This Rossi 44 Mag is . . . Disappointing?

Wait until you find out the Henry's 44mag mares leg with a 12inch barrel has faster velocity than your 20inch. Theres videos proving it.

Possible getting 1800+ velocity out of a 240gr since its at the optimal barrel length to powder to cartridge size.
All 3 matter, and have a theoretical best combination

Ohhh maybe the primers were different too!

know lots of guys with rossi mainly they all love em and have no probs,personallyI uase anold marlin circa1950,s ballard barrel one piece firing pin wolf spring 8g of hp38 under a 240 lead head velo about 1100fps shoots fine out to 400 yrfds

Get a Henry.

Dude!!! you killed a 6 $ can of Hominy? Shame!!

I think the main differences in velocities across the board are due to the differences in the powders and the bullet weights used by the manufacturers. Since you are handloading it would be nice to see a test of a fast burning pistol powder, a medium burn rate powder and a slow burning rifle powder, using the same weight and manufacturer of bullet across the board for the test with the 20" and 24" barrell's. My loading manuals all list 44 magnum (pistol) and 44 magnum (rifle) seperately. I have read that the factory rounds are designed to work as best as they can be made to in both pistols and rifles. So I would guess the factory rounds use a medium burn rate powder that will function in both a pistol and a rifle. As a handloader you can tailor your recipie for either of the two. It would be my bet the long burning rifle powders would greatly outperform the pistol powders in either rifle but give an advantage in velocity to the 24" over the 20" barrel especially as you aproach the high end of the load charts. One thing I have noticed with handloding Berry's is that the copper plating is not sufficiently thick enough to prevent them from leading barrels when pushed to the higher end of the charts they are not copper jacketed they are electrolosis plated and should be loaded using the cast lead bullet chart not the jacketed bullet chart or staying on the low end of the jacketed bullet charts. Just my findings with having used Berry's in several pistols and rifles myself and leading several barrels up badly by pushing them too fast. They however are really great at lower velocities in both of my 500 magnum pistols and my 44 magnum pistols. I have not had good luck yet with them in my 44 Henry rifle and because of that I have not tried them in any other rifles mainly because I already have pet loads for them using jacketed bullets that I know perform well without leading up my barrels. I hate trying to clean lead out of barrels.

Surprise, surprise.... a pistol cartridge doesn't go faster through a longer rifle barrel. Well, DUH!

Great demonstration. I always enjoy you programs, especially with the 1892 clones. My favorite lever gun although I shoot an 1873 a lot. George

I would put skinner sights on verses a tang sight

I have a Henry big boy brass .44 with a 20 "octagon barrel. To say i love this rifle is correct. It will shoot almost anything accurate. 240 to 270 grns.i hand load all my rounds. And i am at max charge of imr 4227. The rifle likes it that way. It will almost keep 1" at 100yds. I have a 1-5 Leupold scope on mine . God bless. 😊

Your powder is burning off before the bullet is passing somewhere in your barrel. Not sure where because it could be that case in both rifles, but, that 4 inches is significant enough to allow the shorter barrel to push the bullet out faster. That goes for the rounds where there is little to no deviation, though there would be less travel to the end of the barrel vs the rounds where the 20 inch barrel is over 100 feet faster. Otherwise there will be at least some significant increase in bullet speed. This is why they shortened the barrels on the M4A2s to 10 inches for SF guys that shoot the heavy bullets in order to better suppress the report of the cartridge when they were testing the 300 blkout. They stuck with the 10" barrel and heavy bullet when they decided to go with the 6.8 round (a mistake if you ask me as the 6.5 grendel is ballisticly a far superior round with 7.62 type numbers past 500 yards as the bullet is so efficient it carries it's energy and speed better from 500 to 1000 meters over the 7.62). You dont want to give up any efficiency in a gunfight.

Barrel twist rate -- could THAT be the culprit causing minimal difference in your side-by-side study?

Look up citadel 92.
Its the same gun for coupple hundread less.
Rossi imports the same gun

Wanna sell it?

