Rossi Brawler anyone?

[Grizz]

https://www.athlonoutdoors.com/article/rossi-brawler/

found this while reading up on the single shot BP pistols from the other page . . .

this looks like a good cheap single shot Colt 45 pistol, but 410 from a rifled barrel didn't do so well for me.

way back I had my son's 444 on board, and a box of 410 shotshells, which needed disposing. they fed fine in the Marlin and I shot them at a 4x4 sheet of plywood to check the "pattern". What I got was two concentric circles with nothing in the center or the voids between the two rings. I wonder if users of the "judge" found the same thing?

Hopefully this new Rossi is built as well as the H&Rs were. It could be a fun gun . . .
.

Screenshot 2023-08-04 081731 Brawler.png

†

[GunnyMack]

Shot and rifled bores don't play well with each other !
Now if they made a choke system that screwed onto the muzzle ya might have something.

[AmBraCol]

Looks better than the ones they used to sell in the Amazon Basin back in the day. Those were available, IIRC, in "36" (.410), 32 and 28 gauge - smoothbore. Unfortunately the NFA makes such a contraption unfeasible up in the US of A. But a smooth bore pistol in any of those three would make a great snake gun.

[Ray]

Deleted.

[samsi]

I suppose a guy could firelap the bore until the pattern improved...

[Grizz]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WY8yNjPhN0M

that's a good video. I wish all gun tests were that long on info and short on respiration . . . . somewhere near the bottom of one of the foto boxes from the eighties are my fotos of what the extra inches of rifling did to bird shot.

I would like to see more on the triple0, which had not opened up. And some serious target work with the 45 colt.

Looks like fun

[samsi]

Just read the manual, "Slugs are Unsafe" in two different places along with prohibition on +P ammo and a very stern paragraph advising that the chamber and ammo be free of any oil. I realize the limitations of some break-open actions, but the slug prohibition is disappointing as I was thinking Poor Man's Howdah Pistol. Oh well.

[Grizz]

Just read the manual, "Slugs are Unsafe" in two different places along with prohibition on +P ammo and a very stern paragraph advising that the chamber and ammo be free of any oil. I realize the limitations of some break-open actions, but the slug prohibition is disappointing as I was thinking Poor Man's Howdah Pistol. Oh well.

Thanks very much for the input. Disappointing that they cheaped-out. I suppose anyone with a CNC mill could better that one. And a Howdah Pistol?
YEAH !

[44shooter]

I thought the patterns were impressive and that one group of 45s was pretty good too. Would have liked to see some 20-25 yard patterns. Could be a decent utility gun. I do not care if I never fire a 410 slug. Why would I want to if I can use a heavier, cheaper and better constructed 45?

[Grizz]

I thought the patterns were impressive and that one group of 45s was pretty good too. Would have liked to see some 20-25 yard patterns. Could be a decent utility gun. I do not care if I never fire a 410 slug. Why would I want to if I can use a heavier, cheaper and better constructed 45?

I agree completely with your point.

it's just how I evaluate firearms from my pov. the way I see it, there is a huge difference between a firearm that can generate thousands of pound-feet of energy, and one that CAN'T. I can load my 45/70 down to 45 Colt performance, and I can load my 45/70 to a TKO of 49 or 50, and energy of 2450 at the muzzle. I shot that load out of Blaine's BFR and got 1300+ fps for 2000 fp and TKO of 45. This would blow up a lot of the guns we cherish. Including the case in point.

OTOH, if an inexpensive single shot shows up and can give me the performance of any other 410, I am interested. But if it can't give me the performance of 45 casul, then it might as well be a 22, which would be fun actually.

In the back of my catalog of events, being stalked by a timber wolf and huge bears is not one i wish to be unprepared for.....

grizz

[AJMD429]

....Unfortunately the NFA makes such a contraption unfeasible up in the US of A.

.
...but at least the tradeoff has been a complete eliminantion of 'gun violence', so we should be GRATEFUL....

[Grizz]

....Unfortunately the NFA makes such a contraption unfeasible up in the US of A.

