Rossi Ranch Hand Manual

MGW proudly carries the quality made shotguns and rifles from Rossi. Classic.44 Rem Mag,.45 Colt &.38 Special models of lever action rifles like the M92 and the modern target / varmint RB series chambered in.17 HMR,.22 LR &.22 WMR are ideal shooting platforms for new and seasoned shooters alike. Rossi break action shotgun models, such as the Youth and Tuffy chambered in 12ga, 20ga. Rossi Ranch Hand.45 Colt Lever-Action Pistol with Large Loop $549.99; Brand: Rossi; Item Number: RH92-57121; Rossi Wizard 223 Rem Single-Shot Rifle $319.99; Brand: Rossi; Item Number: WR223B; Rossi Circuit Judge 45 Colt / 410 Gauge Stainless Revolver Rifle $669.99. Feel free to give our friendly staff a call about available parts or manuals for your Rossi if you are not finding it here - 1-800-443-0625. Choose your Sub-Category or use the 'Search products within this category' search bar just above and to the right.

Rossi Ranch Hand Full Stock
Rossi Ranch Hand For Sale
Rossi Ranch Hand 357
Rossi Ranch Hand Manual Parts
Rossi 44 Mag Ranch Hand

Two Rossi Ranch Hand Lever Action Pistols with Boxes. A) Rossi Ranch Hand Pistol. Estimate Price: $500 - $800. Serial # Manufacturer. With matching factory box, manual, and keys. Click here to see keyboard shortcuts.
M92 RANCH HAND 45LC BL/WD 12. Items showing available on the website may not be in-stock at our stores.

About eighteen months ago, I reviewed the Puma Bounty Hunter pistol. Like the Rossi Ranch Hand shown here, the Puma is basically a shortened Model ‘92 Winchester lever gun replica, but built from the beginning as a pistol, thus eliminating the need to register the weapon as a short-barreled rifle in the US. Making these arms as pistols means that if you can legally buy a handgun, you can legally buy these shortened rifle-style pistols.

This style of weapon is commonly known as a Mare’s Leg, and was made popular by the old TV Western “Wanted: Dead or Alive”, starring Steve McQueen as Josh Randall. Like most things from Hollywood, there was a bit of fakery involved with that show. McQueen carried 45-70 rifle cartridges in his gun belt for effect, but there is no way that those big cartridges would work through the action of a Model ‘92 Winchester. Anyway, the Mare’s Leg was really cool, and flung a craving upon me to someday have one, as it did upon a lot of folks. The Puma Bounty Hunter from Legacy has been a hit, but is priced beyond what many are willing to pay for such a pistol, at $1250 US suggested retail. This new Ranch Hand from Rossi is a good-looking, good-shooting Mare’s Leg at less than half the retail price of the Puma. Rossi has been in the business of producing replica ‘92 Winchesters for decades now, and I own three of their 357 Magnum sixteen inch carbines, finding them to be exceedingly handy, very reliable, and accurate. I prefer the earlier Rossi lever guns that have no safety lever atop the bolt, but that safety is a sign of the times, and the Rossi rifles still have the half-cock notch in the hammer, which I prefer to use when carrying the rifles afield. My 480 Ruger Puma had the Rossi safety in it when purchased, but I have removed it, again preferring to use the traditional half-cock notch. While on the subject, Steve Young has a dandy little peep sight that replaces the safety on the bolt of a Rossi or earlier Puma lever gun (the current Pumas are now made in Italy) that is adjustable for elevation correction, and has a knurled nut to hold the sight setting. It is very handy and effective. You can order it online from www.stevesgunz.com. Anyway, back to the subject at hand.

The new Rossi Ranch Hand has a polished blued steel finish, and wears a walnut-stained hardwood stock. The wood to metal fit is very good, with the forend wood being just slightly proud at the receiver. The abbreviated buttstock wears a blued steel butt plate. The lever loop is of the large style, which has ample room for the largest gloved hand, and is just right for twirling the lever gun to work the action, if you are feeling a bit “Hollywood” yourself. Yeah, I tried it, while no one was watching. The left side of the receiver wears a traditional saddle ring, and has a short leather thong attached. The magazine holds six cartridges, plus one up the spout for a loaded capacity of seven. Currently, the Ranch Hand is available chambered for the 357 Magnum, 44 Magnum, and the 45 Colt cartridges, with the pistol shown here chambered for the latter.

