For over 20 years I've owned a very-nice Rossi 1892 carbine in .38/.357. Action was slicked up years ago by Steve's Guns, but the sights never quite agreed with me. I was impressed by the Burris FastFire III mount made by Turnbull (link here) as a clean, low-profile optic mounting solution and thought I would give it a try.

One issue. Older Rossi 1892s are not drilled and tapped and have an odd-sized rear sight dovetail that doesn't match anything else and can even vary rifle-to-rifle, it seems. The only reliable source for a dovetail adapter I knew of was Mr. Pearson here, who makes a very fine rail for these and other lever guns. I contacted him about making a Rossi dovetail adapter with 8-40 threads instead of the 10-32 he uses for his rail. He agreed and then it was just time to wait for parts to arrive.

Here's the Turnbull FastFire III mount with the supplied 8-40 screw:

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The Pearson dovetail adapter needed a little 'machining' to fit:

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Perfect fit into the Turnbull mount:

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The dovetail adapter was still just barely loose. Not quite snug enough in the dovetail for secure optic mounting. I cut a very small shim from a .005 feeler gauge and tapped them both into the empty dovetail, using also a few drops of Loctite-brand metal glue to keep things snug. Optic mount on:

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And she's done! Super clean, if you ask me.

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I realize of course this isn't going to be as robust as other mounting options, since the mount is affixed to the dovetail adapter just by a single small screw, but it maintains the clean lines of the rifle and still allows something of a cheek weld on the stock. The 3 MOA FastFire III offers a super-crisp dot and drilling clay pigeons at 50+ yards became super-easy with .38 Special +P LSWCHP loads.

Another look at the Turnbull mount and FastFire III:

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Good job. I had one I took off my 92FS so I put it on a AK74. Decent little sight.