.
...but at least the tradeoff has been a complete eliminantion of 'gun violence', so we should be GRATEFUL....

yeah, there is THAT

[765x53]

Has anyone had experience with the "Super Comanche"?
It is said to be slug capable and comes with choke tubes. https://www.guns.com/news/review/super-comanche

[44shooter]

Rossi is using the 410 frame they use for those small matched pairs for kids. It's never going to be a 454 or equivalent. It is what is and that's a cheap pistol that can shoot 410 and standard 45 Colt fairly well. I don't know what it is about slugs that are unsafe though.

The Rossi 410 is substantially smaller in the frame than H&R/NEF.

[Ray]

Deleted.

[AJMD429]

I thought the patterns were impressive and that one group of 45s was pretty good too. Would have liked to see some 20-25 yard patterns. Could be a decent utility gun. I do not care if I never fire a 410 slug. Why would I want to if I can use a heavier, cheaper and better constructed 45?

I remember when my kids were little, 'straight wall pistol cartridge' leverguns werew not yet legal deer cartridges in Indiana, so we looked at the shotgun regulations (my kids were still too young to handle big-bore handguns), and a .410 bore shotgun with slugs was actually legal for deer. I looked up the ballistics, and it was basically a 32-20 medium load.
Not wanting to break the law, we bought a .410/45 Colt breakopen rifle, but the 'groups' with 45 Colt were over 12" - at 25 Yards...! The slugs were about 4" at the same range if I recall. I even thought about loading up some metallic cartridge shotshells with better cast bullet slugs. But that year the law changed, and 357 Mag leverguns (and bigger) were suddenly ok for deer. So I told the kids whichever levergun they could hit 5 out of 6 pop-cans at 50 yards from a bench and 5 out of 6 sitting in a stand at 25 yards, they could use to hunt with.

[mickbr]

I owned a 45 colt rossi circuit judge revolving rifle ages ago, which could also chamber and fire 410. I didnt use it much but what I recall is the 45 colts werent real accurate with that long cylinder. The best I ever did was 4-5" at 50 yards with any ammo.There was also a straight rifling choke you screwed in for firing 410 shells. I assume to stop the wad spinning and shot donutting, I never tried it before I sold it anyway.

[JimT]

Color me weird but I have never understood the fascination of shooting shot out of a sixgun. I grew up in snake country. Lived many years in snake country. I never carried shot loads in the sixgun and I killed lots of snakes using standard ammo for the handgun I carried.

If I wanted to use shot I took the 12 gauge shotgun along.

Shooting shot out of a sixgun lead to the Glaser Safety Slug. The only thing "safe" about it was it wouldn't seriously harm a bad guy unless you shot him in the face.

But, like Elmer said, every dog has got to scratch his own fleas. If shooting shot from a sixgun helps scratch your itch, go for it.

[Sarge]

I'm going to kick an old thread here...

June 28, 2025
I picked up a Brawler yesterday, used it to burn a few odd & end 45 Colt reloads. The bullet weights/power levels were too varied for any real accuracy evaluation, but it would stay on a steel silhouette at 50 paces. The sights on this thing are pretty sorry- the rear notch is narrow & shallow and the front sight is hard to see in dim light, but the POI is pretty close. I haven't decided on replacements, but I'd favor fiber optics over a dot for snake killing distance.

Best results came with a load I concocted for a Public Defender a few years ago-


https://www.thesixgunjournal.net/the-ta ... -revolver/

I can tell you my standard 45 Colt load--8.5 grains of Universal with a 255 grain RNFP--hit the steel substantially harder from the Brawler's nine inch barrel. When the rain lets up I'll dig a chronograph out and see how the numbers shake out.

Patterns with 2 1/2" Winchester #6 were about what you're seeing elsewhere. It would definitely shred snakes at 12-15 feet.
I mothballed the 45 Colt (for 357 & 44 Mag) several years ago, so I had to dig for the left-overs. I came up with a double handfull of brass plus a few bullets I'd never gotten around to trying. One of them is a soft 265 grain SWC of the later, broad meplat design. I loaded these over 12.5 grains of HS6, max end of standard pressure 45 Colt data.



June 29th
It's been raining here so I walked to my range instead of driving. It picked up a bit when I arrived, so all shooting was standing unsupported with rain splashing off the pic rail. Five shots from 25 yards, situated primarily below the egg shaped aiming point. I held six o'clock. The three higher and just left of it were fired from 50 yards- same conditions.



