I have been mulling a new lever gun purchase, to restock my collection after my divorce. Having heard good things about the Rossi, I put one on order, and of course it's backordered.

The other day, I was able to handle a Henry Big Boy. I was impressed with the smoothness and trigger, although I am not a fan of the magazine tube loading from the front. The Henry is an extra hundred dollars over the Rossi.

I have never laid eyes on a Rossi in person. But if the fit and finish and action is on par with the Henry, I'd just as soon wait on it to come in, save my hundred dollars, and have the loading gate.  But I will be pissed at myself if I wait months for a rifle that isn't buttery smooth with a nice trigger straight from the factory.

Has anyone owned and shot both? Which is the better rifle?

Henry better for unloading all the time......

Win 73 is best race gun.

I asked the same thing about a month ago. I went with the Rossi 92, but I was leaning more towards more traditional, plinking, and occasional hunting. Had it been for strictly hunting, then the Steel Boy. My Rossi is slick, accurate and a lot of fun. Plus about $150 cheaper.

Here the thread I started

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_47/465400_Can_t_decide_Rossi_92_or_Henry_Steel.html

The Henry is slick with a great trigger... but I'll never like that load method.
The Rossi needs work out of the box but can be made into a very good gun.

I'd lean Rossi and an action job.

Depends how serious you are about hunting. Rossi is great for plinking and if you just want one. Henry is much more robust and quality. I have both and yes they are vastly different. If you are serious about reliability and trigger you'll spend the extra money you save on the Rossi to get where the Henry is from the factory. To me the whole loading/unloading thing is a non issue. In fact Ohios regs for deer only allow 3 in the gun. The Henry is much easier to put a 4th round in for a kill shot.

Many thanks for the info.

I can speak on the Rossi. My lever gun is a Henry, and it is my favorite rifle.

I have taken it hunting. While it is heavy, it's accurate and I am not planning on reloading. I have a revolver in the same caliber for that.

Your last sentence. It doesn't make sense. I can't speak for the Henry, but my Rossi in 45 colt is pretty robust. I will eventually smooth the action up, but it is not exactly rough. While I am sure the Henry is an excellent gun the loading procedure kills it for me.

Something rarely mentioned about the tube loading.  If you're hunting with it,  a traditional lever gun with a Kings patent loading gate requires you to cycle the ammo thru the gun to unload it. With the Henry you pull the tube, empty the magazine and take the round out of the chamber. Quicker and safer.

Like about every pump and semi shotgun ever made. With the firing pin block saftey on and finger off the trigger I see no issue with the Rossi being safely unloaded. Having the muzzle pointed skywards and dropping rounds down a tube like a mortor seems more of a concern with the Henry. Both are fine rifles, just different.

Tried my friends Rossi Carbine. Absolutely hated loading. 38 special through the gate.

Henry Big Boy Steel ordered immediately after.

With the Rossi, it is a 50/50 crapshoot.   Also, parts are hard to get from them.    Henry will sell you parts easily, also to your gunsmith.

I have a Marlin 1894.    Has several R92s but no more.   Dont know about the Henry, but reports are good.

I don't have any lever guns with safeties, mine are as JMB intended ( and the Rossi safety is a joke).

I also don't have any center fire Henry's.

Rossi has made the 92 in the big bore calibers with both the loading gate and the tune load, on the same gun. I even saw a 44 mag with that setup once, should have bought it.

Or just push the loading flap or whatever it's called in, they will come out the same way they went in without cycling them through the action. My marlin does anyway.

I'm leaning towards the Rossi myself - gate loading will be easier with suppressor mounted.
Recent reports on them seem good - maybe QC has improved. The price difference is fairly significant too - enough to cover the gunsmith fees to get it threaded. :)

I have a Rossi 92 octagon barrel in 45 LC that I abjectly love. Spend the little extra money on the safety delete and action job and you will not be disappointed.

i worked at a shop for a year and handled both. the big boys are just.....BIG. and heavy. ugh. heavy.






i loved the 16", 20" and even the 24" hex barrelled rossi's. all 3 felt solid and F&F is good  the stocks fit to the metal flush. butt plate is the only are its a lil off on them. no biggy. i handled the 92's so much i had to buy one. sometimes they are hard to get! the stsinless ones are sweet too.








