Lever Guns in 38/357 with Side Gate Loading - What's Out There?

old303 said:
These rifles are so much more fun if you load up some black powder cartridges.
Click to expand...

I agree. The best BP chambering for one of these rifles is .44-40 Winchester. The necked down case and thin brass of the neck do an effective job of keeping powder fouling out of the action.
The straight cased cartridges like .357, 44 mag & 45 Colt don't seal the chamber well at black powder pressures. Pyrodex P is what I use for fun loads in my Rossi.
 
hoytcanon said:
I have owned several, shot many more, and had many discussions at the gun club and reloading store with gun nutz… my personal experiences were all negative; poor fit & finish, cheap and inferior materials, sloppy actions, poor accuracy... IMO, they are made to look good in a catalogue and sell buyers on them, thus far, as far as I can see, they do not satisfy shooters... YMMV.
Click to expand...

I think my understanding of the consensus is that Chiappa can be real stinkers, but I have to say I guess that I won that lottery as my 44 mag Chiappa is beautiful and a favourite with very fine fit, finish and function.

I can't help but recommend them to others based on how much I enjoy that one. It make me sad if it truly is the exception as it would be great if others found the same quality from the company.
 
Chiappa make good LA firearms, i have a 92 in 357 mag and 44 mag, they are reliable and good looking. Just ordered a Marlin Black in 30-30 ( hope i get a good one ).
 
Would be good to know vintage of Chiappas which are okay or ones to avoid, if certain year builds were of lesser-quality
I have one that works okay, so was thinking of another
 
I've had three of the Rossi rifles, a Marlin, and a Chiappa. Two of the Rossi rifles were OK, just a little rough on the finish. One needed work on the magazine tube. All three needed some work on the action to make them as smooth as I like. The Marlin was good, finish and fit was not much better than the Rossi, and it was too heavy / bulky for my preference. But it is an easy model to put a scope or receiver sight on. The Chiappa was the only one that got everything right. It is about three years old. Superb fit and finish, good wood, accurate, smooth, and good trigger. I kept a Rossi and the Chiappa.
 
I agree with Hoyt.
I have owned three rossi 92's, of which two of them worked okay but the fit and finish just wasn't great.For example, rough machining, when you got them wet the stain would stain your hands, crude sights.
I had one chiappa 92, and it was the prettiest of all the 92's I ever had, but it was also the absolute worst.(maybe I got a bad one?) I had one marlin in 357, it was an older one, and it was quality all the way but, Hands down the winchester/miroku 92's are the best of the bunch.
 
boxhitch said:
Would be good to know vintage of Chiappas which are okay or ones to avoid, if certain year builds were of lesser-quality
I have one that works okay, so was thinking of another
Click to expand...

I have a chiappa 92 .357 and it does not only look great its also been 100% reliable.

From the interwebz I know they can be hit and miss and esp. the older ones seem to have their issues.

I bought mine from the EE because, assuming an honest seller, you know its not a lemon ...
 
I forgot to mention , i have also had a Browning M92. Nothing to complain about, but I traded it for a Marlin. Stupid move. It is a far better made firearm than the Marlin.
 
I have the latest GEN Rossi's (all staimless models) in .38/357, .44Mag & .454Casul (which also takes .45LC) . All work flawlessly and all are side gate: the .454 gives you side gate or top tube fed all in one.
I found the actions stiff at first: went online looked at a few vids and polished the internals. Works slicker than snot. All of them feed reliably both new and reloaded ammo.
Even the .38/.357 which seems to be the pickiest calibre model for feeding in all the OEM lineups.

My .44 has taken a few bruins already: hoping to drop one with the .454 this spring.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom