[M720]

Picked up this .38 special. Based on Rossi's site, the serial number pulls this info. However, I cannot find anything with regards to pre-Taurus, post Taurus, and why it says Washington, D.C., vs. Alexandria, VA.

Was Interarms of Alexandria, VA, the same company as Firearms International, Corp., of Washington, D.C.? Imagine a firearms company today in D.C.?!?

Any insight on this would be great. See full pictures for all details of markings.

 

[guesser]

No, Interarms was not the same as the D.C. company. I have a Rossi Model 68 38 Special that is marked Interarms, my wife bought it new in 1988. I bought a new Uberti Cattleman last year that was marketed by Interarms. Interarms is still in business, not as big as they once were but the name is still in use.

 

[Rossi]

Cool old revolver! Love it.

Firearms International, as I understand it, was the importer that preceded Garcia, and Garcia preceded Interarms. It's my observation that my Firearms Int'l Rossi revolvers have the same basic styling cues and construction as my Garcia guns, though they could sometimes be inconsistent in this regard. Interarms was (I think) the importer for Rossi from the mid to late 1980's to sometime in the later 1990's, when Taurus took over. I think the Firearms Int'l guns like yours go back to the 1960's/very early '70's. Sorry to be vague, but this isn't info that's easy to verify.

The only place I know of that accurately assigns years to old Rossi revolvers is Robertson's Trading Post, a gun dealer in Tennessee. That's because they sold Rossi's way back in the 1960's and can cross reference serial numbers of used guns with old invoices for a guest-imate of year. You could cal them and find out.

I have a gun almost exactly like yours. I think I got it from Robertson's a few years ago and I think they dated it at 1970-ish. I'm going from memory. What I DO remember, though, is that these were originally 4" guns and the importer chopped the barrels down to 2-plus inches for some reason. If you look at the odd placement of the rollmark on the barrel and the somewhat crude crown work on the gun, it makes sense. It apparently wasn't an aftermarket bubba job, but something from the importer.