Rossi 92 Came Today

[hylander]

My Rossi 92 arrived today :-D did the paperwork, have to wait 10 days to pick it up :sad:
I got the R92 20" .357 Blued
Initial inspection.
First the Good:

Wood to metal fit very good. Blueing looks good, even and glossy.
Barrel looks straight, not canted. I like the buckhorn sights.
Action is pretty smooth, better than the Marlin 1894 we have in stock.
Action is just a bit tight just before full open and right at full lock up.
Trigger pull brakes pretty clean at about #4.5

Now the Bad:
The finish on the wood is pathetic, Looks like they applied one coat of water based stain :roll:
That's all the bad so far ;)

Well that is it until I pick it up a week from Monday.
Plan is to tear it all down, restain the wood a bit darker and apply a few coats of Tung oil and a coat of T/C Bore Butter.
Install the Lees spring kit, smooth out all internals.
Then work up some loads.
Sorry, Only pic I had time for. Lots more to come after I pick it up.

[ironhead7544]

I heard that water will take the finish off the wood.

Had three 357 Magnum Rossi M92s over the years. Fun gun.

Sounds like you have a good plan. The stevesgunz video is a big help if you are not familiar with the M92.

[Texas by God]

My unsolicited advice is to shoot it first! Then do all the work if it shoots and functions well. I have one and love it and it took tuning to get there though. Best, Thomas.

[Artful]

Nice, I too would shot it first, get some 38 spl loaded up to and plink until it needs cleaned then tear down so you have some guides as to wear the parts are touched by other parts.

[John Boy]

... and when you redo the woos, use burnt umber pigment with the tung oil to bring the wood to a nice walnut coloring

[KCSO]

The stiffness at the end of the opening cycle is most likely the hammer binding at the end of the stroke. Usually the spring being over compressed. The tightness at the closing is the way too strong ejector spring. Both are easily cured. With a little work it will slick up as smooth as an original 92.

[BCRider]

At one point there was some really dull stuff that was said to be removable with water. The three rifles I've done most recently for cowboy action friends had some super tough clear finish on them. Even my really good paint and varnish stripper didn't touch the stuff. I had to sand it off. I did that on two of them and left the third and most recent one since it actually looked very nice with a "proper" color. The other two had a really nasty pinkish color to them.

With the wood bare I took some time to refine the shaping of the shoulder stocks to make the cross section a bit more "egg" shaped by sloping in the upper sides and narrowing the radius of the comb. Really I kept the same radius but brought the right and left sides together. At the same time I refined the drop area to the neck of the stock so it was more the classic hollow for the thumb to rest in. You may want to consider that as well. It really sharpened up the look compared to the rather boxy and clunky shaping job done by the factory. Here again the most recent Rossi RIFLE (as opposed to carbine) needed none of this. Seems that they pull out the stops when making the ones that have the octagonal barrels.

[shoot-n-lead]

The stiffness at the end of the opening cycle is most likely the hammer binding at the end of the stroke. Usually the spring being over compressed. The tightness at the closing is the way too strong ejector spring. Both are easily cured. With a little work it will slick up as smooth as an original 92.

NO...

The tightness at the end of the open stroke is the carrier lifting the cartridge to bore level and the tightness at the end of the closing stroke is the dual locking lugs going into place. Both of these will improve with use.

[fecmech]

the tightness at the end of the closing stroke is the dual locking lugs going into place
That is because as KCSO stated the too strong ejector spring being compressed as the bolt closes the last 1/8" or so. The locking lugs are just pushing against that spring. Take the spring out and you can close the lever with your little finger.

[shoot-n-lead]

That is because as KCSO stated the too strong ejector spring being compressed as the bolt closes the last 1/8" or so. The locking lugs are just pushing against that spring. Take the spring out and you can close the lever with your little finger.

Changed mine out and it was STILL tight.

Put the OEM back in and it smoothed out...don't think the spring is the problem.YMMV

[fecmech]

Put the OEM back in and it smoothed out...don't think the spring is the problem.YMMV
Then I would take a look at the collar on the ejector shaft. It may need to be beveled slightly and could be catching as the shaft slides through it on closing of the bolt.

[hylander]

The Bad:
The action had lots of left over cutting oil and metal shaving dust in it, also left over shavings around the front barrel band and under the wood.
Ejector looks like it was cutout with a dremel.
Wood has a thin coating of water base stain.
Trigger pull was #5 plus.

The Good:
The wood is pretty nice, not a bad grain and wood to metal fit is very good.
No issues removing or reinstalling the forearm or butt stock. Barrel bands are a good fit
Blueing is nicely done. No sharp edges found so far, not even the loading gate area.
Action is pretty smooth, not bad at all, just a little stiff for my liking.
Feeds 38’s and 357’s just fine, my 38’s OCL is 1.460 and .357 is 1.580
Also fired some factory 38+P rounds, functioned fine.
Best of all, accuracy seems good.

The work so far:
Blew out the whole action with carb cleaner, then covered it with Remoil and the blew of the excess, then lightly lubed everything with a light oil.
Installed the LEE spring kit.
A few issues with the springs.
The hammer spring seems just right in stiffness, however the diameter is to small.
The springs diameter allows it to start inside the hole the hammer strut goes through in the lower tang, this causes the spring and strut to bind in the hole.
I used a small washer to cure this.
The ejector spring is a bit week, barely gets the cases ejected unless you work the lever fast then throws them maybe 12”.
The trigger spring is to light, under #1.5, I bent it just a bit to raise the pull to #2.5
The Lever tension spring is to weak, barely keeps the lever closed, a strong wind and the lever will open. Reinstalled the factory spring.
I will redo the stock finish with a dark walnut oil based stain and then several coats of Formsby Tung oil and top it off with T/C bore butter.

Conclusion:
Overall I am happier with this rifle than I thought I would be.
I actually like to tinker with these things, so the little work to do is ok.

[dverna]

Love it when all the hole touch.

[Artful]

Sounds like you got a winner to me. I'm liking the group - how far away was that?

[Taylor810]

My Rossi 92 is very case length sensitive and will only eject 357 properly, 38's hang