Looking at buying one with the 16" barrel as a woods/plinking gun. Thoughts on this gun?

I don't believe the design permits mounting a scope in the normal position above the receiver, so you'd have to choose between a limited selection of LER scopes and many shooters simply don't like them. Myself being one of those shooters.

The wood on these carbines is described as "hardwood" and IMHO they're not exactly eye catching.

Other than that, not sure and in for more info myself. I sold off my 90's era 1894 Marlin during a personal budget crunch a few years back and miss it dearly. This isn't an ideal replacement, but something is better than nothing.

I have an 20 inch 357, one of the older LSI imports.  Great little carbine.  Fun to shoot, surprisingly accurate, completely reliable.  I've run both 38 Special and 357 Magnum through it without any problems.   The wood on Rossis can range from meh to pretty nice.  Mine is pretty nice.  I utilize the stock sights, I seriously doubt I'll ever add an optic.

I have the Stainless Steel 16" M92 Rossi.

It's a great little gun.  You don't really need a scope, but if you do you will have to figure out some type of scout scope mount.  But again you don't need one, at best is is a 100  - 150 meter carbine.  The buckhorn sights work great.  You need to be aware of a signifiant POI shift with different ammo, you can get as much as a 4" POI shift between 158 grain and 125 grain ammo at 100 meters.  I pretty much only use 158 grain JHP for both pistol and carbine, throwing in some 180 grain Buffalo Bore for the carbine now and then.  I love it, but it is a 2-4 MOA shooter.  Does better with the Tang mounted Vernier peep sight.

The quality is good, definitively worth what they cost, but not exceptional.  The wood on mine is Walnut and looks great.  I don't know the exact weight, but mine is hefty, not too heavy but does not feel flimsy or 'too light'  Recoil is negligible regardless of what round you are shooting but to me 125 grain ammo can be a little 'snappy'.  Mine feeds 357's without any issues ever, but hiccups on some 38 specials (poor feeding because of the difference in overall cartridge length)  Action is the strong classic m92, starts off gritty,  but gets better with use.  You can find some gunsmiths that are experts on the 92 action and can tune up the gun so it is really smooth, or there are directions on line to do it yourself.  Personally since I'm not a gunsmith, I leave things like that to them.  

I got mine to go with a pair of 357 Vaquero's (old style heavy frame, 1 plow handle and 1 birds head both 4 5/8" barrels).  Make a great combo for hiking and camping.  There is info available on the boost you get from a 16" barrel.  Brings it almost up to a 30-30 (I think most reviews put it as just under or right at 30-30 velocities for 100 meters or less) and is a really fun gun to shoot.

You got the cash (I've seen prices from $500 - $800 - I paid $600 for my stainless), I'd recommend it - it will do good for anything short of Elk or Bear within 100 meters.

I'm too lazy to take and post pics, maybe I will later (I generally don't put up pics of my firearms, no real reason, I just don't)

Thoughts? Don't think about it, just buy it. Then don't think about the next gun you want . . .



I think they are the best value in a 92 levergun right now. You can pay more for a prettier 92 that still needs some internal work, or pay even more and find an older Browning 92 that is nice inside and out, but the Rossi 92 makes a nice little rifle at a good price that you can use as is, or with some work, can be easily slicked up internally and the wood refinished.



Advantages to the Rossi 92 include:

Based on probably the nicest design for a pistol caliber levergun

The '86/'92 action is the strongest lever action design

Light and balanced

The Rossi action is designed for straight-walled cartridges like .357, .44 mag, .45 Colt.

Good metals are used.

Expensive labor costs for final fit and finish are not part of the price - that work is left to you

You get to know the firearm by doing some work on it.

The right .357 loads out of a carbine is has performance on game lot like a .30-30 in many ways when used for hunting.



 

Buy it. I have three of the Rossi 1892's including the exact gun you mention - the 16" version in .357 magnum; mine is blued.

Love the stupid thing. With handloads tailored for carbine-length barrels it'll push a 140-grain jsp at over 2000 fps; and even normal factory .357 loads will often push a 125-grain at that speed. Or you can chunk .38's for a near-rimfire shooting experience for new shooters (or small game).

For a scope mount, you may look around for the discontinued scout mount that rossi used to make. That's what I have on mine, with a red dot instead of a magnified scope. Love the stupid thing; it's one of the most versatile guns I own.


Did I mention I love the stupid thing...?

Just recently purchased one myself. Same model, 16" carbine, blued. It is fun to shoot and I haven't had any problems with either .38 SPL or .357 Mag.
My old eyes don't work too well with the buck horn sight, so I'm going to order the Skinner peep sight for it.

