Started The Shooting Session Cussing my Rossi 92 357 Maggie, BUT

[TCLouis]

Started out loading 5 of the 160 gran RNFP GB boolits just shy of the crimping groove.

Jam fight, curse fight get round down range cuss the gun and rue they day I ever was stupid enough to buy it.

Started out cussing just loading 5 rounds into the tube, loading gate spring is too strong and hard to line up with the tube and get cartridges loaded.

Follow with 5 rounds with 358156 . . . Still hard to get into the tube, but feed and chamber flawlessly.

Fight to load 5 more 160 RNFP boolits and again the 358156 load flawlessly.

Hey even I can begin to see a pattern here.

Walk back to the house and load the 160s to just past the crimp groove . . . About the same OAL as the 358156s . . . WELL DUH!

Still a pain to get in the magazine, but the feed with just a bit of hesitation.

A little firmer action on the lever and I am clicking.

Walk to the target and I am seeing groups. This powder has never done well in anything but cast 338 Mag loads and all of a sudden the rifle that has not produced groups is holding minute of deer heart with a flyer off a couple of inches in every group at 50. This could not possibly have anything to do with coares sights, small bullseye and my eyes.

Couple of shots at my rocks on the hillside at 110 and it is still holding minute of dead deer grouping.

Test shot into a gallon milk jug of water at 50 and complete penetration with well ruptured jug.

Quickload says 1450-1500 fps and though not a barn burner but velocity well above what some folks are using to slay whitetails with pistolas.

Too late to hunt with it this year, but lots of time to work with it before next year.

[Bzcraig]

Hopeless to hopeful in one sitting? I'd say that's a pretty good day!

[runfiverun]

loading gates are just that, a gate.
they can be worked on and smoothed out.

[pietro]

.

Yer cuss jar must almost have enough $$$ in it, by now, to buy a new gun............. :D

.

[TCLouis]

bzcraig
YES, it became a great day.

Guess I will buy the spring kit from the Rossi 92 guy in TX.

I think there is a reduced pressure spring for the loading gate and ejector.

Right now if . . . IF I were to operate opening the lever smartly, I am guessing the brass could attain a low orbit.

Bet there are some surfaces in the loading sequence that could receive a light touch to knock off sharp edges.

Definitely want to take a Cratex wheel to the loading carrier and smooth/polish it.

First gun that I have ever bought that had me in a state of "VERY UNHAPPY" and so the change a little OAL made is a good thing.

I have to run some 359429s and see if they are too long to stabilize out of this gun.

My goal is to never fire another coated bullet out of this gun.

[olereb]

That loading gate is a simple fix with a dremel,I have done it to all of my R92's along with the spring kit. The Gunslinger spring kit or the Stevesgunz kit is good,also you can cut a bit off the mag tube spring to ease it up. Replacing the plastic mag tube plug with a metal one is also a good idea,i had one in my 45-70 break after 6 shots.

[nekshot]

I told my son no more guns except if we find a 92 in 357. I really think these could be fun!

[Nrut]

TCLouis,
We had a 2nd Lee group buy here some years ago on Glenn Larsens 358-180-RF..
Both Junior1942 and I had problems with it feeding into the chambers of our Rossi's..

If you watch the movement of the loaded round while slowly operating the lever you will see that there are two rails on the inside of the receiver that retain the back end of the round as it moves up and forward..
With the Larsen bullet you have slightly modify the rails to release the round a bit earlier so as to line the round up with the chamber mouth better for smooth feeding..
I suppose every rifle is different and it has been so long ago but I seem to remember that I just knocked off the corners of the retaining rails with a file.

Here is Juniors write up about his mods to his little Rossi to get it to feed the Larsen bullet..
http://www.castbullet.com/shooting/rossi-s3.htm

IIRC I didn't have to radius the chamber mouth like Jr. did..
Nor did I have to shorten my cases like he did..

In the end the Larsen bullet taught me how lever action rifle work and the importance of "timing" when it comes to feeding the round from the mag tube to the chamber..

