My new Rossi Puma 92

Jwan320

Jwan320

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Richmond, BC
Just picked up a Puma R92 in 454 Casull today from Wanstalls. It was my first visit to that store and definitely won't be my last. Friendly, knowledgeable, all around great people to deal with.
I've always been a synthetic kinda guy so this is the first gun that I actually like to keep with the wooden stock. I figured my collection could use a touch of class (actually it could use a lot more than a touch) so I thought a little lever action would do the trick.
It fits in a voodoo shotgun scabbard very nicely. Holds firm with no rattling, yet easy to draw. I'm temporarily using my old slip on cartridge holder from my 30-06 until I can get my hands on a nice leather one.
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The overall fit and finish was pretty decent. The recoil pad didn't match up to the butt stock perfectly but that's about the only issue. I've read reviews where people say the action was tight and rough but this was not the case for me. I found the lever quite smooth and easy to work. I guess I lucked out. I also read about people complaining about an annoying safety on top of the bolt but this particular rifle didn't have one. Perhaps it's an older production model??
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About an hour later I was at the range testing it out. I found the semi buckhorn sights worked well right out of the box. My shots all consistently landed a little right of where I was aiming. I asked someone else to shoot it and it was fine so that just means that I consistently suck. Here's the first 5 shots at 17 yards with Fusion 260 grain. First shots in the middle of the group. Next 3 are on top (about the right level). On the last shot I got cocky and tried to squeeze one off fast but ended up hitting way low.
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The rear sight appears to be adjustable, but does anyone know what yardage each notch represents? The lowest notch, I'm guessing, is probably good for 20-25 yards. What about the rest?

This is quite a fun little rifle to shoot. There's barely any recoil (45 long colts will probably feel like a fart) and I love how compact it is. Definitely going to be my new camp gun. Can't wait to see how it performs out to 100 yards. Seems like a great rifle for deer within that range. Do you guys think the 454 packs enough punch for moose? For now I'm only using factory ammo, but I hope to get set up for reloading in the near future.


Jason
 
Nice looking set up. I don't know what the ballistics are on the 454 out of a rifle. I know some guys have shot moose with 44 Rem Mag rifles so I'm thinking the 454 would do the trick. It would have been nice if Winchester would have chambered their 92 in that calibre.
 
Barely no recoil? The rest of your collection must be big honkin' Magnum cartridge stuff ! ! ! !

I've shot a buddy's Rossi 92 in .454Casull and it kicks just a little less or about the same as my Winchester 94 in .30-30. In other words middle weight for recoil unless comparing to chamberings with "Mag" as part of the cartridge name or those that look positively "torpedo" like in their sizing.

For shooting .45 cowboy action loads you're right about it being as powerful as a mouse fart. The drop off with distance is fast as well. But .45Colt loads done closer to max velocity and power with heavier bullets will produce a lot more life and eclipse the milder Casull loadings.

There's some excellent online resources on the 92 for both stripping and assembly for cleaning as well as slicking up the action and reducing the trigger weight. I don't have the links handy but if you google for "rossi 92 trigger job" you'll find the stuff soon enough.
 
i have the exact same rifle for just over 2 years now ( assuming the op's rifle has a 20" barrel ) .

45 colt rounds are very similar to shooting a .22 ... next to no recoil and way more fun :)

i found the recoil of the 454 rounds to be very similar to my 6.5x55 ( using hornady factory ammo with 300 grain bullets ) .

as for killing power ......... it should be no different than the 45-70 , the only real advantage the 45-70 has is it can easily throw bullets over 400 grains .
the advantage the rossi rifle has it can hold 11 rounds , compared to 4 or 6 rounds of 45-70 in a marlin.... and do it while weighing almost 2 pounds less than the marlin .

i wouldn't hessitate to use my rifle for self defense against gizzley .
 
BCRider: Guess I should've specified it barely has recoil relative to the 300 win mag, 30-06, and the 3" magnum slugs I've been shooting. ;) I've been reading some of the "slicking up" articles. I think the only thing I might change right now would be reducing the trigger pull. I don't know if it's the trigger pull or maybe the straight stock that's causing my shots to land right of target, but it's definitely something for me to get use to. I don't seem to have that problem with my 30-06 or any other of my long guns.

burnt_servo: Yeah I have the 20" barrel. I was hoping to find one in 16" or 18.5" but that's unnecessary now after seeing how manageable the 20" is. I was considering a marlin in 45-70 but the ammo capacity and option to shoot 45 long colt on the rossi won me over. Oh and the price too of course. If you did expect to stop a grizz, how heavy of a bullet would you load?
 
Jwan320 said:
burnt_servo: Yeah I have the 20" barrel. I was hoping to find one in 16" or 18.5" but that's unnecessary now after seeing how manageable the 20" is. I was considering a marlin in 45-70 but the ammo capacity and option to shoot 45 long colt on the rossi won me over. Oh and the price too of course. If you did expect to stop a grizz, how heavy of a bullet would you load?
Click to expand...

i've just shot these into logs , but they seem to hold together really well

http:// w ww.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=886121 ( i'm just using this website for reference) .

i have been told buy a guy i know who has a similar rifle to mine that these run around 2200-2300 fps in a rossi rifle .
( i use this rifle bullet combination when i'm working on my placer claim )

i'm going to be doing a batch of subsonic loads with a 400 grain bullet and trail boss ( basicly a very quiet way to reduce the bear population around my parents chicken coupe) .

for full power loads a 400 grain bullet might take up too much room in the case , and i'm thinking a hard cast flatnose 300 grain bullet loaded as long as the action / rifling will allow and loaded hot might be a better option .......


if you cut off a few coils off of the hammer spring only cut one off at a time , i cut about 1/2" off and it was too much ( the hammer wouldn't reliably fire off a round when it was - 20 ) .

there are some spring kits floating around out there
( http:// www.rustywood.ca/forsale - parts.html .. again for reference only , i have never delt with this person )

if i where to do it again i'd use the spring kit instead of modifying the stock springs .

while i had it apart i honed and polished all the bearing surfaces and just that made a huge difference on the already slick action .
 
Ah, that's where reloading shines. If you want to try some rounds The Bullet Barn has some cast 300 gn bullets along with a variety of the more usual 250'ish gn options.

Looking around just a little I see that Hornady makes a 240 gn, 250gn and two 300gn bullets. Out of a rifle with a strong Casull loading I suspect that a 300gn round would pack quite the wallop for hunting or woods defense.
 
I think I'll have to get a couple boxes of Hornady 300gr and see how they run. It will give me something to compare to when I start reloading. I'd like to pack as much wallop as I can (within safe limits) with a 300gr or larger bullet. Can't wait to pick up a dillon press and start pumping out a ton of 454, 45lc, 30-06, and 9mm. :)
 
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