I think a real sweet spot in the Rossi lineup is the 16” barrel R92 in 44mag with the skinner peep and picatinny rail forward of the action. The one with the large loop with paracord wrap. I could see putting a red dot on that and being a happy hunter out to about 100 yards, but most opportunities for where I hunt are around 50 yards.

I’ve been eyeballing the 454 Casull one though…not that I need it, but I sure do want it!

You realize powders burn at a specific rate, right? When they stop burning, at whatever length the barrel is, velocity drops. There is no propulsion and the round is still dealing with drag inside the barrel.
I use a 16" pack gun with a 5" revolver. The difference is about 200fps. The revolver has a slight bit of flash. The carbine is perfect

You're not considering the powder loaded in the different rounds. A lot of pistol rounds are loaded with very fast burning powder and is probably all gassed by the time the bullet is 18" down the bore. What the longer barrel does do, is give the bullet time to settle down and stabilize, because it is no longer accelerating. That will probably result in tighter groups and better accuracy. That is the effect of 24"or longer target rifle of days gone by. Now it's done by tuning the barrel to the ammo or heaver bull barrels. Sometimes the length of the barrel is too long and produces diminishing return for the type of bullet and powder combinations. As we all know, all guns shoot better with some ammo over others sometimes just different lot of the same.

I had a Rossi 92 Black scout version first 5 shots my Holosun sight still attached to the rail flew back hit me in the forehead. Sent it back 4 months later got it back with screw holes in the rail repositioned . The loading gate was difficult to load Sold it

Lets talk about that little disappointed. I completely high or something Stinks in Denmark. Arms use to be very affordable and of descent quality, What Happened ? Walthers PPQ 45/ 12 rnd cap was decent and to quickly gone, for what lower round cap. ACP's? time for heads to roll.

nick,rub you bought it brother and if you do not name the guy who sold it for to much why mention it at all.

16 inches is the longest you can get. Anything long starts to slow the velocity of manufacturer ammo. You're gonna have to handload for anything decent with 8 extra inches. The only benefit is 4 extra rounds.

Have a 44mag Rossi 92 Silver in 20” that I’ve been shooting SASS for 10 years, and I love it. Action was a bit rough out of the box but I was able to smooth things out myself with a bit of judicious polishing here and there. Have to keep an eye on the side screws as they tend to loosed. Love this rifle, though my shooting buddies laugh at me cuz the 6” leather thong I have in the saddle ring gets caught in the hammer sometimes…but I ain’t takin it off…I likes it too much. BTW…added the saddle ring myself. Had it custom made to match the stainless finish…looks awesome!

Longer barrels are more accurate using iron sights .Had you consulted ballistic tables before you purchase you wouldn't have whined about no increase in velocity and actually velocity reduction in longer barrels with pistol rounds. As for the microscopic blem in a lever gun . CMon man!

I like the way your safety glasses are on top of your head 😂

You also get two additional rounds in the magazine with the 24" model.

i have had my rossi for over 12 years. never had a problem with it. i also had it made easier to use the lever at a gun smith. many many years ago. it is my go do rifle. much better than the ar15.

On the Rossi website it claims that R92 rifles with 24 inch barrels can accept 12 rounds, but I'm not sure if that's true or false. Because for one nobody's made a video shooting 12 rounds out of a R92 yet, and two most 44 Magnum lever actions like the Marlin 1894 and the Henry Big Boy can only take 10 rounds and it has me questioning how the Rossi R92 is capable of accepting 12.. If you ever get the time to read my comment could you respond and tell me what the deal is since you own a 24 inch R92? Because I've been thinking about buying myself one quite similar to yours.

... pistol rounds are designed to maximize energy transfer to the projectile in short barrels ... I've owned several rifles in 44 mag ... the barrel length I found that optimizes bullet velocity is 16" ... longer barrels than 16" are just adding weight with little or no ballistic advantage

Sir, i love your rossi lever gun vids! and just also your love for lever actions in general gotta love the lever action !

