In my hurried quest to tool up before my wife bans firearm purchases, I am about to the point where I am looking at picking up a lever action in .357 or 44mag. Problem is, Winchester models are out of my range, so as far as I can tell it's really a choice between Rossi and Marlin. I've heard a lot about Rossis, but it's a mixed bag (as usual and to be expected). So I'm not looking for "It's garbage! Buy a Winchester (see above). I'm just wondering if any of you fine folks have experience with these or a similarly priced rifle. Thanks in advance!
My mom deer hunts with a Rossi .44 mag lever action. Great gun. Heavier than my mosin though. It's absolutely freaking gorgeous too. She's never had a problem with it either.
Thanks! They look pretty nice. The Cimmarons are nice, but well out of my price range. Good to know the arossi as served her well!
i bought a new one many years back in 357. it was a piece of crap. I heard the ones they make now are made better.
Buddy of mine has a rossi in 357 and it's a good little shooter. I had a winchester 94 in 45 colt and while it was accurate it also rusted if you looked at it and the action was a tad on the clunky side. If I buy another lever gun it will be a rossi. I think the marlin lever guns are ugly and I don't think much of their micro groove rifling.
I'm not a big fan of the retarded safety they have recently introduced. I have an older one, an EMF Hartford 24" rifle in .44-40. My buddy has a 20" Rossi in .45lc. Both are accurate and function smoothly. My 13 year old will shoot it all day if I let him. Accuracy in mine is outstanding. Balance is very good. My hands are very large, so I use the lever w/ 2 fingers inside the loop, 3 actually hurts and is uncomfortable. The Buckhorn rear and barley corn front sights are great. Elevation is easy to figure out quickly. Overall I'm very happy w/ the rifle.
I have had three Marlins in .357 and .44 and got rid of all of them. To me, all three had a finicky feed cycle and would leave deep gouges in the brass (a no-no for a handloader). I understand that the late model Marlins have even more problems. I have two Marlin CL's in .25-20 and .32-20 from the 1980's that have never given a problem, but those are not straight cases. I currently have an orginal Winchester and an EMF Hartford Rossi and neither are for sale. The Chiappas are overpriced and still have a few design adjustments ahead. Go for the Rossi. If you have trouble finding one check with Steves Guns on the web.
I have a Rossi 357. It's a nice gun...shoots 357 & 38 very well. I'm not a big fan of their sights, but hey, they're cheap. Buy it.
No no! I really appreciate the input! My problem is while I shoot pretty well (if I do say so myself lol) and always clean my firearms after any shooting, any "gunsmithing" past field stripping is beyond me. If I get one and it needs to be taken apart, I'm hosed haha. I like Marlins, I love those Cimmarons, Henrys are amazing... But the Rossis are affordable with my budget. But right now there are some sales on Marlins, but those are the 30-30s and I'd rather have a rifle I could match with a revolver
Rossi quality has gone up since Taurus started making them I know Taurus backs there guns with a lifetime warranty not sure if that includes the Rossi brand tho should check on that
Sounds good! I'm sorry to hear that Marlin quality control has suffered. IMHO, the Marlins are by far the most beautiful of the <$650 lever guns. The Rossis just seem to be missing something from the Marlins (and the rest), but I'm not sure what. There is more detail in the stock, and the "pistol grip" is more pronounced in the others. But if it won't cycle reliably than a stock made of 24k gold with angels etched into the barrel is still about worthless. The place I usually buy my firearms has plenty of Rossis in stock. I wonder if he would let me work the action a bit to see how it feels...
