Mare's leg or Ranch hand? I searched, I really did.

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Not being very familiar with the ins and outs of one lever design vs another, I ask the question of Chiappa Mare's leg vs Rossi Ranch hand, pros and cons of each in design, build quality, fit and finish and function. I'm only interested in 44 mag, if that will make any difference to the debate.
I intend to install a full length stock, or purchase so equipped already. I don't care for the brass finished Henrys. I do like blued, and really like case hardened. I'm strongly considering the case hardened, full stocked, 12" Mare's leg that Wanstalls has right now but wanted to do my homework and get opinions of that vs the ranch hand.
What do I get for an extra ~300.00 with the Chiappa over the Rossi?
I did search. I was surprised to not find any threads directly comparing the two, but I would not be surprised if that's because my searching abilities might suck a little :p
 
Don't know about the Chiappa, but my Ranchhand was great. Seemed to feed quite well, and was a pleasure to shoot with reloads. Shot high, just dropped the notch in the rear sight a tad with a diemakers file. Got an unfinished walnut stock from Rusty Trombone (Wood) and did it in linseed. Traced out a leather buttpad and glued it in place.
Easy peasy.
 
Lots of info on google search "Chiappa Mare's leg vs rossi ranch hand" Cadillac vs Jeep. I wanted one for packing and know it will get beaten up so didn't care about the lower quality looks, fit or finish of the Rossi. Cheaper pricing plus being 1.5 lbs lighter made me opt for the Rossi. 1.5 lbs is a lot of extra weight when on a long pack.
 
Chiappas are pretty. My experience with them would be colourfully dotted with statements like "soft parts", "Cracked bolts", "poor assembly", and "loose or crooked sights".

Rossi's are a LOT less pretty. The wood is some awful jungle timber with stain that runs when it gets wet, BUT, the steel was good, the guns were very functional, and were great platforms upon which to make a better gun.

If you want pretty and functional/reliable without any grief out of the box, save up an extra $100 and buy a real mirk winchester trapper. You'd have eventually put a full buttstock on the "mare's leg" anyhow. Most of us eventually gravitate that direction.
 
Had a ranch hand. Shot 50 rounds form it. Had to buy new sights because it was a foot or more high at 25 yards(common problem). Had to fix the extractor so it would jump over the case lip and not smash through it. I also hated the big loop. Other then that it was ok. Not worth the $500 in my mind though.
 
not a fan of chiappa , they charge a lot of money for what they are offering .

you may have to go through a rossi and debur / polish , but afterwards it will run slick .

what I like about rossi is this , the action they are using , they also chamber in 454 casull [ no one else does this ] .

almost everyone else only has 44 mag as the highest pressure chambering in their actions .

if a person wants to handload rounds to higher pressures , your upper pressure ceiling could be based on 454 casull pressures , not 44 mg . [ ie 45 colt , many people commonly load 45 colt to 44 mag pressure limits if the company making the gun also chambers the same gun in 44 mag ] .

so what also goes into a action being loaded to higher pressure levels , maybe a thicker heavier receiver , better steel , better more consistent heat treatment , higher quality machining and attention to detail ? .... the list could go on .
 
Claven2 said:
Chiappas are pretty. My experience with them would be colourfully dotted with statements like "soft parts", "Cracked bolts", "poor assembly", and "loose or crooked sights".

Rossi's are a LOT less pretty. The wood is some awful jungle timber with stain that runs when it gets wet, BUT, the steel was good, the guns were very functional, and were great platforms upon which to make a better gun.

If you want pretty and functional/reliable without any grief out of the box, save up an extra $100 and buy a real mirk winchester trapper. You'd have eventually put a full buttstock on the "mare's leg" anyhow. Most of us eventually gravitate that direction.
Click to expand...

This.^^^ Plus Rossi's are fun to tinker with & they shoot straight with the loads each gun prefers.:)
 
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