The Ranch Hand weighed in at four pounds, nine ounces unloaded on my scale. It wears a twelve inch tapered round barrel that measures .640 inch at the muzzle. The overall length measures twenty-four inches. The rear sight is of buckhorn style, and is ladder adjustable for elevation and drift adjustable for windage correction. The front sight is a brass bead on a blued steel blade, and is adjustable for windage correction in its dovetail. The blued steel magazine tube is attached to the barrel by both a screw near the muzzle, and a barrel band about one-half inch aft of that.

Cartridges are loaded into the magazine tube through the loading gate on the right side of the receiver. Working the lever fully chambers a round from the magazine tube, and the magazine can be topped-off at any time that the bolt is closed. The locking bolts are of the traditional ‘92 Winchester style, and securely lock the bolt from movement during the firing of the weapon. It is a very strong and reliable system, designed by John Browning first for the larger Model 1886 Winchester. The receiver is, like all Models ‘92, slim, rounded, and easy to carry. The action is very smooth, the hammer easy to thumb-cock, and the trigger pull measures a crisp two and one-half pounds on my sample pistol.

Shooting the Ranch Hand was a real pleasure. The weapon is short and handy for a rifle, but large and bulky for a pistol. It is a hybrid of sorts, even though it is sold as a pistol. I still think of it as a short rifle, myself. I would love to have a full buttstock on this thing, but doing so would put me in jeopardy of spending my next five years in Federal prison, and I figure that my next five years will be my best five years, so I will let that idea pass for now.

While the Ranch Hand is a bit larger than your typical 45 Colt revolver, the twelve-inch barrel does have its rewards, and that is in more velocity when compared to a revolver. With light loads, there is not much difference, but with powerful hunting loads, the difference is substantial. For example, the Buffalo Bore 300 grain jacketed flat nose load that clocks 1104 fps ten feet in front of my four-inch Redhawk, registers 1400 at the same distance from the Rossi Ranch hard. That is a pretty hefty increase in power, and with the heavier Ranch Hand, felt recoil is minimal. The longer barrel and closed breech squeeze the maximum amount of power from a handgun cartridge, pretty much giving rifle barrel velocities from a more compact weapon.

Accuracy from the barrel of the Ranch Hand was target-grade. Holding over a solid rest using the open sights, the Ranch Hand would cluster a magazine full into one ragged hole at twenty-five yards, repeatedly. While this is not a handgun that we are likely to see on the line at Camp Perry, it is good to know that it is capable of fine accuracy, if needed. Functioning was perfect throughout all testing. Cartridges fed smoothly from the magazine, fired, and ejected easily with no stickiness at all, even with the heavy Buffalo Bore ammunition.

For packing the Ranch Hand, I used pretty much the same style of Mernickle Holster that I used for the Puma Bounty Hunter. There is a slight difference, however, in that the rear sight on the Ranch Hand is set farther forward than on the Bounty Hunter, and the holster for the Rossi is cut to allow for that difference. The Mernickle rig is a beautifully-crafted belt and holster that replicates the rig worn by Steve McQueen in the TV series. The cartridge loops are spaced about 1.4 inches apart, center-to-center, and there are twenty-four of them on my belt. The loops were very tight on the 45 Colt cartridges, but are always easier to load the second time. The holster is a drop style, and has a tie down to hold it to the leg, if desired. The belt is suede-lined, and like everything to come from Bob Mernickle’s shop, the material and workmanship are first-class. This holster rig is sold only through Legacy Sports, but when you order, be sure to specify whether you have the Puma Bounty Hunter or the Rossi Ranch Hand, as the holsters are cut differently for the sights.

The Rossi Ranch Hand is a dandy little weapon, fun to shoot, accurate, and reliable. It can be used for hunting and self defense, but I think that most who buy the Ranch Hand will want it for just a fun gun, with a bit of nostalgia, and that is reason enough to buy one. Compared to the other production and custom Mare’s Leg lever guns on the market, the Rossi Ranch Hand is a real bargain.

Rossi Ranch Hand Full Stock

Check out the Ranch Hand online at www.rossiusa.com.

To find a Rossi dealer near you, click on the DEALER FINDER at www.lipseys.com.

To order the Ranch Hand online, go to www.galleryofguns.com.

Check out Bob Mernickle’s fine leatherwork online at www.mernickleholsters.com.

To order the Mernickle holster rig shown from Legacy Sports, click HERE.

