.357 Rossi Update

[beefyz]

Just spent last TWO HRS trying to post the target. Checked "how to post", still nothing. Need to post the target to show the results and make the discussion meaningful. What am i missing her to post the picture ????

[Photog]

Open an account with ibb.co copy your photo to there.
Use the "viewer links" as provided by that site for an individual photo, or right click to copy image location.
Click insert image here in the dialog box, paste the location link in the "from URL" tab.


Verified this works if you can see a photo

[kungfustyle]

The pictures you are uploading are probably too big. You can find image resizer on downloads.com most are free. or follow Photog's advice. One of the fewest terms of service and privacy pages I've ever seen.

[alfadan]

If too big, you can open the pic in Paint and resize by 50 percent, save, then post

[beefyz]

[beefyz]

I hope picture of target is above. If it is, THANKS to guys above. Took another hour though; kept getting message "Cast Boolits site says invalid post " .

Anyways..... What you see above was HUGE difference in what i started out with. Hopefully, corrected 2 problems. First, reduced aperture on Skinner peep sight. That alone got me about a 50% improvement. Second; experimented with lighter grainage boolits. As suggested in first post "357 Rossi", many agreed the 1:30 twist is more conducive to the lighter boolits. That was confirmed by the makers of the 4 boolits i tried. "Hank" from Chey Cast & "Matt" from Matts boolits suggested 125 & 140 TCFP Hi Tek coated and then a 130 RNFP which i also aloxed. You can see how tight , at least for 68 yr old eyes using open sights @ 50 yds, these lighter boolits performed. ( And yes, hahahhah, i manage to still have a small stash of about 3 lbs of 4756; still use it in boolits for a .30-30, .32-20, & 25-35).

My first outings with this rifle were with 155s & 158 RNFPs/LSWCs. A few loads produced 1-3'' "groups", but the majority were much worse than that. At least in MY rifle, a statement made in the original post became VERY appropro, " Find a load your Rossi likes, and it can be quite accurate. Mine seems to be powder dependent. I experimented more with 2400 & H110 this time around and they produced the best groupings, like those above, with the 125s-158s. Similar results were obtained with IMR 4227, 5744, 4756, My supplier of the 155 RNFPs is now OOB, and i'm going to try Matts best 160 RNFP.

I was given a small quantity of 180 RNFPs to try. One of the first quotes said "don't even think about it" while another inferred 180s work well with maximum charges. Thats what i found using 2400 again.

Load data was obtained almost exclusively from the Lyman Cast for rifle/pistol .38/.357 & similar Hodgdon data. I tested as follows; YOUR results may differ and you test at your own risk...
2400 worked well w/all boolits; appx 12.7 w/155s, 13.5 w.158s, 11.5 w/the 180. all .357
4227 appx 15 w/155s & 14 w/ 140s. in .357. Still developing w/4227 and i've used this in a number of different rifles.
H110 appx 15 w/ 158s in .357
5744 appx 12 w/ 140s in .357
4756 probably the most consistent, 6gr w/ 125, 130, 140 boolits. Also 7.7 w/ 158 (Lee data) all in .357
HS 6 highly recommended in manuals, yet, i can't seem to find the sweet spot .

I also tried a few loads, with promise, using .38 cases. My Rossi magazine feeds these well, while i see others report problems. (?)
There are numerous loadings using 4756 in .38 in the Lee.
231 @ 5gr w/130
Red Dot @ 4.5 w/130s
Red Dot @ 4.5 w/140s produced 5 holes that a quarter covered ! I wet myself seeing this.
Also well were Universal @ 5 +p w/ 155 , Unique @ 5.4 +p w/ 155, Bullseye @ 4.2 w/125 TCFP.
I've ordered more 125s, 130s, and 140s and will undoubtedly continue trying them in .38.

NO data yet but a 148 wc seems to work also.

The 180 load and loads using 2400/H110 are magnum loads; 1,500/1,600 fps as per manuals. The other. 357 loads i would call "medium" in the rifle; somewheres between 1,000-1,300. The .38 were all light with the 148 feeling/sounding like a gallery load. This meant that with each type of load a major adjustment had to be made on the peep sight . I'm not happy with this skinner sight as it doesn't "lock" with each adjustment, so it has to be reset after almost every shot. The only other thing that works on the Rossi is a Tang, given the Rossi's crazy safety tang location which precluds the use of a Williams which i've had good shooting with on other rifles. The Marbles for the Rossi is appx $200 and only adjusts for elevation. With windage cost about $50 more. A bit steep for a gun that cost $500 and is still a bit flukey about what you feed it.

I hope some of this helps others. Thanks to all for posting.
z