[Pb2au]

1)Take the plug out of the end magazine tube and let the spring uncoil slowly so it is hanging out of the end.
2)Measure three of your loaded cartridges and remember that number.
3)Making sure that the magazine spring is in all the way (but not compressed), measure along the spring forward from the end of the magazine that magic number we discovered in step 2.
4)Chop off the excess spring above the measure point.
The summary is that you only need about three cartridge lengths extra length of magazine spring. Any more and you will develop a hulk thumb from struggling to load the magazine.
Find a 3/8 dowel rod and wrap some fine grit emery cloth around it. Use this to gently break the forward edge of the loading gate window. Mr. Dremel doesn't need to make a guest appearance here.
If the gate itself is difficult to depress, remove the gate from the receiver. It is held in by only one screw just aft of the loading window. Do yourself a favor and get a long set of tweezers to remove and re-install the gate later. It is enough to give you a stroke to fish that thing out of the receiver well with ape fingers like mine.
When you get it out, give the forward edge a kiss with the emery cloth. Then about midway along the spring, you can thin the thickness a bit to make it easier to depress. I would advise you to approach this very conservatively.
Clean everything, lube the action and wrestle the gate back in and give it a shot.

[searcher4851]

The 92 is very OAL length sensitive. Too long or too short and you WILL have feeding problems.
The mods described by Pb2au should greatly ease the loading for you. Just remember to take it easy. It's much easier to take off a little more metal than it is to try to add some back. Steve's gunz kit doesn't include a reduced tension loading gate spring, so modifying the existing spring is the only solution to that at this time. It really is an easy mod. The reduced tension ejector spring is great. Much better than modifying the existing spring. The action should be cycled firmly and briskly for best results.
They are really fun guns, once you get them running the way you want.

[TCLouis]

Thank you, Nrut, et.al.

Sitting here I can visualize cutting that back slightly and it would allow the cartridge to move up level with the chamber sooner. Would likely allow slightly longer AOL with any boolit.

Thanx to all that have posted. After my success the other day I saw several things that needed to be smoothed/slightly modified including that loading gate and the "edges" around it!

Deer season closes this weekend and so I will start working on getting this gun in shooting shape for spring. I hope the rifling is 358429 friendly, but it may be too long. If the LAR45 or Ranch Dog boolit will chamber and shoot, I will have my hunting issue taken care of, otherwise the 160 RNFP or 358156 will have to fulfill deer slaying duties.

I hope to top it all off with a nice tang sight.

AND

Oh yeah, why would Rossi put that cheap a$$ plastic follower in this gun?
With the commercial presses, one could form a gazillion of these in mild steel or stainless and not embarrass the company with their "cheap alternative.

[Buckshot]

Last trip out to the range I was very disappointed in the little Rossi 38/357 carbine.

http://www.fototime.com/7493E5C6C9C6A9C/standard.jpg

I was getting these really bad vertically strung groups. The last (hottest) 5 round group I simply held the forend in my left hand, laid against the front rest, and got this:

http://www.fototime.com/2B4B6ED4FB6126F/standard.jpg

Previously I'd been griping the forend tightly and holding it down solidly on the front benchrest. Naturally the last groups held as mentioned above was the best. Not bad for a blade and buckhorn at 50 yards.

............Buckshot

[Four Fingers of Death]

" I simply held the forend in my left hand, laid against the front rest, and got this:"

I have found that this works with all lever guns and most light sporters and it is pretty much the same hold as you will use in the field.

[TCLouis]

Went over and read Juniors posting at his site and brought the gun and some dummy ammo in the house to check function.

As Long as I stay under 1.637" (just happens to be the longest round I can find to test) or so it feeds/chambers fine with 358429 and will work with Lar45 and Ranch Dog at 1.590" and a bit more also. Not sure what all was going on with the feeding in my past experiments.

The more I work with it and learn lever guns the better I like it. Some sharp edges have to go and I really need to flush out the action and lightly oil.

Oh and hope for some warm weather so I can chuck up some stock and replace that goofy plastic magazine follower.

296 load performs well outa my GP 100, can only hope it is accurate in the 92.

Juniors load sings outa the 92 pushed by Lil Gun . . . And I had a pound I did not know what I was going to do with since they warned about pistol issues with it. Lar45 or Ranch Dog boolit zinging along at the velocities he is talking about could perform mightly.

So much to learn about lever guns and Semi Automatic Pistolas.