New Rifle

[mr surveyor]

Maybe with a little elbow grease I can remove the word Taurus .... I hoped to never, ever send my hard earned American money to a third world country..... but.....

Picked up a Rossi M92 20" barrel (lever gun) in .44 mag this morning. I really, really wanted a good, clean older model Marlin in .44 mag or .357 mag (or both), but they just ain't to be found. I will not buy another "Remlin" (remington ruined the Marlin line), and there just isn't a whole lot else available in my price range. So, for $489 the Rossi came home with me, NIB. Overall, the fit and finish is "good" (unlike the remlin that I rate "fair") but the action is as smooth as glass, and the trigger is better out of the box than my well worn 1973 vintage 336. I have two close shooting buddies that both switched to the Rossi .44 mag rifles in the last 6 months and they are both extremely pleased. Hopefully I didn't get "THE" lemon.

As with every other firearm I acquire, before I even put the first round down the tube I have to find instructions for complete disassembly, or at the very least removal of the lever and bolt.

Not too thrilled about the orange tint in the furniture, so after I give it a couple of range tests to decide whether or not to keep it around there will be some changes made. If it's deemed to be a keeper, I'll drag the buttstock against the concrete shooting bench to give it some "character", which will inspire me to take the furniture off and strip it, bleach it, slick it down, stain it properly, and hand rub about a dozen coats of Danish Oil into it.

Also, at some point along the way, the silly "safety" will disappear and a nice aftermarket peep sight will be installed in that idiot hole ($60 kit).

Still haven't reached Nirvana with my Super RedHawk loads yet, so this will add to that fun as well.

I foresee a lot of future .44 mag projects in my future:D

[MikeyKahr]

Congrats mr surveyor. Let us know how it shoots for you.

[Popeye]

Congrats MR Surv. Sure can't blame you for not wanting a new Remlin. I have a 1981 Marlin 336 and when I compare that to one of the new ones all I can think is how sad is this. :(

[JustinN]

When did Marlin become Remlin? I always eyeball the new Marlins, especially in 45-70, but hate the idea of it feeling cheap.

[Popeye]

When did Marlin become Remlin? I always eyeball the new Marlins, especially in 45-70, but hate the idea of it feeling cheap.

I believe it was at the end of 2007 or begining of 2008 that Reminton bought them out. I could be wrong though. I agree they do look and feel cheap. The ones I looked at a while back the fit and finish looked God awful,when compared to the older ones. The only good thing is, It seems to have made the used JM stamped Marlins worth more money and more sought after.
What a shame though because they are/were such a great rifle for the money.

[certified106]

Congrats on the gun! Let us know how you like it.

[dkmatthews]

Great news, boss! I've been itchin' to get a lever gun and a pistol chambered for the same cartridge. It just seems like a smart move to consolidate.

[Bawanna]

Glad you got something, you've had that hankering for a long long time.

I've been needing closure. I'm happy for you even though I can't tell if your really happy or not.

I think the Puma's and Rossi's aren't bad at all, at least mine have been good. No issues yet.

[Salty]

Henry is looking better all the time to me. I have a 336 (50's) and M39 (60's) Marlins that are both well made quality firearms. Cerberus bought Marlin at the end of 2007, laid off the employees and moved production operation to KY and NY. Quality control has gone the way of recent Remington rifles.

[gb6491]

Maybe with a little elbow grease I can remove the word Taurus .... I hoped to never, ever send my hard earned American money to a third world country..... but.....

Picked up a Rossi M92 20" barrel (lever gun) in .44 mag this morning. I really, really wanted a good, clean older model Marlin in .44 mag or .357 mag (or both), but they just ain't to be found. ...
Congrats on the new rifle!
I, like Bawanna, "think the Puma's and Rossi's aren't bad at all" (have an older Puma in .45Colt).
Here's a link you might appreciate: http://www.stevesgunz.com/
Regards,
Greg

[mr surveyor]

Congrats on the new rifle!
I, like Bawanna, "think the Puma's and Rossi's aren't bad at all" (have an older Puma in .45Colt).
Here's a link you might appreciate: http://www.stevesgunz.com/
Regards,
Greg


Thanks for mentioning stevesgunz. My son ran across his site yesterday and I'm seriously considering the peep sight to replace the silly polymer safety lever. We got lucky and finished a project early today and decided to take the Rossi out for a test drive. Started out shooting low at 50 yards, so I raised the rear sight up a notch and found "the elevation". Shot a couple more rounds then started hitting low again. The sight elevator will not stay in place and easily slips back forward (lowering the sight) under recoil. I'll probably pull it and do a bit of file shaping to create just enough divot for the sight to stay in place. Still thinking about the stevesgunz peep sight kit though.

