Taurus established a conglomerate of affordable firearms companies, including Heritage Manufacturing and Rossi. Taurus, Rossi, and Heritage are known for two things: one, affordable firearms, and two, not shying away from novelty firearms. Taurus has the Judge, and now Rossi has the Brawler. The Brawler takes cues from the Judge by using a design that fires both .410 shot shells and .45 Colt.
Breaking Down The Brawler
Live Inventory Price Checker
|
Rossi Brawler 45 (Long) Colt 9in Matte Black Single Shot Pistol - 1 Round | Sportsman's Warehouse | $ 229.99 |
|
|
|
Rossi Brawler .410 Gauge/.45 Long Colt 9" Single-Shot Pistol 1rds, Black - Durable and High Power - SSPB9BKKIT | Palmetto State Armory | $ 236.99 |
|
|
Braztech/Rossi Brawler .45 Colt / .410 GA 9 Barrel 1-Rounds | GrabAGun | $ 229.99 |
|
|
Rossi Brawler .410 Gauge/.45 Long Colt 9" Single-Shot Pistol 1rds, Black - Durable and High Power - SSPB9BKKIT | Palmetto State Armory | $ 236.99 |
|
The difference is that the Brawler is a single-shot, single-action-only handgun. Rossi took the Tuffy, cut the stock off, and trimmed the barrel. Taurus also produces a Tuffy Survival, which is both a .410 and .45 Colt rifle. The Brawler takes those designs and shrinks them to a handgun.
Shrink is an operative word. The Brawler isn’t a small gun. It features a nine-inch barrel and an overall length of 14 inches. The gun weighs 36.8 ounces unloaded. It’s a big fella, to be sure. Luckily, the price tag isn’t big. The Rossi doesn’t break the bank at less than 250 dollars at most retailers.
The Rossi Brawler’s price point is undoubtedly one of its most impressive features and will likely be the key to success. People like cheap guns, especially if they are unconventional.
The Rossi Brawler comes with a nice long optics rail across the top. It’s very red dot friendly, and the rail’s long enough to put on a full-sized red dot if you want to go big. I might be able to fit a magnifier on there if I try hard enough…
While the front sight is evident, there is also a rear sight. It’s hidden in the rail but present. We get a very nice large, rubber grip that’s cushioned for recoil reduction.
What’s the Purpose Of the Brawler?
That’s the big question. You can most certainly make a purpose up. You can say it’s a great snake gun, but I just prefer a big stick or a shovel to deal with venomous, aggressive snakes. It’s arguably a solid outdoor gun. The ability to shoot birdshot, buckshot, or .45 Colt makes it a solid contender for dealing with most threats you might run into.
It’s likely going to be a fun hunting option for close-range use. Dispatching rabbits and squirrels with heavy game shot would work. Swapping to .45 Colt would be a good choice to kill coyotes, small hogs, and even deer. Of course, you’d need to be ammo-picky. You don’t want to shoot a deer with a mouse fart cowboy load, and you don’t want a shot of #8 for squirrels from a .410 handgun.
The Brawler can also just be a fun gun. It’s cheap enough to be an impulse purchase if you see fit. It’s certainly fun to shoot, and that’s enough reason to buy the gun. That’s actually why I purchased the gun in the first place.
Brawling With the Brawler
If you are going to use this gun for serious use, like hunting or woods defense, you need to be ammo-picky. After shooting the gun a fair bit, I quickly discovered it has its own challenges with varying ammunition types.
Much like the Judge, the barrel is rifled, lightly rifled. The rifled barrel can present some serious problems with shotgun patterns. It creates a donut-of-death pattern that sends the projectiles in an unpredictable circular pattern with a big gap in the center. This makes birdshot very inaccurate with poor patterns. While buckshot still patterns oddly, it can still be effective.
Luckily, there are still .410 handgun rounds. Those .410 handgun rounds work very well with the Brawler and provide tight, accurate patterns. Federal’s new .410 handgun loads are excellent and include a birdshot option for hunting small game. Hornady has the slug and ball load with a tight patterning design. Winchester’s PDX load also gives decent performance through the Brawler.
If I was using the Brawler for anything outside of plinking, I would carry .410 handgun loads rather than standard .410. While it’s pricer, the effectiveness is worth the money. They produce tighter groups and allow for longer-range shots.
Let’s talk about .45 Colt.
The Old Man of Fighting Rounds
The Brawler gives .45 Colt two challenges. First, the rifling is light. Second, the projectile has to jump through a short, unrifled portion of the chamber due to the .410’s length. Both compromise accuracy. At 25 yards from a rested position, I produced a 7.5-inch group with the Brawler’s iron sights.
I dropped a red dot on the gun, and during zeroing, I observed several groups. The red dot helped my accuracy a little bit. I dropped the groups down to a consistent five or so inches. That’s not terrible; it’s not great, but it’s decent enough. I could hit a hog or deer at 25 yards and put the round in its lungs and heart with ease.
Both the .410 and .45 Colt offer some stout recoil when fired. It’s not painful, thanks to the rubberized grips, which do wonders for absorbing recoil. It’s also not tough to control like a S&W 500, but it still jumps a bit with every shot. I wouldn’t hand the Brawler to a youth shooter or a recoil-adverse shooter.
Getting a Grip
When using and shooting the Brawler, I found it to be quite ergonomic. There isn’t a lot to it, but it works. The pistol grip is fantastic, it’s big, fills the hand, and is comfy when shooting. The setup makes it easy to reach the hammer, and to open the breach.
When you open that breach, the gun has an extractor and ejector that sends the empty case flying out. Watch where you point that thing when you open it. It’s a nice feature to have on such a cheap gun.
The safety is fine. It sits right above the pistol grip and locks the action. It’s a cross-bolt design that seems a little better suited for a long gun, but it’s fine.
Modifying the Brawler
Just for fun, I did something a little crazy. I actually have two Brawlers. One I got for a good price, and one I got for an insanely good price. The low price of the gun made me willing to take some risks and do some nutty stuff.
I found a way to attach a Shockwave grip to the Brawler. It took a little dremeling, and I had to add a washer to the bolt, but it attached with ease and worked surprisingly well. It gives the gun a modern musket look that’s neat. Due to the low price of the gun, I think I might get a little crazy about modifying the design to do some fun stuff.
I 3D printed a forend designed by a user named Veld_Khan. This gave the gun a completely different look and I absolutely adore it. It looks way better.
Break It Up
The Rossi Brawler is a fun gun but be prepared to use specialty ammo if you want this to be an effective .410 pistol. As a single shot gun it has limited utility. It could fit a few roles, but I think most people will buy it just as a fun gun and not much more. In that role, it’s perfect.
In other, more serious roles, there are better alternatives, but are there cheaper alternatives? The Brawler’s best argument is its price point.
About Travis Pike
Travis Pike is a former Marine Machine Gunner, a lifelong firearms enthusiast, and now a regular guy who likes to shoot, write, and find ways to combine the two. He holds an NRA certification as a Basic Pistol Instructor and is the world’s Okayest firearm’s instructor.
