Puma 45 Long Colt Lever Action?

[BigSkiff]

Anybody here know anything about the Puma Lever Guns? They sure have an attractive price but I've never heard anything about them good or bad.

[MOONDAWG]

Everyone I've handled has been smooth as silk and very reliable.

[Smokewagon]

Don't own one, but I've had my eye on one in .44mag. Seems like a very nice rifle and is way lighter than my Winchester in .45Colt.

[MOONDAWG]

These guns are fun to shoot especially if you get involved in Cowboy Action shooting.

Then it can get a bit expensive trying to feed that puppy .45 LC commerical loads.

If you're gonna buy one in .45 LC I'd suggest you take up reloading that caliber.

MOONDAWG

[NativeTexan]

My son-in-law has a .45 Colt and I have one in .357 magnum. They're pretty awesome, quite accurate, smooth action. I handload light .38s that approximate .22LR and are very accurate, capable of small game hunting to 50 yards. I also handload a 158 SWC .357 magnum with which I've taken a deer, but don't really hunt iwth it, much. With hot Ruger only handloads, the .45 Colt will surpass the .44 magnum and I do handload. My load involves a 300 grain XTP Hornady and it clocks over 1400 fps out of my son-in-law's gun and this load isn't pushing any pressure limits. I like the .357, though, for the versatility. The .38 special is just too much fun and useful in the squirrel woods. Makes a great woods bummin' rifle, capable of killing black bear and deer to rabbits and squirrels, just pick the load.

One thing I can say, the rear sight sux. Plan on either having a receiver sight installed like my son-in-law did or a better dovetailed sight on the barrel which is what i did. I have a ghost ring aperture on mine that has a click adjustable elevation knob that is very repeatable. This is a good thing as the POI for the light .38s is quite different from the .357 loads. This allows me to instantly adjust for the load.

These guns are quite beautiful. I sit around and just admire mine, deep blueing, oil finished walnut stock, those awesome western lines of the 92 Winchester. It's a beautiful rifle. I reckon it's the most desirable firearm Rossi offers.

There are some posts to check out in "rossi firearms", too. Here's mine, UM's sling swivels installed and different rear sight.

[GJones]

twist rates

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm looking at the Puma 92 and others in 38/357 or possibly .45. So far most posts say the Puma is a great value. However, the twist rates for Pumas in all calibers is 1:30, which sound pretty slow to me, while most others have 1:16 or so. I called Legacy and they report no accuracy problems. I asked Dave at Montana Bullet Works, and he suggests a max bullet weight of 141g in the 357, and 362g in the .45LC.
For CAS, the range is so short accuracy isn't a big deal, but for longer ranges I'm cautious. Any accuracy problems noted for Pumas, in the 75-125 yard range?

[NativeTexan]

All I can tell you is my Rossi shoots 4" 100 yard groups regularly and repeatably with 158 grain cast, gas checked SWCs (my preferred load) at about 1850+ fps and the same with a 180 XTP JHP at something over 1600 fps. My son-in-law's .45 Colt is great with 300 grain XTP JHPs at 100 yards, about 4" groups. The 255 flat nose is accurate at 50 yards, under 2". This is all with iron sights. If it suffers from rifling twist rate problems, you couldn't prove it by me. It's hunting accurate to 100 yards on medium game and 50 yards on small game. My 105 SWC .38 handload at 900 fps is a 1.5"-2" at 50 yards load. My .22s are more accurate, but it's accurate enough for small game hunting.

Yes, I have more accurate guns and, no, it won't shoot MOA. But, it's plenty good enough for what I do with it. Is it CAS accurate? I don't know, but I suspect so. I've never shot CAS, but it doesn't look like you're shooting a half inch bull at 100 yards. I've done a lot of IDPA. CAS impresses me as IDPA with antique designs and bullseye accuracy is not required in IDPA. I know the Puma is very popular in IDPA.

Here's a guy with all the answers. You might e-mail him about the guns. He makes a living slickin' up Rossis for CAS shooters.

http://www.stevesgunz.com/

[BigSkiff]

Is the cartridge ejection straight up, or does it come back at you?

[NativeTexan]

Up and over the top. Sometimes will land on your hat, though. LOL

[BigSkiff]

I've been thinking about buying one of these. .45 LC or .44 mag. Either one would be a good choice as it would work with my handguns. For that matter so would .357/.38.