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Well, last week I went into the LGS looking to buy a certain firearm, only to find out that no one had it in stock anywhere. However, sitting in the rack behind the counter, was a lever-action Rossi 92. Asked to take a look at it, and as soon as I brought it to my shoulder, I knew I was buying it.

I know that Rossis have a somewhat spotty reputation, not being as finely made as some others, but the price was right, and I missed my Henry Big Boy I had to sell several years ago. The prices on Henrys and other "premium brand" lever guns are substantially higher. The Rossi I bought was the stainless steel version with the 20 inch barrel. This past weekend I fired through it a box of 130 grain Winchester WB .38 Special FMJ, a box of 158 grain Speer Lawman .38 Special +P FMJ, and about 25 158 grain Federal Champion .357 Magnum JSPs. I shot it at 25 to 50 yards at 8 inch AR500 plates. Despite the light feel of the rifle and the curved steel buttplate, the .38s felt like shooting a .22 Magnum and the .357s didn't feel like much more, maybe like a 5.56 AR. It cycled every round without issue, except a couple of times I didn't work the lever fully through it didn't pick up a new round...that's my fault. All ejections were positive, no FTEs. Also, zero failures to fire. The loading gate is rather stiff, but using the technique of pushing a round into the tube with the next one, it loaded excellently with .38s. The .357s took a bit more effort, but didn't bind up or anything.

The mag tube follower was made out of some green plastic, so I ordered a stainless steel replacement from Steve's Gunz here in Texas. Swapped it out in about 2 minutes. This coming weekend I plan on running some more through it, and maybe doing some shooting on paper to shoot some groups at various distances. If I do, I'll see about getting some pics on here to accompany this text. I'm quite happy with the purchase and glad to have a pistol caliber rifle to pair up with my revolvers again.