So I got my 1892.... pictures inside

[Roland]

I'm not quite sure what to think about this, it's an 1982 Rossi in .44 mag, so far so good. However it had rust, even light pitting where the wood for the forestock met the barrel, it also seems to have a full buckhorn sight, given comments on this forum I expected some bent sheetmetal:


Just how long did this thing lie in it's box anyway for this to happen? I'm not sure if I should send it back or not, since there are no other Rossis in Finland to be had, beyond the few that make it in somehow. Yeah, Rossis are pretty rare in Finland, no dealers around here I only found one in a finnish gunshop by accident, he had two brought from Germany, it was NIB so I bought it online and didn't inspect it visually. Another thing I noticed about it that I did not expect was the lack of a manual safety:


Now here's what I see when I open up the action:


I'm not sure how much of this is rust and how much is the yellowish sticky stuff the gun seems to be coated in.

Moving on to the stocks:


Inside of forestock, cracked from front to end:


Buttstock:



So yeah... I dunno, I wasn't expecting the bestest rifle in the world, but I didn't expect it to suffer rust problems out of the box either, or that the wood was gonna be that bad, looks like it'd barely do for kindling.

[Roland]

Also here is a picture of it assembled along with it's counterpart (9422):

[Grizz]

Looks like the stock dried out. You can probably stabilize it with epoxy. It's an opportunity to put exceptional furniture on the gun. The rust is disappointing but much of it will go away with the application of 000000 steel wool and a light oil. I have used vaseline to coat the metal that contacts wood and some of the inside parts to prevent rust and it works extremely well.

The "no safety" item is considered a PLUS by many levergunners and makes your gun more valueable. The gun is close to the original, which has a long history of not going off half-cocked.

If you treat the gun as always loaded, and use the half-cock position as designed, you have nothing to fear. The safety is installed in-between the ears.

Looks like you have a fine rifle. The cosmetics are only a deal killer if you are a collector and don't plan to shoot it.

Regards,

Grizz

[Roland]

Oh yes I was most certainly pleasantly surprised by that, now it works just like my 9422.

Though what it implies about the gun I am not sure, does it mean the gun is old enough to be pre-safety (when did Rossi's start coming with safetys?) Is it old enough to be in the dangerzone for when .44mag Rossis had overbore issues?

Right now the gun is disassembled and the parts soaking in Ed's Red, I think it'll clean up real well.

[gamekeeper]

The lack of the safety makes up for the bit of rust IMHO, the wood on mine was not great, the forearm was a different shade to the stock but it sure was a shooter.

[Mutt]

Check the sticky stuff closely .It might not be rust . Maybe just grease for packing or storing. ????
But I'd take it apart some and examine it closely . Even inside the mag tube
Get it cleaned up and I think you'll love it. But you should not have had to pay full price for that. Maybe let the seller know what you found.
The safety is drawing back the hammer 1 click . You cannot pull the trigger in this position, if all else in correct .
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Mutt

[Griff]

I couldn't tell ya about the "danger" range for overbore issues with Rossi .44Mags, but maybe Nate will see and have a better idea as to that.

IIRC, Rossi started the Safety thing on guns shipped to the US in 2005 with guns going to LSI (Legacy Sports Inc.) and about 2006 or 2007 on guns going to EMF. For export to other countries... I dunno.

I'd recommend 0000 bronze wool vs. steel wool on tackling the rust. Heck, I used a penny laid flat on the flats of my octagon barrels and taken flash rusting right off, no harm to the bluing.

Yea, the wood is a shame... but Rossi wood ain't anything to brag about anyway. I got my son a "Short Rifle" in .45 Colt several years back, the wood LOOKS nice, but... I'm afraid to take it off and actually look at it!

Congrats on yer find, hopefully a range report will show that you got a goodern!

[gak]

For EMF 92s, the safety first appeared in the spring of 2006. Navy Arms adopted the safety about the same time, only a short while before they got out of the 92 (1892) business. Legacy (LSI) introduced the safety and has always had them--that is, going back more than a decade to the 90s and continuing until they quit importing them in 2008 in favor of the pricier Italians (Chiappa/Armi Sport). In the 90s, LSI effectively "replaced" Interarms as the largest Rossi importer. Interarms was the original importer of Rossis in the U.S. All Interarms guns were "safety-less." EMF carbines have always (or at least long) had the better buckhorn sights. LSI carried over the cheap "bent metal" from Interarms days. Navy Arms also imported "1892s" in more limited numbers--try to find a rare carbine--and claimed to uniquely sport genuine walnut versus the typical South American wood. NA carbines also had the better sights IIRC.


Rossi (Taurus/Braztech) alone imports again the Brazilian (Rossi-labeled) '92s now, though you still see a lot of new-old-stock LSIs and EMFs out there; EMF may still list them with ordering provisos--if so, not for long. You don't say (or I don't recall) if this was "just Rossi" labeled, Interarms, LSI or EMF, etc. One tell-tale at first glance, all Interarms carbines had the front post sight located ON the barrel band, versus just back of on later 92s--per the original Wins. I'll have to check out your pics again.


+1 the comment about the opportunity to put some premium wood on. If you end up really liking the gun but the wood "really gets to you," http://www.precisiongunstocks.com crries Rossi-specific replacement stocks (u-finish) in walnut. The Rossi apparently is just different enough from the original Wins (tang/inletting area?).


