Posted: 8/16/2009 4:56:59 AM EDT
| I was at the local Academy Sports looking at their firearms when I noticed a Rossi Revolver in the counter. My wife is not comfortable shooting the XDM I leave at the house for her. She wants a revolver and they had the Rossi for $249.00, I am wondering if that is a fair price and if they are decent. I've never owned a revolver other than my little NAA black widow, so I'm not up on what the good ones are. |
| Reviews on Rossis have been mixed. I have a 2" .38 that I bought NIB when Navy Arms still had the retail store in Ridgefield, NJ. It was $149 back then. It has not been fired a whole lot but it has give no difficulty. It is not a Smith in terms of fit and finish but neither was it the $400+ that my wife's 649 cost. All in all, it has turned out to be a good value. |
| They don't get a lot of respect, but we've had good luck with our pre-Taurus Rossi's. I had one of the ported .357 VRC's that I really liked. It seemed to be a little smaller than a "K" Frame, but I never compared them directly. The only problem I ever had was the adjustable rear sight loosening up under the recoil of full magnum loads. A little Loctite took care of that. I say I "had" one, because my son liked it even more than I did, so I gave it to him. He also has one of the pre-Taurus .38 snubbies, and it's been perfect. |
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I have a 3" Rossi 720 in .44 special. Great gun. I bought it new in 1993 for around $225 dollars. All internal parts are stainless as well. Trigger broke in eventually, used lots of Brownell's action magic and dry-fired until it was nice and smooth. I sold my S & W 696 a few years ago and made enough of a profit on it that the Rossi is essentially paid for. Shoots a 240 SWC over a charge of Universal Clays into a 2" orange paster all day long.
Wish they still made them, I'd buy another. |
| Academy won't let you dry fire. My buddy bought one there recently and the DA pull is atrociously heavy and I don't like the way the pistol points or the fixed sights. You almost have to point it low to hit on target. It is also a pain to reload with a speedloader. It's as if the cylinder does not swing out far enough. I wouldn't recommend buying brand new. |
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I have a Rossi model 68, a nickle 5-shot in .38 Special (non +P) with 3 inch barrel. Its very lite for a steel wheel. I have probably 500-600 rounds thru it including some +P. It still works fine.
I think the 68 is an older Rossi. It has some sharp edges and rough spots but function is fine. If I didn't already have a Taurus .357 with 6" barrel, a S&W 686 6 inch and the Rossi 3 inch i think I would try one of the Rossi 900s like a model 972 6 inch. I'm thinking Rossi is making their guns better nowdays than they did years back. -VonBarky- |