I bought a 16" blued one in .45 Colt and I love it.  It's a ton of fun and shoots accurately enough for my purposes (paper, deer, and hogs, all under 100 yards).  I bought the Steve's Gunz DVD and had a lot of fun smoothing up the internals.  I'm no gunsmith, but I had fun learning exactly how it worked and smoothing out some parts...although I'm sure I roughed up other parts unintentionally.  

The wood on mine was just alright.  I stripped it and refinished it and now the wood looks really nice.  

I vote go for it!

No, the wood on yours was perfect! Imagine if Rossi put some thick hard, poly finish on the wood? Removing the factory finish would double the time it takes to refinish.



Fortunately for us, Rossi is considerate and puts some kind of thin, easily removed finish on the stocks



 

Here is a Rossi I slicked up and refinished:



































This is all factory wood, and I have seen much prettier wood from Rossi than this one had. So you can see these rifles make a really good base to work from. If you want them to be as pretty as you like, you can make them so, it just takes time or money or both.





Or you can just shoot it as is and have fun with it.

 

I had one.  Great little rifle, but very ammo sensitive.  Was alot of fun to shoot.

I have two Rossi M92 38spl/357mags I got new in 2009, a 20" carbine and a 24" rifle and neither had issues chambering both 38spl and 357mag.  Both are excellent values for today's offerings.  Their initial stiff actions smoothed out with use but to really make them a fun gun (as well as learning all about them) I suggest Steve's Gunz's $58.00 Action and Trigger kit (including Dvd).  It's easy to follow his step by step instructions and when you're done your Rossi will be slick as snot!
Both mine have over 4K rds through them and they are some of the most fun guns to shoot I own. Both are very accurate at 200yds off the bench with irons and some practice such that a 8" plate is in big trouble.  Add a tang and globe sight on my 24" rifle to increase the sight radius to 30" and increase my Depth of Field and I shoot out to 300yds at an 18" steel 'hog' with my 158grn 357mag handloads.  
While they are a bit tight when new and a bit oversprung (flat out fixed with Steve's kit) and their stock finish isn't anything to write home about, they are a great value and well worth the money.  True to the Winchester 1892 design, they have a half cock on the hammer and no rebounding trigger which responds well to Steve's directed work too. I found that a simple coat of WATCO Danish Oil right over the delivered stock finish really perks up the wood and gives it color and depth.
THIS THREAD has a picture of my rifle showing the globe and tang sights.  Since this picture, I've reinstalled a folding rear sight to give me two different sighting options, however, I generally use the tang as this is my long range shooter.  Easy shooting, fast and light, tons of fun and if you handload, they are cheaper to shoot than 22mag.
 
 
 
 

 

Nice looking shooting sticks you have there! What type of rear sight is on the second carbine?

One is just a factory rifle for comparison. The second is the one I worked on. The sight is a repro Spanish meter sight like was used on the 1876 NWMP carbines, and similar to those used on military configured rifles like some of the rolling blocks.





The photos illustrate what can be done with the factory wood.



Edit: I modified that sight into an aperture sight, as well.
 

WATCO Danish Oil does wonders on their stocks right over the stock finish.  I just cleaned any oil and/or dirt off and applied a coat.





Factory finish:











WATCO finish:







 

So don't keep us hanging, what did you do to the factory wood? Strip and tru-oil? Looks remarkable compared to what I've seen in the stores.

ETA; I've never seen one with a recoil pad. I would much prefer that over the curved buttplate stock. Bud's isn't showing any with a recoil pad BTW.

I purchased a very finish challenged Rossi 20" .357 Carbine from a pawn shop for $175. Saw it on the shelf and it screamed 'Buy Me'!

I sure am glad that I did. Its one of the of the most fun to shoot of all the guns I have! The action is slick as ice, its very accurate, and feeds both .38's and .357's reliably.

The kids love shooting light .38 reloads thru it.

I have a 16" .357

It's a lot of fun

with 22LR dried up, it's become a favorite of the kids.
Tuned up with the stevezdvd like Co steve posted above, it's very smooth.
140gr cast with CLAYS or W-231 bunny-fart loads for the kids, or full house magnum loads for the big kids
everybody smiles when this gun comes out.

I just used tru-oil over the original finish.
I bought Steve's video, ejector spring, steel follower and safety plug. It works very smoothly and is very accurate.

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okboom, that rifle looks awesome. I am currently on a lever action binge.

Great Rifle
20"  357


I also have a 16" 44 mag Love it more...