Lots of good advice in this thread. I'd keep it! Good luck and enjoy!

[AJMD429]

My Marlin XLR had a forestock not much different (dry/cracks), and shoots fine. Easy to fill/fix.

Looks like you just have the firearm equivalent of 'pre-faded denim jeans' - slick it up and go shootin'...

As for the 'overbore' issue, it seems only to be an issue for me with non-gas-check lead bullets, and even then the bullets hit better than I shoot.

[Bruce Scott]

Roland,
Your rear sight is the same as the one fitted to my new .44 stainless carbine. The Rossis coming to Australia do not have the safety either - .

I wonder if the serial number of yours is anywhere close to mine, which is SM01009XX ?

Just out of curiosity, what is stamped on the barrel and top tang on yours?

[Roland]

As for the 'overbore' issue, it seems only to be an issue for me with non-gas-check lead bullets, and even then the bullets hit better than I shoot.

Yeah though I plan to use a lot of those in this rifle, 44mag ain't cheap so loading and casting are going to be important. I will slug the barrel as soon as I can though. I think the stocks are usable atleast until I get new ones.

[Roland]

Roland,
Your rear sight is the same as the one fitted to my new .44 stainless carbine. The Rossis coming to Australia do not have the safety either - .

I wonder the serial number of yours is anywhere close to mine, which is SM01009XX ?

Just out of curiosity, what is stamped on the barrel and top tang on yours?

The serial on this one is M154699 And the tang has written on it "Amadeo Rossi SA - Made in Brazil", the barrel says .44mag along with the serial and some other markings that I am not sure what they mean.

[Roland]

+1 the comment about the opportunity to put some premium wood on. If you end up really liking the gun but the wood "really gets to you," http://www.precisiongunstocks.com crries Rossi-specific replacement stocks (u-finish) in walnut. The Rossi apparently is just different enough from the original Wins (tang/inletting area?).

Is it possible to fit real winchester stocks though? I found some real ones for a real nice price, I don't mind finishing the stocks either, I've done it on the 9422 and other rifles. I got loads of BLO I need to use up

[gak]

Re Winchester wood, I'm sure it's been done--if you mean fit an existing original old stock...someone might chime in here. The pre war carbine stocks of the 94s/1894s and 92s/1892s were the same by the way, although forestock wood may have varied between big bores (.44-40 (.44WCF), .38-40 (.38WCF) .30-30 (.30WCF) vs .32-20 (.32WCF) and .25-20) on the carbines at the end--where they curved up to meet the smaller--or bigger as the case may have been--mag tube. (You notice the smaller 92 caliber bores seem to curve more/look a little slimmer there in that transition area). So, you'd be looking for Pre-war carbine stock for a big bore 92 or 1894/94 in .30-30 (.30WCF) or .32 Special --it's the case size on the .30 or .32 that'd make it a "big bore" for this purpose.


I also got to thinking of your rear sight. Judging by your '82 description, that'd make it an Interarms-era gun. I think someone swapped out the stock plain sight for Marbles buckhorn sight when they were making Rossi-specific buckhorns and semi-buckhorns. Marbles quit making these (older Rossi buckhorn type sights) about 5+ years ago IIRC. The older Rossi dovetails are non standard and larger -- averaging in the .390" range IIRC, while the standard Wins (and some later Rossis?) are .375" or 3/8".

[Roland]

I dunno myself, according to an australian I know who works in a gunshop, they got loads of brand new 92s like mine, buckhorn sights and no safetys. Gotta ask about the brass bead.

EDIT: Yeah he says they got the same kinda sight.

[missionary5155]

Good morning
Once you have the rust taken care of try car wax on the metal parts. You will not be dissapointed.

[Hanzerik]

Almost looks like they stained the bare wood after it was mounted to the rifle. I love my little .44Mag 16" Rossi/Puma carbine. Very handy light weight gun, perfect for brush/woods, and carrying in the Jeep.

[Roland]

Well I've taken this thing apart and now I can't get it back together, I've followed the instructions here:
http://marauder.homestead.com/files/Rossitune.htm

But to no avail, I dunno what I am doing wrong but it has to do with the lever and bolt, it gets stuck and it's not the pin getting stuck in the holes in the receiver it seems to move inside there but only the tiniest fraction forwards and backwards still.

[Roland]

Seems like I solved it on my own, I really did have to keep tapping the pin further in.

[Roland]

More news, I got this second marble tang sight I got for free when both brownells and marble had the wrong info on their websites, never considered it since it was a weird model that wanted to mount far forward, didn't work at all on the 9422 I meant to have it on... But it seems it'll work just fine on this gun. I was gonna sell the tang and buy a Williams FP for the money but now I am not so sure, tang or receiver, which to choose...

[Bruce Scott]

I dunno myself, according to an australian I know who works in a gunshop, they got loads of brand new 92s like mine, buckhorn sights and no safetys. Gotta ask about the brass bead.

EDIT: Yeah he says they got the same kinda sight.

Mine came with a brass bead, which I am going to replace.

This is a reasonably late model as it is marked "Made in Brazil by Taurus" on the tang. The barrel is Marked "Rossi Model 92" and the calibre.