Rossi Ranch Hand For Sale

People don’t usually respond well to the fact that I am not an AR or AK man. I’m not much of a semi-auto rifle man at all. Sure, I own them, and know how to use them, but I don’t like them.

This isn’t a political statement, either. I don’t believe in regulations beyond what we already have, and even some of that I take offense to. If you’re not a crook, you ought to be able to have whatever rifle you like.

Life is simply too short to shoot guns you don’t like, friends.

That of course raises the question of what I DO like. Specifically, what high capacity repeating rifle do I like?

The Rossi R92 In .44 Magnum

The title of this post should’ve given that answer away. If you’re new to guns, though, you might not understand what rifle I’m talking about. The image below is my Rossi R92.

It is a Rossi branded clone of the venerable Winchester 1892, a John Moses Browning designed and Winchester manufactured rifle of yesteryear. It was discontinued sometime after WWII, but Winchester recently brought it back.

They brought it back due to the popularity of Cowboy Action Shooting. While I love what CAS has done for the shooting world, I don’t like Winchester’s decision to bring the ’92 back in .357 Magnum only.

.357 is the most popular choice among those who choose to “game” the CAS system, using light .38 special loads. Those light .38 loads aren’t much good to someone who expects their rifle to both protect home and hearth AND get the groceries.

Rossi has been making their clone rifle for quite some time, and doing it for half the price. What’s more, they offer it in multiple finishes, barrel lengths, and chambering.

So, as the story goes, I went to my LGS (Local Gun Store, for the non-gun-nut readers) around 5 years ago and a blued, 20″ barreled .44 Magnum followed me home.

Specifications on my Rossi R92

As I mentioned above, my rifle wears a blued finish with a 20″ barrel. The .44 Magnum chambering was nice, but that extra 1/10th of an inch per cartridge wouldn’t see much use. I primarily load it with my .44 Special handloads.

Speaking of ammo, my rifle has a 9+1 to 12+1 round capacity, depending on what load I’ve got in it. That may not make sense to someone who doesn’t shoot a levergun, but here’s the short answer:

The cartridges are front to back in the magazine tube instead of one on top of another like in a box magazine. Your capacity is determined by your cartridge’s length and how many times that length will fit into your magazine tube’s length. I usually get 11+1 in .44 Special, which matches up with Rossi’s claimed 10+1 capacity in .44 Magnum.

That might not fit your definition of “high capacity”, but it beats any .44 Magnum firearm that isn’t a lever action rifle.

The hardwood stock didn’t have any coating whatsoever, but hell, I didn’t figure it would need it. I’ve been told it’s mahogany, but I’m not too concerned with it. In my world, guns are working guns and expected to earn their keep. I don’t own safe queens.

The rifle weighs a handy 5lbs, which makes it lighter than most folks loaded AR-15s. That has been a godsend on many scouting trips, believe you me.

It is a tube fed rifle with a loading gate, if you couldn’t tell by looking at it. I always assume at least some readers are new to guns, and don’t know some details the rest of us take for granted.

The recessed oval in the side of the receiver is pushed inward and cartridges are fed into the opening. That’s how you fill up a tube magazine like this one. If you shot a Marlin .22 as a kid, you probably had the other kind of tube magazine.

The loading gate type is quicker to reload under stress, especially if you carry your ammo the way I do.

I mentioned my .44 Special before because I usually carry the sixgun, belt, and cartridge belt slide pictured when I carry this rifle.

My .44 Magnum rifle and .44 Special sixgun can share ammo, being that the former was developed by elongating the case of the latter.

Put another way, the .44 Magnum is a .44 Special with a little bit more room for gunpowder in the cartridge case. It isn’t quite as cut and dried when pressure enters the picture, but you get the idea.

The bullet diameter and case rim and all are exactly the same, so the bullets on my belt slides (I have two, even though only one is pictured) can feed either my rifle or my sixgun. Don’t try that with an AK and a Glock 19.

Rounding out my Rossi R92’s specifications are the obvious. Lever action, exposed hammer, bead-and-buckhorn sights, and the familiar straight grip stock of a Winchester.

The sling and sling studs were not on the rifle when I bought it, discussed further below in the modifications section. First, we’re going to talk about the final feature – the manual safety I never use.

Manual Safeties and Leverguns

Yes, the Rossi R92 features a manual safety. It is just rear of the bolt, and turns one way to fire and one way to safe. Fire is painted red, Safety is painted green.