We shot about 45 rounds in the time we had available, starting with factory Win 240 gr jsfp. First three rounds and ouch... then handed to my son. After his three rounds he gladly handed it back. I figured six rounds of factory was enough to proof the initial durability of the gun, then broke out the reloads.... 240 gr lswc's over 19.5 gr of 2400, 240 gr jshp over 22 gr of 110, and 240 gr lswc's over 7 gr TrailBoss. We both decided the TrailBoss loads could be shot all day, and they were actually very accurate, as close as we could determine with all the fidgeting we had to do to keep the rear sight at proper elevation. The other reload rounds.... ouch. This thing will "make a real impression" on you..... but I like it that way:D

[Bawanna]

My Ranch Hand was just the opposite, I couldn't get the rear sight low enough. I took the elevator dealy hymer completely out. I had a few different ones around but none that fit and let it be lower so I took it all the way out.

Haven't shot it since I did that so can't say for sure where ti will be now but I suspect it will be close.

My Puma is pretty much on. I put a Marble tang sight on it and can put em in the black at 100 yards.

Both mine are 45 Colts.

[rjt123]

Henry is looking better all the time to me. I have a 336 (50's) and M39 (60's) Marlins that are both well made quality firearms. Cerberus bought Marlin at the end of 2007, laid off the employees and moved production operation to KY and NY. Quality control has gone the way of recent Remington rifles.

I've given a lot of thought to a Henry, but there's one thing about their design I just can't get past. You have to take out the mag tube rod and load rounds through the hole in the mag tube. If I'm going to buy a lever rifle (which I've wanted for quite a while now), it has to load through the right-hand side of the action. I mean, can anybody picture John Wayne loading a rifle that way? :)

[Bawanna]

The tube is way easier and way faster but your right, it don't seem manly. I can't imagine the Duke doing such a thing.

[mr surveyor]

I don't care for the tube load myself, but.... you can carry loaded "speed loader tubes" that will drop a full reload into the tube at one time, then replace the rod.

For my purposes, 10+1 should be sufficient for most encounters, and with a loading gate you can top off while you're moving. Can't quite do that with a "tube loader".

[Bawanna]

I don't care for them either but they are ok in a fixed location. I can see where the gate would be the ticket while moving.

[mr surveyor]

also... for what it's worth.... about "the furniture". I really didn't like the orange tint in the wood, and even though it was smooth, the wood was a bit on the dry side. That was much better for me anyway. I've now rubbed in 5 coats of "Old English" dark furniture polish (actually made to disguise scratches), and that wood is soaking it up along with the stain. The color transformation is pretty amazing, and I'd assume since the stain is penetrating that it will stay. Also rubbing it out with paper coffee filters (which is my favorite "fine" wood finishing medium) and it's showing signs of actually looking like finished wood.

Next I need an aftermarket fitted cresent shaped buttstock recoil pad. My shoulder hurts:D

[Armybrat]

The Winchester 9422 loads thru the tube too.

So what? The Spencer did also.

Seems that the "manly" part is the ability to put rounds on target, especially if it's shootin' back at you.

Just sayin'

[TheTman]

I've been considering that or the .357 Rossi as my next rifle purchase. Have you ran any .44 special through it, did they run ok? You didn't report on accuracy, I assume because the sights were so screwy. I rarely see any old Marlins or Winchesters or anything chambered in .357 or .44, when I do, my are they proud of them.
I've read up on that Rossi quite a bit, and people seem really happy with them. That peep site is the number one conversion, that safety really sucks. I hear steve's guns does wonders with them, but sounds like your's is pretty smooth already and doesn't need the custom work. I have guns from all over the world, even a Taurus, so the Rossi brand name wouldn't be a big deal to me. I would buy American, if I could afford it. Henry's seem to be about twice the price. Remlins are at least a couple hundred more. I found a Marlin at Cabela's and wrote the serial number down to do some research on it, but was gone when I went back the next day.

[DeaconKC]

Congrats, it sounds like you have a keeper. You gotta post pics of how the stock looks when you are done.