Rossi Rifleman

That you can not buy the basic rifle with the 45-70 Govt barrel (same for a half the barrel options). Must buy something else and then add the barrel on top of the rifle, that puts a healthy price tag on many of the center-fires.

When I saw the Rossi President on youtube describing the interchangeable barrels my spider-sense told me there had to be a "hook" somewhere.

I was wondering. I had sent some e-mails out to try and find out more about this but apperentlty the barrels have to be fit to each individial action not a modular design so if you have one and want another caliber you have to ship it to them to fit the barrel aagh! I would not want to do this I thought the wizard was just interchangable guess not.

akuser47 wrote:I was wondering I had sent some e-mails out to try and find out more about this but apperentlty the barrels have to be * to each individial action not a modular design so if you have one and want another caliber you have to ship it to them to fit the barrel aagh! I would not want to do this I thought the wizard was just interchangable guess not.

I won't be buying one anytime soon.
NEF and H&R singles are cheaper and probably better.
Own a NEF Handi Rifle in .45-70 I paid less that $200 for.............fantastic rifle & dead accurate.

akuser47 wrote:I was wondering. I had sent some e-mails out to try and find out more about this but apperentlty the barrels have to be fit to each individial action not a modular design so if you have one and want another caliber you have to ship it to them to fit the barrel aagh! I would not want to do this I thought the wizard was just interchangable guess not.

My understanding is that the Wizard can accept any additional barrel without being fitted by the folks in Miami. All the other single shots, non-Wizards, most have the receiver returned to match any additional barrels. I had a H&R Handi-Rifle chambered in .223. I had to return it to H&R when I bought a 30-30 Win barrel. I did some reading, what I could find about the Rossi single shots, and they seem to have similar issues that the H&R does, weak extraction. I never could get my H&R 223 to spit cases out, it went back to H&R on their dollar twice. When I was coyote hunting, I had to carry a cleaning rod with me to knock the case out. You can probably figure the how long that lasted. Within shooting the 30-30 a dozen times, the butt stock split in half. It went back to H&R again but that barrel always had extraction issues as well. I traded that rifle, when it was returned, to a fellow that had an H&R in 444 Marlin. It was relatively trouble free but had the occasional extraction problems as well. I gave it to to some kin that was interested in it as I had lost interest in the H&R.

Ranch Dog wrote:

akuser47 wrote:I was wondering. I had sent some e-mails out to try and find out more about this but apperentlty the barrels have to be fit to each individial action not a modular design so if you have one and want another caliber you have to ship it to them to fit the barrel aagh! I would not want to do this I thought the wizard was just interchangable guess not.

My understanding is that the Wizard can accept any additional barrel without being fitted by the folks in Miami. All the other single shots, non-Wizards, most have the receiver returned to match any additional barrels. I had a H&R Handi-Rifle chambered in .223. I had to return it to H&R when I bought a 30-30 Win barrel. I did some reading, what I could find about the Rossi single shots, and they seem to have similar issues that the H&R does, weak extraction. I never could get my H&R 223 to spit cases out, it went back to H&R on their dollar twice. When I was coyote hunting, I had to carry a cleaning rod with me to knock the case out. You can probably figure the how long that lasted. Within shooting the 30-30 a dozen times, the butt stock split in half. It went back to H&R again but that barrel always had extraction issues as well. I traded that rifle, when it was returned, to a fellow that had an H&R in 444 Marlin. It was relatively trouble free but had the occasional extraction problems as well. I gave it to to some kin that was interested in it as I had lost interest in the H&R.

I don't want my single shot guns "spitting" cases out.

My NEF .45-70 will not throw cases clear of the gun which is a GOOD thing in a single shot gun but not in a repeater for obvious reasons.

I don't particularly relish being on my hands & knees feeling around & looking for spent cases in the wet grass where I might encounter other nasty, gooey things before I find the tossed case.

The extractor pulls the fired case far enough out of the chamber so that my finger tips can get a grip on it............no lost cases or stinky fingers.........just the way I like it.

pricedo wrote:I don't want my single shot guns "spitting" cases out.

I do understand that but you don't want it to be a "muzzleloader" either. As I noted above, I had to carry a cleaning rod to remove 223 and 30-30 cases. The extractor could and would not budge them. The 444 Marlin was better but same occurred regularly enough that I would not hunt with the rifle.

Are these "Wizards" designed differently from the single shots that Rossi was selling 8 or 10 years ago?
It seems to me that the "Wizard" name is new, whereas the've been selling single shot for some time.
As I recall borrowing a SS .22LR-RF at a turkey shoot which snapped the MT's out like BB'sw. Duck or get stung.
I had been interested in a .357Mag SS at the time. I asked my dealer friend to get one for his rack but it sold
before I could decide to give it a whirl. (stupid old f--t)
Pepe Ray

Rossi still sells the basic single shots. I looked at the catalog material and they did not mention interchangeable barrels on these models (unless I missed it). I had a guest hunter hunt with the basic black .243 single shot a couple of years ago. He did not kill a deer but I make all my hunter shoot on the range before they hunt. Now that I think about it, I do not recall him having any issue with the rifle.

Hopefully one day, we will have a Wizard user join us and explain all the in's and out's of the rifle.

OK fellers, we've got 2 answers/opinions. Is there a definative answer to "Do the Rossi Wizzards need Factory Fitting of New Barrels ?" I have a Handi rifle with 2 barrels (factory fitted) and a G2 Contender with 2 barrels (off the shelf). Since New England Firearms was purchased by Remington, I haven't dared to send in a reciever for fitting a new barrel (from what I've read time and quality are problematic). I would like something less expensive than Contender barrels so I'm looking at Wizzards. Mebbe not if they have to go to a factory somewhere for fitting a new barrel..