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- Sep 22, 2003
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Thanks guys. You've given me the confidence to try it.:thumbup:
-
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Rossi R92 Vs Marlin 1894
- Thread starter g123
- Start date
Used to have .357s and .44s in Marlin, Winchester and Rossi 'Puma', sold the Winchester and Marlins when I realized that 9 times out of 10 it was a Rossi that went to the woods with me (mostly heavy woods and brush, long range would be a true 75 yards, WI.)
The Winchesters were not 100% reliable, and the Marlins, were 'slow' to point. No difference on accuracy that mattered. But the Marlins were the most accurate on paper (micro groove). Ummm ... I don't eat paper, just critters, and the Winchesters and the Rossi were good enough.
Rossi's were the fastest pointers, by a noticeable amount, and the Rossi's had the smoothest action of the three brands.
I sold the Rossi's when I moved back West, but I'll be shopping for 357 and 44 Rossi's before next fall. The .357 loaded down to .38 levels make the greatest small game guns in the World or so I believe.
All JMVHO of course OMMV.
Regards,
...
The Winchesters were not 100% reliable, and the Marlins, were 'slow' to point. No difference on accuracy that mattered. But the Marlins were the most accurate on paper (micro groove). Ummm ... I don't eat paper, just critters, and the Winchesters and the Rossi were good enough.
Rossi's were the fastest pointers, by a noticeable amount, and the Rossi's had the smoothest action of the three brands.
I sold the Rossi's when I moved back West, but I'll be shopping for 357 and 44 Rossi's before next fall. The .357 loaded down to .38 levels make the greatest small game guns in the World or so I believe.
All JMVHO of course OMMV.
Regards,
...
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- Joined
- Nov 1, 2009
- Messages
- 795
A guy named Paco Kelly has done a lot of testing with the Rossis, a little googlefu will give you a lot of reading material.
I own one of the pre safety, 24" barreled rossis in 45 colt, damn fine gun. Chris
I own one of the pre safety, 24" barreled rossis in 45 colt, damn fine gun. Chris
Check out www.stevesgunz.com . Talk to Steve and see what you think.
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2010
- Messages
- 1
The Rossi is light and accurate but I have issues with jams. Lots of people have issues with most level actions trying to load hollow-points because the inner rim of the hollow tip will snag on the top lip of the barrel during loading and this is worse with softer tips. The Rossi is top ejecting and difficult to mount a scope on.
I wrestled with my Rossi 92 for a while to try to figure our why it jams so often. My first impression was - well it's made in Brazil what did you expect - but I was determined to find out why it jams and make it more reliable. At first I figured I had fed the wrong ammo some Fiocchi 357's FMJTC 142 gr they were cheap around $17 per box yet relatively clean burning not smokey like dirty cheaper loads. Pointy but with a squared off nose so they dont poke each other in the center in the magazine.
The tips were not rounded or plain soft lead so I ruled out the ammo shape. Size was my next thought maybe they were too long? Had stuffing so many bullets into the magazine like 9 38's or 8 357's caused them to be popped in with more force because the magazine spring was so tightly compressed? I tried some round nosed 38's to see if they loaded without jamming and they jam also so it's not the nose shape on the Fiocchi 357's. Those are as near as I could tell ideal for the Rossi 92s.
This was partly right. It is more about the loading of the magazine. It seems my Rossi is fussy about loading ammo as it helps to have a thin finger and be able to shove the ammo ALL the way in there so it is fully into the magazine. Lazily loading ammo just barely getting it in there and allowing the loader flap to flop closed without stuffing the round in fully is the key. I can now tell if I have jammed the Rossi almost immediately after loading by simply trying to press on the loader flap as if I were going to load another round. If the flap wont open it's got a hung round under the slide and wont work.
At this point there are two options. 1 is carefully using a small screwdriver or other thin stick shaped object to very carefully free the jammed round and shove it INTO the magazine. The other safer slower way I've found is to disassemble the magazine and unload all ammo and then the bottom round when it comes loose will simply drop through the magazine tube to freedom.