       +1 for the Rossi 92. my 357 is now eating my own reloads. been goi g for 2 years now.




only thing you have to do:




-Stevez Guns SS mag tube follower
-Stevez safety delete. use half cock for safety.

I only have the large loop rossi in .357.   Really like the gun.
My dad saw it so I ordered him one.
He picked up a bunch of 38 and 357 ammo and we went out to try the different types in it.   Ran every thing just fine.
Very smooth action.   No much kick.

I have a 13 year old EMF Rossi. Nice gun, but it'll hiccup occasionally.





 

LOVE my Rossi, never a hiccup, one of the most fun guns I own. I did add the safety delete and follower from stevesgunz, also the "bullseye" rear sight. The sight is awesome and I shoot better with it than the buckhorn it comes with.

Rossi made the 92 for several importers, LSI, EMF, Navy Arms, the early ones were imported by Interarms.

The EMF guns are the nicest I've seen, I had a 20 inch carbine, blue with a case colored frame.  Beautiful gun, I let a friend talk me out if it.  It lives in San Antonio now.

LSI was the first to have that stupid bolt safety, before long they all had it.

These are my leverguns, the only Henry's are .22s.  You can take from that what you want.

You know you don't need to fully chamber a round to unload a Rossi. Like a shotgun with a tubular magazine, you can work the lever so a round leaves the tube, then you just shake or roll the round out. Not difficult or unsafe at all.

Regarding loading a lever action that has a loading gate, when the gun is new and the gate is stiff, put 1 round 1/2 way into the gate. Use the next round to push the 1st round all the way in. Leave that round 1/2 way into the gate. Repeat. That way you only get pinched once. Eventually the gate will loosen up a bit and you wont get pinched at all. You can also tune the loading gate so you don't get pinched.  

If the Henry guns came with a loading gate I'd probably have a few of them.  That said I love my Rossi trapper-length .357.  Henry could double their sales overnight if they offered a loading gate model.

The Big Boy Steel is a bit lighter than the regular Big Boy series, not sure about the comparison with the Rossi though.

+1 to this!  I love the look & feel of the Henrys but can't get past no loading gate!

I have a Rossi.  An older LSI import.  Fun gun, works like a champ.  Rossi has this one figured out.  They've been making them forever.

Rossi.
May need a 'go fast' tune up to run cowboy action shooting scenarios but they're solid pieces.

I have several Marlins but bought a stainless 16" Rossi 357 as a project gun for a suppressor host.  The Henry is okay but the loading tube was a deal killer since I wanted to use a can.

Actually, I see that mentioned pretty much every time the question of loading gate vs end tube comes up.  Drobs and kyron4 addressed that fairly well enough, but also see my last sentence in this comment.

What I do rarely see mentioned is the issue with topping off a partially loaded magazine in the field.

Besides the awkwardness of hassling with the tube rod in the field and trying not to drop it while loading (or unloading), there's the issue of trying to avoid any part of your body (such as hand/fingers) passing in front of the muzzle of a loaded firearm while topping of an end loaded tube magazine.  End loaded tube is OK at the bench, but loading gate=quicker and safer in the field.

Additionally, following unloading the sequence you listed for a rifle with a round already in the chamber, you've still got the muzzle safety issue of taking the rod out of a loaded firearm unless you open the action first.

Both?

Rossi first then Henry. I almost bought a steel Henry the other day. I have  6 or so Rossi's. One thing about Henry, if it breaks they fix it. Not sure about Rossi, you may be on your own.

FWIW I've never owned a Henry. I previously owned a 357 Rossi. Note the word "previously".

The barrel was indexed incorrectly. With iron sights this wasn't an issue. With a red dot and the Rossi factory scope mount, there was not enough windage adjustment to zero the RDS. The barrel's sights were visibly canted off center with respect to the receiver.

It wouldn't feed worth a damn. It struggle to get a 357 cartridge to chamber. It did somewhat better with 38s but not much. It took polishing the cartridge guides just to achieve barely acceptable. Before that it was effectively and practically a single shot.

Accuracy was mediocre. The action was rough. The trigger was lackluster. The finish machining was sloppy.

The finish was ok and the wood was decent. Those were its only good-ish qualities.