Nice rifle! I think you've found the point where barrel length doesn't gain you much velocity. I have a .44 mag Rossi with the 16" barrel and when I use Hodgdon's data for a 20" barrel I get nearly the same velocities, so 16 to 20 already doesn't make much of a difference. Between that 16" and my 12" ranch hand there's still not a heck of a lot of difference, and that's with H110.
I've gotten slightly higher velocities in the 12" barrel with Lil'gun (using less powder too), but I'm not sure about longer barrels.
I think your main advantages with the 24" is a longer sight radius and more magazine capacity. In case you didn't burn through enough ammo as it is, haha!

If you want to create an exciting target - clean out a gal. milk jug ,cook some spaghetti with tomato sauce , maybe add half tomato’s , fill th jug up put the cap on tight -Paint th jug white , paint an odd face on the jug , place it out in your target range and
Have your way with that jug ,
th explosion is quite dramatic,
I’ve heard some tape a particular photograph on th jug ,go tell ,hope you have fun

I think you already found the issue with the Rossi. The 20 inch barrel should have never kept up with the 24 inch barrel. That means gasses were escaping from the Rossi. They have been known to have a loose bore or in some cases and varied bore size, being smaller at the muzzle end.

See it's been a year man grab a Henry it put a smile on your face / made in the USA lifetime warranty ! 🤠

Another know it all, thinks he knows everything about guns 😜

I would not think there would be much difference in FPS when dealing with 16/20/24" barrels. A 44 Mag is basically a large very stout handgun round, its not really the case pressure or length of a long rifle cartridge. I am really amazed at the one Buffalo Bore that had 173fps increase. We all know their ammo is loaded xtra hot and probably uses a ton of powder. I imagine half of it goes unburnt in many instances. The 24" barrel got more out of that one. Beautiful lever guns.

There's only so much poeder to burn in a pistol cartridge as opposed to a rifle round. I'd say the 20" barrel is maximizing the powder burn!

44 mag and 44 special are handgun rounds designed for handgun barrel lengths. You are going to get most of your speed increase by 16”.

You probably won't see this since an older video but there's a company called steel f/x that when applied looks like color case Harding looks good if you do the prep

That steel Cresent butt plate will definitely make an impression

The action is so much smoother on the Winchester and its just a finer built rifle than the Rossi. But that is reflected in the price difference.

Its a tool..no shame in allowing it be just that! cuts, nicks and scrapes give it character. Guns are made to be used, not idle decorations. Don't fear the man with a pretty gun, fear the man with a beat up gun which proves he knows how to use it. Great review!

I’m not an expert reloader, but maybe those rounds that are not meeting your expectations are not quite filling the bore.

Im gonna say burn rate was the problem

I cant afford to shoot my food.

I noticed similar velocity issues with the .357 mag in a rifle. The revolver cartridges are generally optimized for use in a 6 inch barrel. Those fast powders probably run out of push before they run out of barrel. I did some testing with my hand loads and observed slower powders deliver better velocity out of the longer barrels. No extensive analysis. Just wondered why, and played a little.

If you buy a Rossi, don't be surprised if you have to work on it to get it to run. Don't count on their customer service either 👍

Wow, really great ballistic info. I was so sure you were going to see a hundred fps increase. Just good info to digest. Thanks a lot for sharing . Ha, you and mix up with your hominy rain !!!

Great review Target Suite! I own the Rossi R95 Trapper 30 30 for my big game ventures here in Vermont. This rifle is excellent, and is comparable to any Marlin, Henry, etc., that I have ever owned. It's not fancy, just a work horse, but it's accurate, dependable, and good fit and finish.

Maybe you need to shoot the rossie away to get the bore slicked up.. it might have had a few burrs in it sense it was a new gun

44mag powders are designed for a fast burn in a pistol length barrel... so all the extra rifle barrel length doesn't do much. Believe it or not, even a .22.. in an extra long barrel will slow down!