Since this was my first level action I would really like to find one which does not have all these poor Brazilian construction issues with having to be extra careful when loading ammo into the magazine. No I'm not picking on the Brazilian engineers I also own a Rossi 357 pistol which is also too tightly spec'd around the cylinder. Has to be cleaned at least every 100 rounds or so or else some ammo stops being able to be loaded into the cylinder. By comparison a S&W 357 I can throw 500 rounds through it before it really cries for a cleaning. So no I'm not picking on Brazil they obviously, based on my evidence, just make 2nd rate stuff. Not complete trash but definitely lower quality than the Americans. I can't speak to the others since I haven't tried them but I would probably steer clear of the Rossi products unless you REALLY can't afford the extra hundred bucks to upgrade to the better quality American product. If your goal is hunting or target practice you may not care about jams. If your goal is home defense or anything where a jam could be calamitous, avoid the Rossi
The other problem with the Rossi is the sight is not as easily adjustable as I'd like. Height adjustment is possible but crude and there is no easy apparent way to adjust for horizontal adjustment. Accurate as all heck using the Fiocchi 357s - I can consistently pop a five of hearts pattern 2 inches left of bulls eye every time at 40 feet. It's off a little to the left and I'm having to manually bend-flexing the rear sight to the left or aim very slightly right off target to compensate.
.x x
. x
.x x
(sigh)
I wrestled with my Rossi 92 for a while to try to figure our why it jams so often. My first impression was - well it's made in Brazil what did you expect - but I was determined to find out why it jams and make it more reliable. At first I figured I had fed the wrong ammo some Fiocchi 357's FMJTC 142 gr they were cheap around $17 per box yet relatively clean burning not smokey like dirty cheaper loads. Pointy but with a squared off nose so they dont poke each other in the center in the magazine.
The tips were not rounded or plain soft lead so I ruled out the ammo shape. Size was my next thought maybe they were too long? Had stuffing so many bullets into the magazine like 9 38's or 8 357's caused them to be popped in with more force because the magazine spring was so tightly compressed? I tried some round nosed 38's to see if they loaded without jamming and they jam also so it's not the nose shape on the Fiocchi 357's. Those are as near as I could tell ideal for the Rossi 92s.
This was partly right. It is more about the loading of the magazine. It seems my Rossi is fussy about loading ammo as it helps to have a thin finger and be able to shove the ammo ALL the way in there so it is fully into the magazine. Lazily loading ammo just barely getting it in there and allowing the loader flap to flop closed without stuffing the round in fully is the key. I can now tell if I have jammed the Rossi almost immediately after loading by simply trying to press on the loader flap as if I were going to load another round. If the flap wont open it's got a hung round under the slide and wont work.
At this point there are two options. 1 is carefully using a small screwdriver or other thin stick shaped object to very carefully free the jammed round and shove it INTO the magazine. The other safer slower way I've found is to disassemble the magazine and unload all ammo and then the bottom round when it comes loose will simply drop through the magazine tube to freedom.
Since this was my first level action I would really like to find one which does not have all these poor Brazilian construction issues with having to be extra careful when loading ammo into the magazine. No I'm not picking on the Brazilian engineers I also own a Rossi 357 pistol which is also too tightly spec'd around the cylinder. Has to be cleaned at least every 100 rounds or so or else some ammo stops being able to be loaded into the cylinder. By comparison a S&W 357 I can throw 500 rounds through it before it really cries for a cleaning. So no I'm not picking on Brazil they obviously, based on my evidence, just make 2nd rate stuff. Not complete trash but definitely lower quality than the Americans. I can't speak to the others since I haven't tried them but I would probably steer clear of the Rossi products unless you REALLY can't afford the extra hundred bucks to upgrade to the better quality American product. If your goal is hunting or target practice you may not care about jams. If your goal is home defense or anything where a jam could be calamitous, avoid the Rossi
The other problem with the Rossi is the sight is not as easily adjustable as I'd like. Height adjustment is possible but crude and there is no easy apparent way to adjust for horizontal adjustment. Accurate as all heck using the Fiocchi 357s - I can consistently pop a five of hearts pattern 2 inches left of bulls eye every time at 40 feet. It's off a little to the left and I'm having to manually bend-flexing the rear sight to the left or aim very slightly right off target to compensate.
.x x
. x
.x x
(sigh)
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- Joined
- Sep 22, 2003
- Messages
- 13,182
I had a problem with my 92 recently.
I was shooting the Buffalo Bore again and apparently the recoil is causing the magazine tube to jump loose.
I shot it a few times and couldn't get a shell to go in the magazine. When I looked I realized the magazine tube was sticking out about 1" beyond the end of the barrel. It appears the only thing holding it is a pin protrusion near the end of the magazine that fits into a hole in the bottom of the barrel?
Anyway I took a rubber hammer and put it back in place and shot 4 more rounds. It came loose again.
Then I switched to the regular power 45 colt and shot 6 or 8 with no problems.
I was shooting the Buffalo Bore again and apparently the recoil is causing the magazine tube to jump loose.
