New to me anyway

My Father bought this in 1991, it looks like he shot it very little

Yeah a Rossi M855, not a real collectors piece  

But if it goes bang, so what?

ETA: My Father passed away many years ago

Attached File

Nice. I want a round butt short barrel revolver.

Nice.  Can it handle +P loads?

I don't think so.  It's not stamped on the barrel like usual.

This was and is considered a junk gun so there isn't a lot of info that I've found

Congrats!

A snort of tightgroup under a lee 145swc makes for an enjoyable a afternoon with that model. Don't have to pick up brass either. Also a great trainer for ladies & kids

Hush your mouth.  Rossi made decent revolvers, still makes decent rifles.  I had a Rossi 68, managed to get it shoehorned into some Bianchi Bodyguard style grips so all but the hammer spur was covered.  DA trigger pull is likely not all that great, be careful w/ lightening it.

My first handgun was a Rossi M854 that my dad bought be for my 21st birthday. 4" stainless steel 38 Spl. Looks like a M66 with a Python barrel.  Still have it 30 years later and will never get rid of it. Never gave me any issues.

This

I’ve got an old Rossi made S&W clone. It’s in 357 Magnum and it’s been very reliable. Unless you look at the markings, it’s tough to tell it’s Rossi.  
Treasure that one OP. Especially if it’s your only gun that he owned.

Nice rossi. I have a 720 in 44 special that's sweet.

I have had a blued one since late 80's no telling how many rounds fired out of it and it still shot fine last time I had it out. In high school,the local gun shop had wadcutter reloads for $4-5 box, it got shot alot. I have limited amounts of +p in it.

Any gun you inherit from a parent after their death is a treasured piece in my opinion.  Case in point, I have a really old Stevens single shot .410 that is held together with 60 year old tape and luck.  When my father, who was one of 12 kids iirc, was a child they lived in rural Oklahoma on a farm.  One of these situations where when he said they had to take turns on who got to ride the mule several miles to school while the others walked, it wasn't an exaggeration.  

One day he saw a used .410 shotgun in the window of the town hardware store but, obviously, had no money.  One of the guns owned by his father was an old .22lr single shot rifle.  My dad would get up extra early every morning, before school and chores, ride the mule out to the fields and hunt coyote for the bounty.  After I have no idea how long, he saved enough to buy the used shotgun.  

My father joined the Air Force as soon as he was old enough and made it his career.  When he married my mom they were two young people living on the salary of young enlisted man which isn't much.  That same .410 shotgun was my mom's home defense gun those many years starting out and raising a growing family.  

Eventually my dad bought other guns more suitable for home defense but my mom was always more comfortable with the small scattergun so it remained under their bed throughout my childhood (unloaded for safety among several kids).  

My father died just a few years after retiring from the Air Force still a relatively young man.  As the resident gun enthusiast I inherited all his guns (once I was old enough) minus one which was stolen the day of his funeral.

I still have them and that old Stevens single shot .410 is still held together with yellowed fragile tape and a roofing nail to stop the long broken opening lever from going too far.  I've never fired it nor would I in its current condition.  Many times I've considered having it repaired and made usable but every time I see that old yellow tape and the roofing tack hammered into the stock it brings the story back and that's what's important.  I'll keep it as is.  Monetarily it's not worth $10 but sentimentally it's priceless to me.

Your inherited guns don't have to have a good story to them though to be valuable.  They are, by nature of being inherited, valuable.

Straight out of college, early 80's I bought the 3" version of that gun.  It worked great.  They made good revolvers.  I could not afford the S&W 3" M36 I coveted at the time and that particular Rossi was the much less expensive version (like 30-40% less) of essentially the same gun as the S&W J frames.  I was steered toward it by an old Birmingham police Sgt. at the time who was trying to help me get into CCW.   It served me well and never gave trouble.  I traded up to a S&W M64 3" which replaced it as my carry gun after a few years.  If I had not needed the trade in credit toward the S&W at the time I would have kept mine.

I doubt I put more than 2K standard pressure rounds through it in the years I owned it, simply because I was not yet a reloader and could not afford that much ammo yet.  So I cannot offer insight on the durability or how well they stay in time.