This represents the worst case- random load, unsupported shooting, lousy conditions, nubbins for sights. With good sights or an optic and suitable 45 Colt loads, I think the Brawler has sufficient mechanical accuracy for 50-75 yard deer hunting. The trigger is 4 pounds, with just a hint of creep and a lot of over travel. Fixing the over travel would make it much easier to shoot well. More later.

[Bill in Oregon]

Dang it. That accuracy is encouraging to the point of being enabling.

[ikocher]

I had been wondering if the .45 Colt version would be accurate enough but I'm holding out for a .357 Mag version since I don't want to bother with the extra long 410 chamber.

[Sarge]

Dang it. That accuracy is encouraging to the point of being enabling.

This was one of those "Why Not?" things...

It seems to like 0.454+ bullets, which is no surprise. I've still got 20 or so 315 grain gas check SWCs Cable sent me ages ago, a dose of 4227 ought to get them on their way. Think I can also scare up a partial box of 300 grain XTPs. I'm hoping the long bearing surface of the XTP makes it shoot well. But it is a 1:20 twist with fairly shallow rifling, so we'll see.

I had been wondering if the .45 Colt version would be accurate enough but I'm holding out for a .357 Mag version since I don't want to bother with the extra long 410 chamber.

I'd love to have a spare 357 barrel. I load a lot of 38/357 here.

[Sarge]

The rain let up today just long enough for me to fire one round each of the following loads through the Rossi Brawler, over my chronograph-

1. My bulk 45 Colt load- Maplewood Bullets Lee 452-255-RF over 8.5 grains of Universal and does 910 fps from a 4 5/8” New Vaquero. This load does 1180 fps from a 20” Rossi Model 92. It did 927 fps from the Brawler.

2. The Taurus Public Defender (Judge) Plinking Load- a Hornady swaged 255 grain RNFP, loaded long at 1.720” OAL, over 8.0 grains of W231. This load does 683 fps from the 2” Public Defender. It did 737 fps from the Brawler.

3. The 265 grain SWC load- 12.5 grains HS6 (pictured above) did 931 fps from the Brawler.

4. Ruger Only Load* - A Sierra 240 grain JHP over 27.4 grains of H110 is a deer killin' machine at 1257 fps from a 5 1/2” Blackhawk. My previous 16” Rossi 92 carbine produced 1550 fps with this load. It did 1699 fps from a 20” Rossi 92. It did 1191 fps from the Brawler.

*This is a very stout load from Rugers or Model 92s. I do NOT recommend it for the Brawler.

[Grizz]

Sarge, thanks for the info. Do you think the free bore in the chamber affects the 45 Colt accuracy? I've seen this mentioned somewhere. if there were such a thing as a .410 brass cartridge could it be used for the 45, to get the bullet up yonder where the rifling is? Or even a slug swapped into a 410 hull? IDK, just wondering if it can group bullets at a hundred yards. Or not.

thanks

[Sarge]

Sarge, thanks for the info. Do you think the free bore in the chamber affects the 45 Colt accuracy? I've seen this mentioned somewhere. if there were such a thing as a .410 brass cartridge could it be used for the 45, to get the bullet up yonder where the rifling is? Or even a slug swapped into a 410 hull? IDK, just wondering if it can group bullets at a hundred yards. Or not.

thanks

The 45LC/410 chamber is no friend to velocity and accuracy. And yes, starting the bullet closer to what rifling there is would definitely help.

The manual specifically warns against using 454 Casull ammunition, which tells me a 454 case will fit. A 460 S&W case loaded with 0.454" bullets, to roughly 45 Colt Tier II pressures, sounds good in theory. That's an awful lot of work to get a $200 lawn mower gun to shoot like a Contender

When I find a 45 Colt load it likes, I'll haul a table down to the range and shoot it at 100 yards. I have a big steel target with an 8 foot pile of logs behind it, so we'll see. I may have to hold my nose and buy a dot sight.

[44shooter]

I have noticed Rossi is chambering guns in intermediate rifle rounds using this action like 223, 300 blk and 350 legend. Rossi will never endorse non SAAMI loads, but I’m thinking the Brawler can take a bit more than standard 45 Colt