It was, without reservation, the shittiest rifle I ever had the displeasure of owning. It was clearly assembled by a drunken moron on the Friday before a holiday and QC had already left for the day. It made my Soviet built Mosin and Chinese built SKS look like fine pieces of artistic craftsmanship, worthy of the most snobbish French fashion designer. Even my crappy little Hi Point carbine is a nicer rifle and is, in fact, a product of superior manufacturing technique.

Suffice to say, I will never ever own anything made by Rossi / Taurus ever again. Obviously, I strongly recommend against the Rossi 92. The Henry is, in every way, superior.

you should have sent it back. 

My R92 is my fav gun and my most used one is my Mk12 that cost me over $2,500 to build. theres just something about a .38spl chootin lead boolitz is pure fun for me. JMB was a weapon artist and rossi did me good on my carbine. 

This question is a bit like the Ford vs Chevy argument.  The Henry, a semi-Marlin 336 knockoff but without a side loading gate offers a smooth action but comes with quite a weight penalty and a higher price.  The Rossi, a Winchester 1892 knockoff offers traditional Winchester 1892 styling and weight but at a bit less polished interior finish and rougher action and fine exterior but at a lower price.  Both carbines will work well for you, it's really a question of how much you want to spend, what features you want, and how polished you want the 'innards' to be.

I've had a little Henry H001 22lr rd bbl carbine since 2006 and it's a fun little 22.  Smooth action and decent accuracy, it's a good plinker.  When I looked for my 1st 357mag levergun in 2009, Henry hadn't yet decided to make the Big Boy and I also wanted my first to be a 24" rifle, something they still don't offer.  As I'd had a pre-64 Winchester 1894 decades prior, I looked hard at the Rossi and finally picked up a NIB oct bbl, case hardened receiver version.  I knew from friend's Rossis that I would be giving it a Steve Young DvD driven action and trigger job so I sent off for his kit, including the bolt safety removal plug, and a Marbles tang sight, folding rear sight, and 1/16" brass bead sight.

Slicking up the action and lightening the trigger, loading gate spring, etc., was as easy as following Steve's expert direction and the result was a very smooth cycling, decent trigger levergun that feeds both 357mag as well as 38 spl handloads just fine.  The $58 for the action and trigger job also allowed me to learn the innards of my rifle, something I always like.  The job turned out so well, I later bought another 357mag Rossi but this time it was a rd bbl carbine.  I gave it the same action and trigger job but this time as I'd already had the Dvd, the cost was significantly less.  I enjoy both my rifle and carbine and they are favorites at the range and plinking.  I even got a Uberti SA Cav model pistol to go along with the pair of long guns.

A couple of fellows at our range have gone with the 357mag Henrys and they like them just fine as well, however, one gentleman has said if he had it to do again he'd get the Rossi as he likes it's slimmer size, lower weight, and loading gate.

ETA:  Like Warhawk above, I have eight leverguns, only one of which is a 22lr and it's the only Henry. Besides the Henry they include my 2ea Rossi 357mags; one 24" rifle, one 20" carbine, 2ea Uberti 45 Colts; one '73 Special Sporting 24" Rifle, and one '66 Yellowboy 19" carbine, a Mossberg 464 30-30, a 1959 Winchester Model 88 .308, and a 1949 Savage Model 99 300 Savage.

I have taken deer with both a 357 and 44 mag rossi in ohio. They are serious rifles .

Yeah the Rossi safety I didn't care for but I find myself using it for exactly this purpose.

Got a Rossi 92 in 357 mag and the chamber was oversized over SAAMI specs.

Sent it back.

In 6 weeks to 6 years it should be back in my possssion.

I would prefer the Henry Big Boy Steel if it had a loading gate.

If you like to tinker the Rossi is a great gun.

Just don't buy one that was made during Carnival.

My FIL has a Henry (.45 Colt) and it's beautifully finished.  Very smooth.  But, it's heavy and I just can't get past the lack of a loading gate.  My little Rossi trapper length in .357 is my woods walking deer gun.  Feels like carrying a Red Ryder.  I did, however, have to change a few parts to get her to smooth up.  The new ejector spring made the biggest difference.  I'll never get rid of this gun.