I don’t use the damned thing.

There are a few reasons why I don’t, and this is my own personal choice. I take no responsibility for anything you do with yours, and if you choose to use the safety, you’ll get to argument from me.

Believe me, I understand the argument for manual safeties on firearms. I understand it better than you might think. I lost someone very dear to me as a child due to unsafe gun handling, and I saw what it did to everyone who loved them.

Even so, or rather, especially so, I believe safety is something that happens between your ears and not on your gun.

I carry my Rossi R92 the way everyone carried leverguns back when everyone carried leverguns. Back before safeties on guns was actually a thing.

That means that I typically carry it with the tube loaded and the chamber empty with the hammer at full rest. When a round is chambered, I carry my Rossi R92 with the hammer at half cock.

The only times a round is chambered and the hammer is at half cock is when I am:

Hunting with my Rossi R92
Having a grand time plinking at a backwoods firing range
Dealing with something hostile

I put more emphasis on always observing the 4 safety rules than I put faith in a mechanical device that can fail. If you think that’s a terribly stupid way to go about it, I’m okay with that.

You do what you’re gonna do, and I’m gonna do what I’m gonna do.

Now, on to the modifications I’ve made to this rifle while living with it.

Modifications Made to My Rossi R92

The Sling

First and foremost, I had to have a sling on this rifle. A rifle without a sling is like a pistol without a holster.

I’d never attached a sling swivel set before, having relied on wrapping wire and paracord for makeshift slings in the past. I wanted something a little better on this rifle, so I acquired some Uncle Mike’s Sling Swivels.

One of the swivels is screwed into the wood of the stock, which was no problem at all. The other attaches to a clamp that goes around the magazine tube. Surprisingly, I got it installed with a minimum of cussing at my rifle.

Click Here to Get Uncle Mike’s Barrel Band Sling Swivels (Affiliate Link)

If you’re an older hunter with good eyes, you might say my sling looks like 1980’s camo. You’d be right – it’s a sling given to me by an older hunter in my family.

There’s just something about trucking my rifle around the same deer woods with the same sling as another did decades ago. Completing a circle of tradition and reverence.

The Action

The next thing I did was to take care of the hellaciously rough action, which was functional but practically bruised my knuckles after a long day of plinking. Some might say a rough action is a deal breaker on a rifle, but for me it never is.

That roughness (as long as it isn’t induced by mechanical faults) is very fixable. Instead of outlining everything I did to my rifle, I’ll point you to this gentleman’s video below. I did a little more than him, but that little more was specific to my rifle.

This led to a lot more cussing at my rifle than the sling swivel installation did. 2 straight nights of it, to be honest. These rifles don’t disassemble as easily as your garden variety AR, but it’s doable.

I’ll also add, in case it wasn’t obvious, that I’m in no way responsible for what you do to your Rossi R92. You’re not responsible for me, so why should I be responsible for you?

Exactly. Now, here’s the video:

The Springs

Usually when I work on my gun’s springs, it’s for one of two reasons. Either I’m ensuring reliable function (semi-auto pistol recoil spring, tube magazine spring in shotgun or rifle, etc) or I’m sweetening the trigger (a la the Ruger Blackhawk pictured earlier).

In the case of my Rossi R92, I didn’t modify the trigger at all. The Rossi R92 doesn’t have a sear. It has a hammer to trigger lockup. If you don’t know what that means, then guess what? You’re the type that shouldn’t monkey with it.

What’s more, it wasn’t necessary in my rifle. My trigger breaks at 5lbs, and while it could be better, it’s just fine for the wide range of functions it performs. Some have reported theirs at more than double that, so maybe I got lucky. Who knows?

Instead, I wanted to do something about the mainspring weight. Since I was going to be using handloads, I knew I had more say-so in how hard my load’s primers would be than the next shooter. Having a heavier hammer than necessary would be dumb.

I also wanted to have a few ejector/extractor springs to play around with. The Winchester leverguns are open-top designs, as opposed to Marlin’s closed-top designs. That becomes apparent after the first time ejected brass hits you in the forehead.

This is the spring kit I bought from Brownell’s (Not an Affiliate Link).

I could go into my load development, but that’s against my policy. I never post my handloads anywhere, because I don’t want a company changing their powder 5 years later and making something I published unsafe.

That rounds out the modifications I made to my Rossi R92.

