New Rossi R92 TB with some pluses and some minuses

[Whisky Tahoe]

The new series of lever guns from Rossi are brought to us in the USA by Brastech based in Atlanta. More about them in a minute...

The R92 TB (short for Triple Black) is a lever action tube fed side gate in a few calibers. I ordered one in 44 magnum.
The loop is large and comes wrapped with a black leather-like rope.
Barrel is 16+ inches and comes with a .578"x28 thread protector.

Rifle comes with a brass bead front sight and a peep rear sight on a ramp that is part of the picatinny rail.
Rail is forward enough to require extended eye relief (scout type) scopes or red dots.

This configuration ticked a couple of boxes for me. Threaded barrel? Check! Rail? Check! Large Lever? Check! Big Bore? Check!
Ok it is more a want than need kind of rifle but it is my first lever gun.

Out of the box the lever action was like glass and a pleasant surprise. I was prepared for a little roughness but it is very smooth.
Side gate is fairly stiff and you need something to push the rounds in.
The trigger releases at a crisp 3lb average.

At the range it started out well but quickly showed some problems
The screws holding the rail to the barrel started breaking before I noticed rail was loose. 3 broke and one was loose.
Turns out the screws are very short with marginally enough threads to hold the rail in place.

Placed a call to Brastech and they told me my warranty was voided when I used reloads.
This was after I had to convince the customer service rep that the rail was a factory item!
While I feel this could be fought, this isn't the hill I want to die on.

Retapped the holes to make sure the threads go as deep as possible using a bottom tap.
Ground new screws from longer ones till they were short enough to bind the rail but longer than the lone remaining screw. Used the Works sharpener with an old belt and put the screw in a pair of vice grips.
Used purple (due to size of the screw) locktite and reattached the rail.
While checking the sights, I noticed the front sight was loose and it came out in my hand. Added some purple to hold it in place till finished sighting in with sights. Plan to stake it in place after that.

Hard to recommend this rifle to an enemy let alone a friend but the issues should get resolved eventually.
Till then Brastech has some work to do before this gets too much attention.

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[billdeserthill]

You should never incriminate yourself-- as someone who has incriminated himself,
I can say that

 

[echo1]

The new Rossi ownership sucks at honoring the lifetime warranty, but it worked out for me. A Calguns member had a 92m .357 extractor failure. He sent it to Rossi for service, they tore it down, said it was "out of spec" but not what specifically, wouldn't sell him an extractor, and sent it back in parts. He posted his troubles on Calguns and in the thread he jokingly asked if anyone wanted a broken 92. I was the first person to send a "How much?" PM. He hadn't got the rifle back yet and said a hunnerd bucks when it gets returned. SOLD says I. When it showed up, someone put a new extractor and pin in a bag, no invoice or note. I think a service Tech did him right on the sly. So....I bought the basket case 92, fitted the extractor, and voila... runs like a champ and is a little unique. 20 inch octagon barrel, case hardened receiver That's two .357 rigs for me, I have a 16-inch Rossi carbine already. PAX

 

[Whisky Tahoe]

You should never incriminate yourself-- as someone who has incriminated himself,
I can say that

As I was calling Rossi Support, I decided that I would report the problem but not give the rifle back. I somewhat sabotaged my claim on purpose by telling them I used lead reloads. Whether accurate or not, I felt the little problems were not worth the trouble of giving back a rifle with smooth action and a crisp trigger. I started to think I would get something back that was worse and have to wait months to get it.
I reported the problem to the online supplier I used, Sportsman's Fulfillment. Maybe they can get Rossi to make some changes.

In hindsight, I probably should have looked at the Henry Big Boy X model a little harder.
The Henry costs more money but it has a better twist rate (1:20) versus the Rossi (1:36)

 

[Belevolk]

I bought one of the Ruger .44 Carbines a decade or so ago.
The only issue is I have to put it way when the young folks are shooting. They do no look close enough as one of my .22 is a Ruger as well. I find it works well with my reloads, the manual states you need to have shells a bit more than the bare minimum for the action to work correctly.

I enjoyed your review. To the point and with some humor. Sad you can purchase a large caliber smoke wagon and have it fail so fast. Does not say much about the quality of the design.

 

[Whisky Tahoe]

I bought one of the Ruger .44 Carbines a decade or so ago.
The only issue is I have to put it way when the young folks are shooting. They do no look close enough as one of my .22 is a Ruger as well. I find it works well with my reloads, the manual states you need to have shells a bit more than the bare minimum for the action to work correctly.

I enjoyed your review. To the point and with some humor. Sad you can purchase a large caliber smoke wagon and have it fail so fast. Does not say much about the quality of the design.

Many thanks for the reply.
I'm envious just shy of coveting your Ruger 44 Carbine. Nice rifle. My dream pair would be the Ruger 44 Carbine and the Super Redhawk.

For now I'm getting by with a Desert Eagle, the Rossi, and a 23in 44mag Contender Carbine setup. Just have to timeshare the Contender frame.
My son's 629 performance center 4in 44 is in the safe as well. With "bear" loads, it's a real handful.

In my youth, the local indoor range rented a 9.5" Super Redhawk that really soaked up the recoil.
That was fun till the ammo prices went up. Which is why I reload.

We load light for the plated and coated bullets keeping velocity under 1250 per Raineer's advice.
Accurate #7, #9, HP38, TiteGroup all work for the lead loads and more importantly I have them on hand.

For the regular jacketed bullets, we let it fly with either H110 or Vihtavuori N110. Both seem to be rocket fuel.
H110 has a narrow min max but pushes a 240gr bullet 1700-1800 fps in a rifle. The N110 gives 1400-1500fps out of a pistol barrel.
I'll have to setup the Chronograph to know for sure.

Looking forward to this weekend where we can re-sight in the Rossi after the repairs.
Looking at the picture I have uploaded, I need to get the Contender back to 44 Mag as well so it is a real party.

 

[echo1]

....They do no look close enough as one of my .22 is a Ruger as well.....

You have a Ruger 96? Does it bother you? Need to move it? PAX

 

[Belevolk]

Sure do have one. Bought it in the Frys parking lot near Thunderbird.
It is no bother, not interested at this time in having it go wander from my hands. It is really not much of a rifle beyond 100 yards. I have taken some white tails with it when I was in Iowa. Good for brush, not an open county smoke wagon like my Shiloh-Sharps 45-70.

 

[echo1]

I was asking about the 96 in .22lr, I've been looking for one for some time. I'd like one in particular because I have a few 10/22s and a bunch of mags. I've got some other levers in .308, .30-30 and .41 mag but none in .22lr, had a Marlin 39 once upon a decade. PAX