Both out of the box needed a good cleaning and a little de burring

I won't touch Tru-Oil. It is just varnish that pretends to be an oil. It does not penetrate, and water gets underneath it and wrecks it. It is attractive to people who think it requires less work than traditional oils, but it really does not take any less work.



That stock was stripped to wood, fit to the metal, adjusted so it no longer pushed the magazine tube to one side. I inletted the sling swivels and adjusted the barrel band screw hole in the forend. Stock was cut down to a more reasonable length and the right angle and a better recoil pad fitted.



Then the stock got a coat of Formby's Tung oil. The next day it got several light applications of Tapedera's Winchester Red stain, left overnight, and then I applied several coats of tung oil until the finish was what I wanted. The photos are poor and do not show the finish well. It is completely smooth on this stock - no grain texture can be felt or seen - surface is like glass. It does not need to be done like that - you can make the surface any level of sheen and smoothness you like.



You  also don't have to do so much work if you don't want to. An oil finish over the stock finish makes it look 100% better. You can use linseed, tung, or danish oils. Raw linseed is probably the best, Tung goes faster (use Formby's). I use one of the two.



Don't use oil-based stains or water-based, use alcohol-based stains for gunstocks. Use just the oils for the finish, cut with turpentine or mineral spirits. Never use combo finish/stain products - all the little yellow cans of finish you see at Lowes that say walnut or cherry or something like that; avoid them.



Don't mess with Tru-Oil, unless you just want a varnish, and then a spray varnish is easier. Tru-oil does not penetrate much, so it does not have the advantages of a true oil.



 

The .454s have buttpads.



The buttpads make the stock too long, and are somewhere between the hardness of lead and steel. Rossi went out of their way to find the ugliest buttpads in the world. Then they mounted them at the right angle . . . for shooting down aircraft.



You can see the original Rossi buttpad in the photo on the rifle in the back. On the front rifle, the stock is shortened for the pad, cut to the right angle for shooting targets below tree-top level, and a better pad installed.That is the infamous Malarky Carbine, by the way.



 

A friend and neighbor wanted to sell these. He had never shot them, and wanted to down size his collection.
I was more than happy to oblige.

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Looking at the Formbys website, it says that their Tung oil is a varnish.
http://www.formbys.com/products/

The Brownells site says that Tru Oil is a blend of oils that seals out moisture?
http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/stock-work-finishing/wood-finishes/tru-oil-stock-finish-prod4952.aspx

I know the first couple coats of Tru-Oil soaked into the stock on my rifle, so it must have penetrated into the poor original finish.

Snagged a .357 Ranch Hand yesterday at local gun shop that somebody traded in, so this thread is definitely relevant to my interests. Notes taken on mods you guys are doing.

http://store.stevesgunz.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6&products_id=7

Thanks 7.62 precision for the detailed explanation. I do a lot of woodworking and make my own tables, so I'm familiar with varnishes and such. When I restored my dearly missed Marlin 1894 .357, I stripped the stock to bare wood and finished it in boiled linseed oil. It turned out fantastic. So much so that I'm the go to guy among my gun friends when a stock refinishing job comes up. I asked about the Tru-oil because I read about so many people using it. I guess I never assumed I was talking to a fellow woody.

I do have some relevant questions about these Rossi guns after doing a bit of snooping around the nets. Maybe some owners could shed some light on the experiences that I'm reading about. These posts are from different time periods, so some of these issues may have been rectified.

*Oversize bores causing accuracy issues.

I've read about this several times with the .44 mags, but not with the .357. Not sure if I simply haven't clicked on the right thread, or maybe the rifling equipment is more precise with the .357. The consensus seems to be that the Rossi guns are way overbore. Some claim up to .435 instead of .430. One fellow had to send his in for this issue and received one just as bad in return.

*Too slow rifling for mid-range or heavy bullets at carbine velocities.

Several posters claim that their rifling is much too slow for accurately stabilizing heavier bullets in either .357 or .44. I think I read where Rossi is using a 1/30 twist, whereas Marlin uses a 1/16 twist.

*Oversize sight dovetails causing the sights to be loose.

My sights are fine, and my 16" .357 shoots hot 158 grain stuff like a laser to 100 yards.

 

There are lots of marketing claims, and the Tung oil does have dying agents in it, but if we cut through hall of the marketing and look at real-world results, the Tu-Oil is basically kind of a poly varnish like finish that applies like an oil finish without the advantages of a real oil finish.



If you want a finish that looks good superficially, the Tru-Oil can work.



