Red Adair " arguing with an engineer is like wrestling with a pig, you get all covered in s--t; and the only one who has any fun is the pig "
I've never heard or ranger precision parts. me myself I'd take the 44 . if you ever feel so inclined to go deer hunting it's a better caliber . if your just going to plink go for the 357 which will still work on deer but the 44 will do a better job . if you aren't wealthy then look into getting a single stage reloading press and roll your own . not sure how strong a Rossi action is but I've fired some decent loads out of a Marlin 44 . you know it . they blew right through a tree . hunting 44mag . playing around the 357 . your question has been answered .
I have a 16" stainless R92 in .44 mag and if I had to get rid of everything except one rifle, I would keep that one. Recoil with factory loads is a bit stout but the muzzle blast makes it seem worse, at least with light bullets (lots of poweder, big fireballs). I put a grind to fit limbsaver on mine so it's very reasonable to shoot full power loads. If you hand load and cast for it, you can load some mild recoiling rounds that are a pleasure to shoot all day long, 240 grain soft point deer loads or some 300 grain bear loads for camp. It's a very versatile caliber.
Having said that, I've never even shot a .357 but while you can down load the .44 to .357 levels, you can't load .357 to .44 levels.
looking for something I can shoot at the range for fun, but also have the flexibility to use it as something to hunt down the road potentially. I just don't know what I'd be hunting. I am very eager to build a "modernized" lever action, and I figured .357, or 44 would be a great options