M14 Forum

CHARLIED308 · November 8th, 2008, 03:40 PM

Anyone own a 1892 Model Rossi Puma .357/.38 lever action ? What are your opinions about the rifle ? Reliabliity ? Accuracy ? Favorite loads ?

There is a stainless 1892 Rossi Puma lever action .357 with 24" barrel on the shelf at the local gun shop and I was wanting input from people who have owned/shot them before I pullled the trigger (pun intended) and purchased one.

IRON WORKER · November 9th, 2008, 05:33 AM

I bought one back in the mid 90's,I'm a diehard Winchester model 1892 fan and have owned several vintage originals in both carbine and rifle form.
The Rossi is not quite as nice as the original,some cosmetic and some functional differences.
John Browning's original design was as perfect as a lever gun could be,beautiful compact and silky smooth action.
Rossi uses coil springs in the action which make it a lot heavier and not as smooth as the original.
If you have ever seen Chuck Conners or John Wayne cock theirs by a swing of the arm ,thats just how smooth the originals were.
They use all investment cast parts and some areas are left in the cast state.
They omitted a lot of detail on the receiver for production reasons but is not as nice looking .
I am in the process of customizing mine,I reshaped and polished the receiver to look like the original.I hand made from scratch new black walnut stocks,and have polished and slicked all the internals.
Hoping to have a nice custom metal finish applied
But overall right out of the box they are fine shooters and if wanted they can be slicked up to be perfect .
I think you can get custom spring kits ,sights and other parts for them now.
You can thank the cowboy action society for the comeback of all these fine firearms.

CHARLIED308 · November 10th, 2008, 02:21 PM

Thanks for the reply Ironworker. Can you give me a recipe for an accurate 100 yard load for the Puma 1892 lever action rifle ?

dave41855 · November 11th, 2008, 08:20 AM

For what it's worth, I now have 9 Puma 38/357 Mag levers. I absolutely LOVE them all. No, they are NOT a Winchester, true, but are so doggone close it's rediculous. I very highly reccommend the dvd from Steve's Gunz. It shows you exactly, piece by piece, how to tune a Rossi lever. You can tune one for race or mild. GET IT!! You won't be sorry.

www.stevesgunz.com

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. As for reloading, I don't. I buy Black Hills reloads by the case. I can't afford to reload for what I can buy the cowboy action loads for.

HTH!!
Dave

CHARLIED308 · November 12th, 2008, 12:40 PM

Thanks for the replies. I bought the rifle with a blue finish. It is a lot more rustic looking than my Marlin 1894CB, which in my opinion more rustic is better. I fired some of the reloads I tailored for my 1894CB and the results were pretty good. I managed an average of 1 1/2" wide x 2" high groups at 50 yards which is a good starting point.

Update 11/19/08: I fired the rifle with pretty good results yesterday. From the prone position with no support I fired several 7/8" groups at 50 yards. The load I used was a Remington SWC lead bullet sized .358" + 4.0g Unique which chronographed at 923 fps. I really like this rifle. The buckhorn sights are easy to use. I like the Rossi/Puma 1892 rifle much better than the Marlin 1894CB Cowboy.