But I can get a finish that looks better than a Tru-Oil finish, stabilizes the wood and protects the wood better than anything else, is much easier to maintain and touch up, and is no more work than Tru-Oil. So I won't use Tru-Oil anymore. The hype and marketing are much more impressive than the product itself.



The whole point of an oil finish is that the oil is deeply penetrating the wood, preventing the movement of moisture (wood is a structure designed to transfer moisture) which stabilizes the stock and protects it. A surface finish like Tru-Oil can be easily scratched through, allowing water in. A good oil finish will penetrate deeply enough that most scratches will not bee deeper than the finish, and any scratch can be touched up with oil. An walnut stock that has a very good oil finish can be about as stable as a laminate stock.



For me, Tru-Oil is too much work for results that are not much different than I can get with a finish I can just spray on.



 

What do you recommend ?

You need a good crimp on the case. I run 125 & 158 JHP's with a heavy crimp (158gr) using 5.grs Unique.  Was out ringing steel @ 100M yesterday, suppressed.
I run 125 plated but using titegroup with light / recommended crimp.  

For the best possible finish, a good raw linseed oil cut with turpentine.



For the easiest way to get really good results, Formby's flat or gloss (depending on the sheen you want) tung oil cut with rupentine or mineral spirits.



Colour, if desired, using an alcohol-based stain. I like Tapadera's - it is really easy to use. You can put it on the raw wood, but you have more control over the colour if you use the stain over the first coat of oil.



 

I use a product called Arm-R-Seal on furniture and it works really well. I've never tried it on a gun stock, but I don't see why it wouldn't work well for that and offer superior protection compared to a plain oil rubbed finish.

Here's a thread from another board comparing Arm-R-Seal to Tru-Oil.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?145652-ArmRSeal-vs-tru-oil

Arm-R-Seal is a poly varnissh, so it would be like any similar poly product in that it would coat the surface and protect it.



This is different from an oil finish that is absorbed into the wood and protects it.



A varnish is better than an oil finish for a lot of different applications, and some of the modern poly coatings are very tough. They have disadvantages on gunstocks, though, in that a stock is something that you want to completely protect from moisture, both from water contact and from humidity. These poly finishes allow moisture through if they get dinged or scratched, and often areas of the stock are not coated, as they are impractical to coat. Also, this type of finish looks bad, often turning white, when it gets scratched, dented, or abraded, and is very hard to impossible to just touch up.



An oil finish is better in that it soaks into the wood to stabilize it. I often apply the first coat in a plastic bag with most of the air pushed out, rolling and soaking the stock in the stock in the thinned oil so that it enters every screw hole and crevice. I give it quite a while to soak in, making sure the whole piece stays wet, and then pull it out and dry it off before any of the oil sets up on the surface. Then I continue with the finish as normal. An oil finish is also able to be easily touched up, even if you have to remove some wood. Even if the surface of the wood sustains damage, the moisture does not soak in becasue it is already soaked full of oil under the surface. The oil does not make a hard coat like a poly coating does, but is better for the wood in the long run.



Just look at the stocks on old Mausers that had oil-finished stocks, and compare the condition of those to sporting rifles (or military rifles) that have had years of hard use on a varnish finish - the oil-finished stocks, even with dings, will tend to look a lot better than varnished stocks, which with hard use will have areas where the varnish is chipped and abraded off, usually with water damage to the wood and staining of the wood in those areas. Also, once oil gets by, and it will, a varnish does not protect the wood from gun solvents soaking deeper and deeper and wrecking the wood. Water or oil soaking into the wood under the varnish, even from the smallest dings, will cause the finish to separate from the wood and it gets worse over time.



Oil finishes can bring out the grain like nothing else with some woods.



Disadvantages to an oil finish is that they take more work, a lot more time, and they should be touched up over the years to keep the wood filled with the oil.



I like to use a wax/oil mix to protect the surface once the finish is complete. The wax gives protection and the oil continues to soak into the wood. The wax can be put into screw holes and under buttplates to protect the wood and metal.

Very nice.  I have the saddle ring model.  Can you tell me how you did the sling loops?
Thank you

I will write about it in detail soon with photos, but basically, I took two mauser sling swivels, inletted the stock for them, adjusted the front side of the first one so it fit under the barrel band and drilled a hole for the screw, and then I polished and nitre blued them, coating them with gloss clear DuraCoat for protection.

I'm a little late here, but I'll chime in also. I have a 24 inch .357 that I've added a tang sight to, and it shoots very nicely. As soon as the holidays settle down, I'm going to get NKJ's slick up kit and then clean up the wood on it. Ideally, I'll be able to add a 16 inch carbine to the collection before too long.