Rossi (Braztech International) Model 92 .45 Colt Lever Guns

[GregT]

Good Morning! My first post to you and I hope it is not "too long". I seem to have become attracted to the Rossi Model 92's. These rifles and carbines have been receiving a lot of print lately in the "Rifleman" and "Shooting Times", among others. I bought a Model 92 at the end of July, 2010 and had some problems. I am happy to report that things went well ironing out what could have been complicated. I purchased a Model 92 with the case colored action (real case colors, too, also on the inside of the action), 20 inch octagon barrel, crescent buttplate and pretty nice wood. The rifle was put together well, wood to metal fit is darn near perfect and tight. In spite of these very favorable traits, the carbine had some troubles. First, the chamber was screwed up. A factory ham-hand who was apparently working on the feeding from the action to the chamber, was grinding on something near the chamber mouth and I think the little grinder got away on him. Must have entered the chamber, as while all the metal is blue, except for the case colored action, there is an area on the bottom inside of the chamber, starting with the chamber entrance, that is 'white' and polished. It is polished so hard that the chamber is no longer round there. I believe the factory gorilla polished out some accidental grinding he did... Upon firing, the chamber no longer seals on the casing and gas comes back. The casing was malformed so badly (swelled and expanded) I couldn't even run the case through the full length sizer die. About the time I'm analyzing this, the carbine quits feeding in any way shape or form. That did it! Down to Rossi Warranty it went in Florida. Got there on August 2nd and has sat there unworked on (I thought) since then. I finally phoned last Thursday and got past the receptionist to the guys who run the warranty department and who make decisions (Christian and Frank). I had sent a detailed letter to warranty repair with the carbine and I figured the barrel would get replaced, etc. Frank told me they were trying to contact my dealer as they needed a signed FFL from him. I asked why as we had sent one along (but it was unsigned). He told me they needed a signed FFL as they were replacing the carbine based upon what I told them! The carbine had been looked at but the actual technical look-over had not been done yet. He complimented me on the explanation of the problem. I took his contact info and phoned my dealer who faxed him a signed FFL minutes later. I thanked Frank for the consideration and action! Hung up and 10 minutes later, Chrisitan called me! He had spoken to Frank and wanted to be sure I had no further questions or issues to clear. I told him I was quite pleased. I also told him that in spite of the problems with the carbine, I liked the fit and finish and construction of the it so much that last week I ordered another one (!) with a 24 inch barrel from a dealer in Ilinois. (This arrived Thursday at 5PM!). Had a nice chat and told him I had a Marbles folding Peep Tang sight ready to mount. Turned out he also was a shooter of these carbines and was thinking of adding this same sight to his carbine. I'm sorry this was so long, but I wanted to let any of you know that if you buy a faulty Model 92 Braztec/ Rossi lever gun, their warranty service is top notch! Don't let that brassy receptionist stop you from talking to the men in charge! I did a very limited amount of shooting with the carbine before I sent it in, and the darn thing shot like a target rifle at 75 yards, clover-leafing many three shot groups. Leave it to me to get a lemon in a new gun! I fired the Model 92 that just arrived (with the 24 inch barrel) and all is well with that rifle and it also shoots like a target rifle at 75 yards from the bench! I will write a bit more as I shoot this one and will also report on the new one arrives replacing the carbine I sent to warranty. Rossi's excellent service will be remembered a long time!
GregT

[COSteve]

Deleted

[Newtmaker]

Welcome Greg. +1 on Steve's reply above as to Steve Youngs DVD and replacement parts! I just bought the 20" M92 in blue round barrel and it is also a great shooter. The DVD helped me get the trigger down where it needs to be in pull weight, as well as other tricks to smooth up the action.
I just installed the Marbles tang sight on mine as well, and boy, it sure make these old eyes see better! Shooting clay birds at 80 to 100 meters is such fun!
Thanks for the post and joining in.

Walt

[Hobie]

Thanks for the enthusiastic post! I really like my older Rossi 92 in .45 Colt. Great gun.

[jlchucker]

Having bought a 44 magnum Hartford rifle a few years ago from EMF, and having more recently read positive things about the Rossi carbines in 357, I bought one this past Christmas. This was definitely not of the same quality that earlier Rossi's displayed. First, cartridges were extremely difficult to load through the gate and into the magazine. It was possible to squeeze only 4 38 specials or 4 357s in. Both seemed to lever OK. A gunsmith friend of mine (who's been in business since genuine 92's were common and has worked on many) smoothed this up. I also put one of those steel followers in the magazine tube. When I took this 92 to the range, I noticed that if you loaded more than 4 38 specials into this little trapper, you could expect severe jamming, starting with the first round levered. Four rounds, or a magazine full of 357s seem to feed OK. Back to my gunsmith--I had gotten a safety plug from Steve anyhow, and wanted my friend to install this. When I went back to visit and pick it up, he thought the problem was fixed. Not so. This is a 4 shooter, max, with 38 specials and it doesn't matter if you feed it rnfp's, semiwadcutters, or whatever. I'm going to tinker with this some more, checking out 38 special overall lengths. I need to view Steve's DVD again, too. Maybe there's a clue there. While the new Braztech Rossi, in my experience and caliber, seems plenty accurate, there's obviously a quality issue with mine that needs fixing. After my experience, and after reading Greg's post about his 45 Colt, I'm beginning to wonder about the Rossi's new quality management under Taurus.

[AJMD429]

Here's the sight setup I settled on for my 24" octagonal - I liked the idea of a more 'traditional' gun and I use it mostly for target shooting, so I didn't mind the more 'fragile' tang sight vs. a peep.

The link has several pics of the sights.

http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... =1&t=20359

[Ysabel Kid]

Welcome to the fire!

[Griff]

Welcome Greg.

You have probably stumbled into the premier group of enablers when it comes to the Rossi 92s! I have the same model you just returned for warranty!


They're certainly pretty! And great shooters also.

[Pete44ru]

FWIW, This is how I peeped my Rossi Model 92 .45 Colt



It's a bolt peep, replacing the bolt-top lawyer safety - a Skinner LoPro in a cold blued, home-made plug - which zeroed readily using the issue front sight.

Fellow levergunner & M92 gunsmith Nate "Kiowa" Jones now sells a similar handmade version on his website: www.stevesgunz.com

.

[Paladin]

Welcome, Rossi should be ashamed producing a weapon they has to worked on just to get it to function. I am sure after you iron out the problems you will have as much fun as the rest of us.

[Pete44ru]

NAW, Rossi shouldn't be ashamed - they should be PROUD ! !

Heck, if they were "perfect", THEN where the heck would we all be ?

I'll tell ya - we wouldn't have NO fun, at all..............

.

[COSteve]

Welcome, Rossi should be ashamed producing a weapon they has to worked on just to get it to function. I am sure after you iron out the problems you will have as much fun as the rest of us.

I guess that means so should Winchester, Marlin, Ruger, Colt, S&W, all manufacturers of 1911s, etc., etc.

Face it. These days a firearm usually has to be tuned to work properly. There are notable exceptions, usually in semi-auto combat weapons such as Glocks, Sigs, etc. Not the way it should be but unfortunately the way it is.

[missionary5155]

Greetings
I have two older Rossi´s in 45 Colt up north there and have no complaints. Both shoot well when fed a proper diameter cast bullet and have alll the power capabilities I could want from a light weight carbine.