What's the generate consensus on the current production Rossi R92 lever action rifles?

Thinking about one in a 16" .44

Thanks.

They can be mechanically a little rough out of the box, but are relatively well made on the whole. They can easily be taken apart and slicked up to fix this. I owned one in .357 for a while and it was reliable with all ammo types I shot, and quite accurate.

The safety located in the top of the bolt is an abomination, but it is my understanding that they can be removed, and the hole plugged.

As long as you plan to shoot open sights, you'll be GTG. they don't lend themselves to optics like, say, a Marlin or Henry.

I've been using one in Cowboy Action (24" octagon in .45 Colt) for about two years...out of the box they are pretty stiff (way over sprung)...the magazine spring is too heavy and the yellow plastic follower gets sticky with use...this is an easy and pretty inexpensive fix with a stainless steel spring and follower from this guy (your finger tip will love you)...

http://thesmithshop.com/magfollow.html

The rifle does need a good cleaning to get the heavy grease and debris out of the action with at least some pressurized cleaner (I recommend removing the buttstock for this...

After about 400 rounds it did smooth up somewhat from use but still needed (for my intended purpose) some lighter springs and some polishing...the factory ejector spring would fling empty cases into low orbit and the last 1/2" or so of the bolt closing was still annoyingly stiff...but functioned perfectly...

I disassembled the rifle thanks to good YouTube videos and well fitting screwdrivers (just remember, this rifle was designed by John Browning, he designed things to be strong, but he loved a puzzle) and installed a Palo Verdi spring kit, also from the Smith Shop...it's not even the same rifle to use...

http://thesmithshop.com/rossispringkits.html

It's smooth, easy to use and I have had no issues in the least in probably 3500+ rounds...

The 92 action is probably the strongest lever action design out there...Rossi offered them in .454 Casull...

Rossi makes a pretty good copy...even with that silly looking safety on the bolt (which I left on mine by the way...for now).

I have one in 357 Magnum and it is equipped with a Weaver Classic Scout Scope on a short Picitinny Rail than attaches using holes hidden under the rear sight.

As mentioned previously they can be smoothed out a lot with some careful use of a Diamond Hand Hone and some Arkansas stones. You can also cut 1/2 coil off the lever detent spring and that will result in a lever stroke that is smooth as silk.

Note, the 1892 is NOT an easy rifle to re-assemble after a full strip. I suspect that John Browning had a better design in this regard that was "tweaked" by Winchester to reduce manufacturing costs. Because it is difficult to imagine that the same person who designed the easy to work on 1911 ever designed a re-assembly process that is so damned finicky. Just a warning that the first 2 or 3 times you take one of these down for a full cleaning you will be wondering if you have to take a baggie of parts to a gunsmith to get it back together.

To be very generous the accuracy of my Rossi 92 with 357 Magnums of any weight has proven to be disappointing, as in 4-5 inches at 50 yards with the scope.

In contrast to that I have an original 1904 vintage 1892 that a previous owner had converted to 357 Magnum by Winchester sometime in the 50's or 60's that will shoot rings around the Rossi. It has a Marbles rear tang peep sight and with a bit of coaching and spotting by the range master at a local range I was able to put 5 shots groups together with it at 100 yards off a rest.

I have the 16 inch 357 Magnum and it is a soft shooter even with full power loads. I love this little handy rifle. To break mine in, I racked the lever a few thousand times while watching a few movies over a weekend. Now it is like butter on greased lightning !!! For accuracy it is about 1 person MOA at 100 yards with the stock iron sites, put a inexpensive reddot and you can get it down to about a 1 foot MOA, which is good enough for a very handy and I mean very light less than 6 pound handy rifle. God Bless