Brand new stainless Rossi with poorly installed sights.

[rockat]

Picked my stainless .44 Mag up today. Everything looked great, until I got it home to clean it. Now I have at least one more thing to add to the pre-purchase check list. To be clear, I knew buying a Rossi would most likely not be a completely painless exercise but at least one of the faults I found are pretty inexcusable, and will hopefully mean I get a new rifle.

* Check that the sights have not been hammered into the dovetails by what appears to have been a gorilla with a sledge hammer.

Both the front and rear sights are so badly fitted they have bent the metal on the top of the dovetails. The rear sight is even at an angle within the dovetail.

My stock also has a crack underneath the tang on the left hand side. This isn't something you would see unless you unscrew the stock. It looks like it wasn't shaved down enough and then it was forced over the tang. The cracked stock I can live with and fix myself if needs be, but the barrel is fairly badly damaged in my opinion. It wasn't something I checked, so hopefully this will help someone else.

[Ranch Dog]

I added the item to the list, any pictures to this "skilled" installation. I assume that you are going to return the rifle?

[pricedo]

* Check that the sights have not been hammered into the dovetails by what appears to have been a gorilla with a sledge hammer.

Sounds like our old friend "you know who".


"I YAM WHAT I YAM, we don't need no fancy CNC machinin tools rown here. Where's my sledge hammer?"


If Popeye has taken his frustrations out on the sights themselves and the dovetails haven't been too badly damaged it might be fixable with a 3 sided file.
You'll likely replace the factory sights anyway.
If you're going to use optics like a Scout fill the dovetails in with steel plugs and JB Weld & smooth out & use a little touch up cold bluing if necessary and then forget about them.
I liked the way RD installed his Scout scopes.........they'll NEVER move under recoil........that would be a good installation example to follow.
If the rest of the gun is good you've already beaten the "Rossi odds" & a fix might be possible.
I'd definitely take a look at it.

[pricedo]

Don't agree to send it to the butchers at Rossi Customer Service.
Ask for your money back or a replacement with another gun.
When a gun has been abused in such an egregious manner there could very well be other damage like barrel damage.
**Clean the barrel & check it with a strong flashlight and see if you can see a bulge under the front dovetail.
There's not much metal between the bottom of the dovetails and the bore.
It is absolutely disgraceful that a gun in that condition would be allowed to leave the factory let alone be shipped to a customer.
***MANTRA: IF AT ALL POSSIBLE THOROUGHLY INSPECT & TEST ROSSI GUNS BEFORE BUYING THEM.***
Sight unseen buyers sometimes get stuck with rack rejects that nobody would buy in-store........it happens......bin there dun that ...... the seller got an earful from me........I'll bet his ears are still ringing.

[rockat]

I did inspect it, just missed that unfortunately. I'm not used to buying rifles with iron sights as my others are all scoped. I'm not even sure who it gets sent to in Australia in case of a return, so I'm definitely going to demand a new one. I'm slightly disappointed in my gun shop as well, because I've spent a fair amount of money there in the last few years. The owner wasn't there when I picked it up but I'll definitely be talking to him about it. He's pretty good with returns so I'm hoping it will be easy.

[Ranch Dog]

Incredible!

[Arktikos]

Yep, going back...

[rockat]

I took it back today. Gun shop owner took one look and said "I'll get you a new one". I'm hopeful the next one will be fine.

[Ranch Dog]

I took it back today. Gun shop owner took one look and said "I'll get you a new one". I'm hopeful the next one will be fine.

Great!

...typos courtesy of Tapatalk!

[Arktikos]

Glad your dealer is taking care of you. That would make me one loyal customer!