Rossi Gallery .22LR Rimfire Pump-Action Rifle: Review

If you’ve been reading Shooting Times for a while, then you know I really enjoy shooting .22 rimfires, especially the classic Browning Auto 22 (now called the SA-22), the Savage Model 24, and the Winchester Model 1890. I’ve spent a lot of time behind those guns, and in fact, until I had guns of my own, I grew up shooting my dad’s old, beat-up, and shot-out pump-action Winchester Model 1890 chambered for .22 Short. I still have it, and as fond of it as I was when I was just a lad, it doesn’t have all the features I wish it had. Rossi’s new pump-action Gallery .22 does.

For instance, the Gallery .22 has sling-swivel studs on the barrel band up front and on the buttstock in back. I don’t know how many times I had wished I’d had a sling on Dad’s old 1890 back when I was a youngster. You can probably imagine me as a boy juggling that old rifle, a canteen, a couple boxes of cartridges, and a squirrel or two as I made my way through the timber “on safari.” Klutzy would be a kind way of referring to it.

The Gallery .22 also has a very easy-to-see dovetailed front sight. It is 0.09 inch thick and 0.39 inch tall, and it has a brass bead that’s easy to pick up when lining it up with the elevation-adjustable buckhorn-style rear sight. The front sight on Dad’s old Model 1890 is extremely thin and very hard to see. It worked for me when I was young, but my eyes today have a lot of trouble with it. So much so that I’ve tried and tried to figure out how to install a scope or a red-dot sight on the top-ejecting Model 1890 without drilling and tapping the old gun. Nothing has worked to my satisfaction.

The Gallery .22 has that covered, too, in the form of a 3/8-inch scope-mount dovetail rail integral to the receiver. I installed an old 1-3X Weaver scope that I have a lot of confidence in, and it was easy-peasy. And since the Gallery .22 ejects spent cases out the side of the receiver, they don’t hit the scope.

The rest of the Gallery .22’s features include a full-length tubular magazine that holds 15 rounds of .22 LR, an 18-inch barrel, a German beechwood buttstock and ribbed forearm, a polymer trigger guard, an action release lever located at the front of the trigger guard, a crossbolt safety located above the trigger, and a plastic buttplate. The barrel has a polished blued finish, and the receiver wears a black epoxy coat finish. The serial number is stamped on the bottom of the receiver, and it is also etched on the right side of the barrel. For anyone wanting a thoroughly modern pump-action .22, the Gallery .22 is also offered with a black synthetic buttstock and forearm and fiber-optic sights.

To put the Gallery .22 through its paces, I fired 10 types of .22 LR ammo from a sandbag benchrest, and I fired three, five-shot groups with each type. The accuracy and velocity results are listed in the accompanying chart, and you can see that the little carbine did just fine. Overall average accuracy was 0.97 inch, and my best accuracy came with Aguila Rifle Match.

The trigger pull was a bit heavy, averaging 6.75 pounds for five measurements with an RCBS trigger pull scale, but it was very consistent. Three measurements were spot on at 6 pounds, 12 ounces, one measurement was exactly 7 pounds, and one measurement was 6 pounds, 8 ounces.

What I couldn’t measure and the chart doesn’t show is how much fun I had at the range with the Gallery .22. Let me put it this way: I’ve already sent a check for this little fun-shooting pump gun because it’s staying here with me. Enough said.

Rossi Gallery .22 Specifications

• Manufacturer: Rossi, rossiusa.com
• Type: Pump-action repeater
• Caliber: .22 LR
• Magazine Capacity: 15 rounds
• Barrel: 18 in.
• Overall Length: 36 in.
• Weight, Empty: 5.3 lbs.
• Stock: German beechwood
• Length Of Pull: 13.5 in.
• Finish: Polished blued barrel, black epoxy coat receiver
• Sights: Buckhorn rear, brass bead front; receiver is grooved for 3/8-inch rings
• Trigger: 6.75-lb. pull (as tested)
• Safety: Crossbolt
• MSRP: $358.48

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