Right, so...
Uh, NOTHING went the way I planed it.
Not a damn thing.
I gotta say though, I'm not upset with the way it went down. $1200 on ALL of it-rifle, shotgun, and a MATCHED SET (as in the Uberti Matched Pair) of revolvers.
I appreciate the feedback, but when a deal like this comes your way, you're an idiot not to take it. $300 for my Rossi R92 in .44 Mag (I wanted .357, but hell, beggers/choosers, etc). $300 for my Stoeger 12 (ended up in matte nickle, I wanted blue, but it was $100 MORE). And $600 for a pair of BRAND NEW Uberti Cattleman MATCHED revolvers (as in S/N: RSXXXX and LSXXXX-I ain't much for typing my serial numbers out online, but I will say they're under 1000!) in .45 Long Colt. Not my ideal caliber, to be sure-but the .357s were going to run me about $100 per gun MORE. PLUS, they didn't even have a pair in stock, meaning I'd get one, and the other'd show up... a month and a half from now.
SO, as it stands, here's what I'm shooting (pics will follow when I'm over the plague!):
Match Rifle: Rossi R92 10+1 in .44 Mag
Match Shotty: Stoeger Coach Gun Supreme in 12 Gauge
Match Revolvers: Uberti Matched Pair 1873 Cattlemen in .45 Long Colt
NOW... I know my ammo is not standardized. That'll hurt me a bit on the reloading. BUT! Every handgun in my house (except my wife's 7.62mm) shoots .45 of some kind. ACP in my 1911, LC in my 1873s. SO, there's that. ALSO, my rifle shoots the same ammo as my best friend, so there's THAT.
Again, nothing went the way I wanted it to, but in the end, I've got to say, I couldn't be more in love with what I've got. The extra safety feature on the Rossi (the key to "turn the rifle off," for lack of a better term), is AMAZING-safety first. The revolvers have the EXACT feel of what I was looking for. The triggers are just right, the cock easy, and I can run 'em pretty quick (snap caps so far, have not put any live rounds through 'em-just got 'em tonight). The shotgun? I don't know how to put it, other than "It was made for me."
This was more about what rifle to get than anything, and the scales seemed to lean towards the Rossi anyway, so I guess on that front, this thread was a success.
I would like to thank each and every one of you that gave advice, and rest assured, within a couple of years (AFTER I take my wife to Japan, probably), assuming they're still legal to own, I'll have my 1873. May even get one of them Taylors & Co with the short stroke already on it!
Thanks again, y'all, it really did help push me over when I saw that Rossi for dirt cheap!