 92's by Rossi in both 357mag and 45 Colt and have owned a Browning B-92 in 44 Mag. Against Big Bears? 44 would be preferd, but since 44 mag is no longer an option, I'll take 45 Colt standard loading over 357mag! I'll Buffalo Bore over standard, for bears.

For the Silver Bears and Polar bears, I go for the hot loads in my 1886 Browning! When you care to use the very best: 45-70, 400grains at 2150fps! Not a 92, but it is THE Big Brother!

Ivan

 

[AJ]

And there you have it, a Bear Gun Thread!

I too own 92's by Rossi in both 357mag and 45 Colt and have owned a Browning B-92 in 44 Mag. Against Big Bears? 44 would be preferd, but since 44 mag is no longer an option, I'll take 45 Colt standard loading over 357mag! I'll Buffalo Bore over standard, for bears.

For the Silver Bears and Polar bears, I go for the hot loads in my 1886 Browning! When you care to use the very best: 45-70, 400grains at 2150fps! Not a 92, but it is THE Big Brother!

Ivan

Ivan,

Not many polar bears here in Florida. When you find one, Sea World gets upset if you shoot one!

AJ

 

[SF VET]

Speaking of school safety drills, when I was a kid in Hawaii in the early and mid '50's, we had air raid drills. Right behind my elementary school at Barber's Point, there was an abandoned air strip, with these concrete half dome shelters designed to protect fighters and other planes from an air attack, something that had happened just a little over a decade earlier.

So at the bell, we would run across the concrete and crouch down at the rear of the shelters, as if we were under air attack.

Just one of those exciting experiences of my childhood. Once, at that school, a police offer came and talked about some safety thing and I disagreed, politely, with him. I wasn't obnoxious, it was just that what he was saying didn't seem right to me. So... he had my lie down just in behind the rear wheel of his police car while he revved up the motor, trying to prove his point. I just layed there until he got out and told me to get up and get back with the other kids.

If that happene nowadays, I would be in the news.

all the best.. NAM VET

 

[rosewood]

I have the Puma in .454 (which have since been rebranded as Rossi). It shoots both .454 and 45 colt just fine. Mine has both the side loading gate and the tube loading option. They should make them all that way.

The 45 colt can easily handle "ruger/TC" loads. Same receiver and barrel. Could easily take a bear.

Rosewood

 

[ironhead7544]

Had a number of R92 rifles over the years. Some worked perfectly and some were miserable. The older Rossi rifles without the safety worked fine with any ammo.

Currently, I have a Marlin 1894 in 44 Magnum.

Any lever rifle can be fussy about what it will feed. Your rifle will tell you what it likes. The cowboy cast bullets are made for the lever rifles and will work OK most of the time. You may find exceptions, as I did.

Get the stevesgunz video. Well worth the money.

JMHO.

Frankly, today, I would get the Henry. USA made and they back up their products.

Check the parts availability before buying the Rossi.

 

[BB57]

Just curious but what definition of "more effective" would you apply to conclude that a 357 magnum rifle is more effective than a 44 magnum rifle? 45 Colt, I can see that maybe, but 44 magnum?

So then you'd choose a 357magnum over a 44 magnum for bear protection?

My reference point was relative to deer sized game out to 150 yards.

The .44 Magnum does have more energy and will maintain that 600 ft pound threshold out to about 240 yards. That compares to about 160 yards for the .45 Colt and .357 Magnum.

Where it comes off the rails is accuracy. In my experience with the Rossi Model 92 rifles and carbines, the rifles are more accurate than the carbines and the .357 Magnum is significantly more accurate in either of them than the .45 Colt or .44 Magnum. In addition, the harder you push the .4s the works the accuracy tends to be, and that’s most likely an artifact of both recoil and barrel harmonics. Those .4 bore barrels get pretty thin and recoil starts becoming a bit stout.

Having a more energy and momentum, even a lot more, doesn’t matter when you miss the target entirely, or hit it outside the vitals. That makes the .357 Magnum more practical and more effective out to 150 yards.

On bear where the shot will be 50 yards or less, the .44 Mag and 32,000 psi loaded .45 Colt rounds will be a lot more effective, roughly 1320-1340 ft pounds versus 1070 ft pounds. (But also far short of a .45-70.)

 

[Miami_JBT]

Order myself this as a belated Christmas present.

Rossi R92 Carbine in .45 Colt.