Rossi Wizard... any good?

[AppStFan]

I am considering the purchase of a single-shot break action centerfire rifle. I like the idea of the Rossi due to the fact that it comes with rifle sights and other barrels are available to interchange. I have looked at the H&R/NEF rifles but keep going back to the fact that the Rossi has rifle sights. Do any of you fine folks own the Rossi and what has been your experience in regards to reliability, accuracy, etc.?

[redcoyote]

I have a wizard rifle, got it about 6 months ago. I purchased it in 223REM and have since bought the 7.62x39 barrel. I really like mine. It's simple and a lot of fun. The barrels are easy to change. It's easy to clean and it shoots pretty well. Mine is probably a 1.5 - 2 MOA rifle in both calibers. I'm sure that's fine for hunting but it doesn't qualify as a tack driver. Every barrel would perform differently though.

Here were a few of the details that you can't see from the pictures: The trigger guard and sights are made of a plastic/nylon material. I did like the bright translucent open sights but replaced them with a scope. The furniture was nicely stained but had no real protective coating like tru-oil. The wood is also somewhat soft. My dad has the NEF and these were the only real differences other than you have to send your NEF in to get new barrels...

I purchased it because I wanted to make use of the 7.62x39 cartridge and possibly some of the "cheaper" AK ammunition. This rifle has problems firing hard mil-spec primers from Wolf, Bernal and mil-surp ammunition. It would dent the primer but not hard enough to set it off. The only 7.62x39 ammo that worked reliably was Federal (American Eagle). I reload and had good luck with Federal primers. I had no problems with any 223 ammunition. I'm will be adding a 20 gauge slug barrel and a 12 gauge slug barrel in the future.

The 12 gauge slug barrel has been out of stock for a long time. I have one on back-order.

[AppStFan]

redcoyote, Thanks for the info on the Wizard and welcome to the forum from central North Carolina.