Hi Builder,
I know this is an old post, but hopefully you see it anyway.
Santa brought my 13yr old a Rossi stainless .45 cal youth a few Christmas's ago.
Quality wise, it's no TC.(need to keep it clean) Stainless isn't high quality, as there is already some rust that started around the breachplug and hinge. You may want to save a few bucks and get a blue.
Accuracy wise, it'll shoot with anything you can buy.
I would buy three more of these if they still made them.
I know there will be those that say buy the TC. I love TC too, but the Rossi is a lot lighter to carry around than even the TC Katadin carbine.
I'm a purist, and hunt whitetail here in NH with my 50yr old TC renegade carbine n .54cal. But honestly, walking around with my daughters Rossi through the woods is so much better, and the accuracy at the range to 100yrds is unbelievable for less than $200. I like plinking with this thing more than any 22lr I own.(expensive plinking
) We shoot the small 175gr CVA Powerbelts w/75gr. ffg at the range(777 1-50gr &1-50gr broke in half pellet. I need to try the 30gr. pellets. either two 30 or 1-50&1-30). Kids are fairly accurate with it at 25yrds. 6" groups. Still working with them. However, I literally make one ragged hole consistently off hand at 25yrds with that load. It really is a lot of fun, and even though the Rossi is extremely little and light, using that load, it is a real pleasure to shoot. Because the Powerbelts are known to explode on whitetail, we don't hunt with that load.
I found 158gr. .357 xtp HP sabots for the .45 that shoot ok. I can group em around 2" at 25yd with occasional flyer. I also have some Hornady .357 125gr. xtp FP bullets that I put in the same plastic sabot. But we hunt out of treestands, so according to all I've read on this site, not the best thing to use unless hunting from the ground and can try for a shoulder-to-shoulder pass through. So, I found some 180gr. Buffulo Bullet .40cal sabots that shoot ok and should be affective on whitetail from a treestand.
I really would like to trust the PowerBelt performance on whitetail as the accuracy with these is outstanding. I think I should take some wet news paper to the range and really see if they blow up. You see the bullet weights I'm using are on the light side because I'm trying to keep recoil to a minumum.
If you buy one of these Rossis, experiment.
Again, I wish I could find more of these Rossi .45cal youth muzzleloaders in stainless. I'd buy em all up. I like my daughters' that much.
Good luck!
Equinoxbuilders
