Low-cost, foolish weapons will at all times be my favourite firearms style. Certain, generally they don’t work all that effectively, and different occasions they aren’t all that helpful. Once they work, they are typically a enjoyable solution to flip cash into noise. One of many newest to cross my path was the $200 Rossi Brawler. Taurus owns Rossi, and Taurus is the grasp of the .410 handgun. The brand new Rossi Brawler is simply that, a .45 colt/.410 handgun. Rossi took their single-shot rifle design and shrunk it right into a pistol-sized platform.
Contained in the Rossi Brawler
This massive single-shot pistol sports activities a 9-inch barrel, primarily a 6-inch barrel with a 3-inch chamber. The Brawler can chamber 3-inch .410 hundreds, 2.5-inch .410 hundreds and naturally .45 Colt. The presence of rifling within the barrel and lack of a inventory makes this a pistol, and whereas it may well fireplace shotshells, it’s not topic to the NFA.
Regardless of its reasonably priced price ticket, the Rossi Brawler boasts some surprising options that piqued my curiosity. Essentially the most notable shock was the inclusion of an ejector, a function not generally present in firearms of this value vary.
As quickly as I hit the barrel launch and pop the barrel open, the shell flies over my shoulder. Watch out the place you’re pointing on the rear of the gun as you would possibly catch a shell to the face.
The rubberized grip is huge and properly designed. The weapon includes a cross-bolt security gadget that locks the hammer. Up high, the gun has a protracted rail that lets you mount an optic and have sufficient room for different goodies, like a sidesaddle or gentle. Perhaps a laser simply because it’s enjoyable. On the rear portion of the rail sits a rear sight. It’s hidden in most photos, and I used to be stunned to search out it.
What’s the Level?
Proper off the bat, it is a bizarre, low-cost little gun whose function could be so simple as it’s enjoyable to shoot. Proudly owning a gun simply because it’s bizarre is purpose sufficient. That is America. (Not legitimate in all states of America.) Nevertheless, you possibly can actually discover a sensible function for the Brawler. My first thought was it’d make yard gun.
I dwell in a rural space the place I’m the invader amongst a kingdom of venomous snakes, feral hogs and different creatures that see my colonization as an insult to their freedom. The Brawler chambers each .45 Colt and .410, making it versatile for varied harmful critters. A great .45 Colt will deter hogs, coyotes and bigger beasts, whereas a blast of .410 BB will dismantle snakes when wanted.
The identical options that make it yard gun will make it a distinct segment looking weapon. It may well doubtlessly dispatch small to medium recreation with the proper load selection. Though, I’d keep on with small recreation looking. Rabbits and squirrels will shudder in worry!
There’s an argument that the Brawler ought to be made a survival firearm. It’s small and lightweight however has a flexible load choice. It’s low-cost and could be tossed in a pack and forgotten about. Let me wrap some a part of it in paracord and discover a place to mount a fishing rod, and we can be off to the races.
The Brawler On the Vary
Not one of the above issues until the gun works, so let’s test that. An important query to reply is how does the gun sample and the way is the accuracy of a .45 Colt. I loaded up some Remington buckshot, Federal No.5 Recreation shot and BB shot from ATI.
I patterned every spherical and located their patterns missing. An issue these rifled .410 have is the rifling enjoying with the sample, which creates what shotgunners name the donut of dying. The patterns string out in a circle, however depart your level of purpose away from influence. The buckshot was patterned extensive sufficient to be completely ineffective. The birdshot hundreds delivered that donut of dying we see with the Taurus Decide weapons.
I swapped to the Federal .410 handgun buckshot hundreds, the Hornady Essential Protection and the Winchester PDX .410. These three are made for rifled barrels and carried out a complete heckuva lot higher.
The Essential Protection Load was the tightest sample however solely provided three projectiles. The Federal .410 handgun was a winner with 4 000 pellets that produced a good and useable sample. The PDX disks landed the place I needed them, however the BB shot backing them went all over the place. I want Winchester made a BB-free model of this load.
With .45 Colt, the accuracy was so-so. At 25 yards, the group was the scale of my hand. I may in all probability clear that group up with a pink dot, however I used the gun because it got here. The accuracy actually isn’t incredible, however it’s useable and what could be anticipated for any such design.
Journey the Lightning
A light-weight gun with a 3-inch .410 spherical has a little bit of recoil. The rubberized grip does a incredible job of absorbing recoil and protecting ache out of the equation. We get a gun that jumps a bit and roars so much, however we aren’t precisely going for quick follow-up photographs. Rossi blessed the gun with good ergonomics. The whole lot is reachable and straightforward to have interaction, and the ejection is a pleasant contact.
The Brawler’s draw back is the necessity for costly ammo should you ever need it to be efficient at something. You want handgun-specific .410 hundreds to get any sort of respectable or useable sample. Federal makes a couple of, and so does Hornady and Winchester. That’s a giant draw back, in my view. Even with its points, I had enjoyable with the Brawler, and at this value level, it looks like an incredible choice for some 3D-print experiments.
Brawler Specs Barrel Size – 9 in.General Size – 14 in.Weight – 36.8 ouncesHeight – 5.9 ouncesCaliber – .45 Colt/.410MSRP – $258
Rankings (Out of 5 Stars)
Accuracy – 2.5 out of 5The truth I’ve to make use of specialised .410 hundreds to attain any sort of accuracy is a giant draw back to me. If most commercially obtainable ammo doesn’t work effectively with the gun, then I can’t give it a excessive ranking based mostly on specialty ammo. However specialty ammo did get the job performed simply high-quality.
Ergonomics – 4 out of 5The grip is stable, and the controls are positioned for simple entry. The gun feels considerably unbalanced and front-heavy, and the recoil can really feel fairly stiff.
Reliability – 5 out of 5The gun at all times went bang. I fired 100 rounds of .410 and 50 rounds of .45 Colt. It’s not a torture check, however it took loads of time by way of a single shot.
General – 3.5 out of 5The Brawler is a enjoyable gun. It’s neat, odd and fascinating. It’s surprisingly effectively deliberate out and effectively made, however the accuracy division pulls down the gun’s rating.
