How to modify Puma to shoot 44 special?

[happy7]

I have a newer Rossi Puma in 44mag. I loaded up some 44 special brass with the Lee 200 grain round flat. They won't feed at all. Spent a little time on the web and apparently the Rossi's are known for not feeding the shorter cases as well. Anyone know how to modify the gun to feed the shorter stuff?

Oh, and I know I can just load them in 44 mag brass. That is not the solution I am looking for. I am all set up for cowboy action with the special case and would prefer to use them if there is a way to do it.

[tacklebury]

Typically the failure to load the shorter round is because of the COL. Perhaps a slightly longer nosed bullet will extend it far enough to reach magnum length. Something along the lines of an LFN verses a WFN? Then weight doesn't go up too much. Other than that, I'd say the magnum cases would be the best solution. 8(

[runfiverun]

mine will feed specials in a swc configuration, my 357 won't feed 38's though.
i have seen people seat a boolit out to make up the difference, mine might just work because it's short.
other than that you can modfy the rails to let the round cam over sooner and get a straighter run at the chamber.

[Bret4207]

Mine feeds Specials with the 429421 just fine. Try a longer boolit.

[happy7]

Thanks guys for the longer bullet ideas. I guess I should have said that I am wanting to shoot the gun in Cowboy Action. I want to use the same ammo as my pistols, and a longer bullet is going to increase recoil which I was trying to avoid.

So if anyone has tinkered with these to get the action to work with shorter cartridges, I sure would be interested in what you did.

[Ragnarok]

Hmmm..I've fired .44 Special cowboy flat-points from my new this year M92 .44 mag..they worked just fine.

[timkelley]

Mine shoots the same as your load very well. Don't know what to say.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Since nobody has offered a correct solution, I will.

Your probelm lies in the position of the step on the cartridge lifter. The Winchesters use the cartridge on the lifter to stop the next cartridge from coming out of the magazine. They are somewhat sensitive to COL, so you must adjust the length of the lifter to accomidate the new cartridge length.

If you epoxy a small peice of metal or plastic, which is the difference in thickness between your loads and factory .44mag loads, onto the front of the stop on the lifter, it should function just fine. IE @ .100 thick or ? whatever is the actual difference in thickness is. Make sure it is the same shape as the surface it is covering.

You will have to disassemble your rifle to do this.

Since this is not a permanent fix and can be removed you will not be condeming the rifle to only using that length cartridge.

Hope this helps

Randy

[happy7]

Randy,

I will give that a try. Thanks a lot. I do like the idea that it is not permanent.

[w30wcf]

Happy7,
What may be happening is that if the meplat is large enough, it can keep the stop in the open position just long enough for the next cartridge to slip through.

If so, a bullet with a smaller meplat would work .... see Ragnarok's post ....

You will be able to see if this is happening by looking down into the action when cycling the lever.

I had that very thing happen on my Rossi 357 and that was the cause of it.

w30wcf

[HollowPoint]

I tried longer bullets using 44 Special brass and that seemed to solve that problem; kind of. I was really hoping to be able to shoot 44 Special cartridges out of my M92 without having to make any type of adjustments.

On my lever gun even the 44 magnum rounds won't cycle reliably unless I add a taper-crimp so, I tried putting a taper crimp on my 44 Special loads and it seemed to fix the problem.

The only reason I bothered with 44 special cartridges in the first place was because I had fifty or so 44 special cases that I used to use in my Ruger Super Black Hawk Hunter before I sold it. Since I had the 44 special brass I thought I'd put it to good use.

HollowPoint