I shot it a few times and couldn't get a shell to go in the magazine. When I looked I realized the magazine tube was sticking out about 1" beyond the end of the barrel. It appears the only thing holding it is a pin protrusion near the end of the magazine that fits into a hole in the bottom of the barrel?
Anyway I took a rubber hammer and put it back in place and shot 4 more rounds. It came loose again.
Then I switched to the regular power 45 colt and shot 6 or 8 with no problems.
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2008
- Messages
- 840
Lot of Cowboy Action shooters use both brands. I used Marlins as have had them since I was kid and not a problem with any of them. Currently own 1894's in .44 magnum, .45 Colt and 45-70..also have a 336 in 30-30 16"[ replaced the yout' stock with regular LOP stock].
Probably a Ford v Chevy thing.
Probably a Ford v Chevy thing.
Rossis have varied in quality over the years, more recent ones are pretty good.
Those on the new market now will tend to have an annoying wingnut safety on top of the bolt, and they'll be oversprung to help with the relatively rough internal parts fitting. Overall workmanship & metallurgy are decent, but the '92 action is annoying to break down & reassemble for cleaning.
Steve Young can slick them up & remove the safety, I have one he's done & it's quite nice. Out of the box....can use work.
The Marlin Jam is addressable, and one of the great mysteries of life is why Marlin has been so indifferent to a known issue for so many years. Not all Marlins develop it, and some do sooner than others, but it can be avoided up front.
Marlins are very strong, and extremely easy to break down & reassemble for cleaning. They are infinitely more so than the '92 action.
Currently, if you go Marlin, don't buy one without looking it over carefully in person. Quality has been slipping recently, and with the transition from the old plant to the new, it may be a while before it stabilizes.
I have Winchester '94s, a Rossi '92, and Marlins in several calibers.
The Marlins are what I consider to be my working leverguns in .22, .357, .44 Mag, .45 Colt, .30-30, and .45-70.
You can find spare parts for them easily, not so much with the Rossi.
Denis
Those on the new market now will tend to have an annoying wingnut safety on top of the bolt, and they'll be oversprung to help with the relatively rough internal parts fitting. Overall workmanship & metallurgy are decent, but the '92 action is annoying to break down & reassemble for cleaning.
Steve Young can slick them up & remove the safety, I have one he's done & it's quite nice. Out of the box....can use work.
The Marlin Jam is addressable, and one of the great mysteries of life is why Marlin has been so indifferent to a known issue for so many years. Not all Marlins develop it, and some do sooner than others, but it can be avoided up front.
Marlins are very strong, and extremely easy to break down & reassemble for cleaning. They are infinitely more so than the '92 action.
Currently, if you go Marlin, don't buy one without looking it over carefully in person. Quality has been slipping recently, and with the transition from the old plant to the new, it may be a while before it stabilizes.
I have Winchester '94s, a Rossi '92, and Marlins in several calibers.
The Marlins are what I consider to be my working leverguns in .22, .357, .44 Mag, .45 Colt, .30-30, and .45-70.
You can find spare parts for them easily, not so much with the Rossi.
Denis
- Joined
- Apr 9, 2010
- Messages
- 360
Having had both in .45 Colt. Marlin.
If you have a Rossi 92 and get tired of the rough action before it breaks in. Internet has instructions to smooth out. Or you can send it to Steve Young, a 92 spec. Like I did.
stevesgunz.com
If you have a Rossi 92 and get tired of the rough action before it breaks in. Internet has instructions to smooth out. Or you can send it to Steve Young, a 92 spec. Like I did.
stevesgunz.com
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2012
- Messages
- 1
I purchased both this month 08/2012. I did have to re-do both of them. If you are mechanically inclined this should not be a problem. Both suffer from sharp edges on all moving parts and it is essential to stone them down. Working on the rifles is half the fun. Shooting being the other half. I customized the Marlin from a blue steel one to an outstanding unique two-tone steel and blue steel one. (picture enclosed)
For the Rossi (all stainless steel) I did all the suggested modifications as per Steven Young. It is my opinion that the Rossi is more reliable since a jam is mechanically impossible after all modifications. The marlin even with a brand new carrier and the rounding the lever cam could show the jam eventually. Hopefully not if you need it for self-defense. I do however dislike to top ejector on the Rossi. Shells flying all over the place. Do not adjust the ejector spring as per Steve Young since this might result in a loading issue in 357Mag rounds. It is essential to modify the loading gate and the loading gate opening on the Rossi. Those edges are so sharp when I put 100 round through it my thumb stated to bleed. (Seriously) Have fun and god bless.
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