Why a Rossi R92 In .44 Magnum Instead of an AR/AK/Other Popular Rifle?

Here are the jobs I expect my do-all rifle to handle:

Plinking
Truck Gun Duty
Home Defense
Bump In The Night Outside The Window
Deer Hunting
Scouting
Pest Control (Snake and Coyote and Hog)
Small Game Hunting
Woods Bumming
Personal Satisfaction (Aesthetics and Handling)

Sure, I could get that with an AR platform. I don’t think any other common and popular rifle platform meets all of these criteria at the same time. So yes, I could do all of the above with an AR.

I have a few concerns about giving an AR this job we haven’t covered yet, though.

#1 – How Much Money am I Supposed to Spend Here?

I spent as much on my Rossi R92 as you would expect to spend on a Sport model AR. An entry level gun. An entry level gun in a single chambering, likely .223 or 5.56mm.

Rossi Ranch Hand 357

To fulfill my requirements for home defense, my weapon cannot fire a round that will exit my home and endanger anyone outside of my home who is uninvolved.

That means either a shotgun or a handgun, and either of those have to be very, very load specific. To give you an idea of what I mean, I use #4 Buck in a home defense shotgun.

With the AR, I’d need to fuss with a pistol caliber conversion or ammo that is so underpowered that it would need a much shorter gas tube than I’d have. With my Rossi R92 and backup sixgun, I have no such concern. I just need a handload tailored to the job.

Then there’s plinking – I’d need a .22 LR conversion. How about hunting? I’d need another upper for that too.

With the R92, all I have to do is change the load I’m using. What’s more, I spend less reloading my .44 than I’d spend buying multiple different cartridges and magazines and uppers for an AR.

So yes, I can have an AR that does all of what I want it to, but I would have to spend substantially more money than I did buying my Rossi R92 in .44 Magnum.

If I’d bought the .45 Colt or (perish the thought) the .357 Magnum R92, I’d have hit a few more snags. But the .44 has me covered. I simply have 20 fewer rounds in the rifle than the AK and AR fellas.

And you know what? I’m not enough of a badass to need 20 more rounds if 10 rounds of .44 Magnum doesn’t cut it. I’ll be too dead to be bothered.

#2 – What Happens If I Lose My Magazine?

An AR or AK can be run without a magazine, one round at a time. They don’t have a magazine disconnect safety like (for example) the Browning Hi Power pistol. But that’s all you’re getting out of them if you don’t have your mags.

The Rossi R92 has a tube mag and loading gate, as mentioned above, so this isn’t an issue whatsoever. No detachable magazine means there’s nothing to lose.

It’s true that the SKS has an internal magazine, but it’s the only rifle I know of that is inexpensive, common, popular, AND Semi-automatic.

Guess what else it is? Incapable of fulfilling all my requirements. It’s also heavy and awkward compared to a levergun.

#3 – Perception Vs Reality Unexpectedly Costing Me

Think, for a moment, about the reaction that people who are gun-dumb could have to seeing your gun. I know, I know, you shouldn’t care what anti-gun or gun-dumb people think.

You’re correct…to a point.

What is the average person’s response to seeing someone NOT in uniform holding a semi-auto rifle that isn’t clearly a scoped hunting rifle?

Fear, uncertainty, and maybe even calling the police to report a “strange man with a machine gun”.

Even if you’re just putting your rifle back in its case to drive home after a fruitless hunt, or doing something else completely harmless and not threatening in any way.

That’s not the same response as something they would see as a hunting rifle, especially if any of their friends or family are hunters.

I can already hear you saying, “Yeah, but, I’m completely within my rights, and can’t be charged with anything if I’m not breaking the law.”

Yeah, you’re right. And that doesn’t matter, because that’s not what I’m trying to avoid. I’m talking about avoiding the huge time cost of having to deal with law enforcement when there isn’t a good reason to.

It wastes your time, it wastes the officer(s) time, and nobody wins except for Old Lady Smith who called it in and now has something to gossip about with the other church ladies.

I’d rather be hunting or plinking or spending time with my kids, thanks.

Shoot What Ya Brung

Around here, we have a saying. Shoot What Ya Brung. Translated into Non-Southern American English, Shoot what you brought.

It’s usually reserved for the guy who tries to explain him missing an easy shot by blaming his gun. “If I’d a brung my .30-06 I’d a made that shot upside down’n backerds.”