Rossi 92 in .45 Colt

[richhodg66]

Took this out to mess with it after a long hiatus an like the little rifle. It's not drilled for a conventional receiver sight, so looks like I'm stuck with open sights for the foreseeable future.

Loads today were kind of standard plinkers, Lee 255 RFN and 6.5 grains of Red Dot. I also have Lyman 255 grain SWC (452424 I think?) of my Dad's and also a very similar SAECO mold I can use. I know the standard equivalent to the traditional black powder loading is around 8.5 to 9 grains of Unique and a 250ish grain bullet, so this is kind of what I'd like to go with since it works well in my Blackhawks.

Where I've done most of my deer hunting the past few years is from a stand in a big locust tree in the middle of a natural choke point where they move from feeding areas to bedding areas and back. I've killed quite a few from that stand and the shots are usually very close at unsuspecting deer, broadside more often than not. I'm thinking those standard level .45 Colt loads would work fine, especially since that Saeco bullet has a sizeable meplat.

Any thoughts on this? I'm guessing alloy won't make much difference with a bullet this big at these speeds.

[ukrifleman]

I have a Rossi 92 in 45 Colt strictly as a paper puncher, which is fitted with a Lyman No.2 Tang sight item No.3902094.

The rear peep sight gives you a longer sight radius and helps to improve accuracy.
ukrifleman.

[pietro]

.

I fitted my .45 Rossi 92 with a Williams 5D-94SE receiver peepsight, meant for the angle-eject Winchester 94.

I had to D/T one 6-48 hole atop the rear of the top of each receiver sidewall to accept it, but since it carries the aperture holder bar behind the sight base ILO atop it, it readily zeroed (within 5 shots) using the issue height Rossi front sight blade.

Mine had the bolt top lawyer safety, which I replaced with a low-profile plug (w/o removing the bolt).


http://i.imgur.com/U7F3Zabl.jpg http://i.imgur.com/z1sR2ALl.jpg


Alternatively, the Williams Foolproof FP-94SE sight mounts the same way, but @ 2X the cost of the 5D, has micrometer w/e adjusters ILO sliding adjusters secure via grubscrews.


.

[richhodg66]

I shot aperture sights much, much better than open sights and for any serious hunting rifle that doesn't wear a scope, that's what they have.

Problem is, I dislike tang sights on a lever rifle as they seem to be right in the way of any method I have of naturally gripping the rifle. I'd really like to have something that mounted on the side of the receiver like most lever guns are drilled for. Williams, Lyman and Redfield have all made good ones. I might just have the rifle drilled if I can figure out one that works.

That said, in the deer spot I described, open sights would do fine unless it was really pushing dawn or dusk with low light. I'm more interested in what the terminal performance of what many today consider a pretty mild load would be.

[Smoke4320]

45 colt would do very well in this situation . I would use a 49/49/2 COWW, PB, tin alloy but a 98/2 COWW/Tin should do well too

Good luck and keep us updated

[richhodg66]

.

I fitted my .45 Rossi 92 with a Williams 5D-94SE receiver peepsight, meant for the angle-eject Winchester 94.

I had to D/T one 6-48 hole atop the rear of the top of each receiver sidewall to accept it, but since it carries the aperture holder bar behind the sight base ILO atop it, it readily zeroed (within 5 shots) using the issue height Rossi front sight blade.

Mine had the bolt top lawyer safety, which I replaced with a low-profile plug (w/o removing the bolt).


http://i.imgur.com/U7F3Zabl.jpg http://i.imgur.com/z1sR2ALl.jpg


Alternatively, the Williams Foolproof FP-94SE sight mounts the same way, but @ 2X the cost of the 5D, has micrometer w/e adjusters ILO sliding adjusters secure via grubscrews.


.

Fortunately, mine was made before the safeties. I like the Williams sights, rugged and repeatable adjustments. Seems like this would be a no brainer job for a gunsmith and should make the rifle a lot more shootable.

[CraigOK]

I love those rossi lever guns. Hope to have a pair in 45 colt and 357 mag in the nearish future

[richhodg66]

I love those rossi lever guns. Hope to have a pair in 45 colt and 357 mag in the nearish future

The trigger on this one could use some work. Other than that, I'm real impressed by the finish and workmanship. Feeds semi wadcutters very well too, which surprised me a bit. They're pretty good little rifles.

[siamese4570]

I have one in 357. Regarding the sights, the factory sights on mine were about worthless. There are several options. There is a guy (Steves guns) in Texas that sells a peepsight that replaces the lawyer safety on the bolt. that worked pretty well but it wasn't compatible with longer ranges and my 60+ year old eyes. Check under the front sight. On the later models there are screw holes for a sight base. It allows for a long eye relief scope to be used that doesn't interfere with the ejection port. I used a 2x pistol scope on mine and it works well. Good fix if you don't have objections to a scope on a lever gun.
siamese4570

[richhodg66]

Mine doesn't have the safety hole, and the front sight seems to be part of the barrel band there, so not sure how to replace it.

I'm liking the idea of the Williams '94 sight, I think that's the route I'll go if I decide to do more with it.

[siamese4570]

rich, sorry, I meant check under the rear sight for the scope base mounting holes.
siamese4570

[Four Fingers of Death]

I have a blued 357 Rossi (the one in my avitar) which is my go to plinking carbine. It was a cheap second hand one that has had thousands of rounds through it without a hiccup. I also have a SS 44Mag carbine which hasn't seen much use as I am not that fond of the sights.

My mate is getting too old to shoot (he is actually a couple of years younger than me, haha) and wants / needs to get rid of some guns. I will take one off his hands and the only thing that is not a weirdo wildcat is a 45Colt 92 Rossi which I need like a hole in the head. The other rifles are things like a single shot Omark target rifle converted to 22/6mmRemington and a 20/222 and a 20/30M1Carbine.

So it looks like I'm going to be Rossi rich and dollar poor. I have a pair of New Model Vaqueros in 45Colt, so it might work out well. Hopefully I can get a cowboy level load to work in all three (he's dreaming!).

[w5pv]

I have a 45C in a Rossi 92 with standard loading for a 255 grain bullet all I have shot (animals Deer and Hogs) have fell like they were pole axed.I think the design parameter on the black powder bullet load was shoot through they horse and kill the Indian hiding on the other side.If so this wasn't a wuss load to play with.

[Artful]

Early models didn't have the extra holes but easy enough to drill and tap
buy base from Swede
http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.php?cPath=103

Rossi Model 92 Scope Mount P892 Black - Picatinny Scout Scope Rail for Braztech manufactured Rossi 92 round barrel rifles and carbines. Mount fits the barrel taper, and uses spec Picatinny spacing vs. the Weaver slots on the factory mount. Mount is made from 6061 aluminum extrusion. Both black & clear finishes are anodized vs. the Rossi black painted finish . Torx head screws are included instead of the factory slotted screws. Braztech round barrel rifles and carbines (16" & 20"), including Puma models imported through Legacy Sports, are drilled and tapped for the scout mount. The holes are located under the rear sight and the rear sight must be removed for scout mount use. The only except to the Braztech R92 are those chambered in 480 Ruger. These barrels have a different taper and are not drilled & tapped. Please look under your rear sight if there are any questions about whether your firearm is drilled & tapped. Amedeo Rossi manufactured firearms (pre-Braztech), including those imported through Interarms, Legacy, & others, are not drilled and tapped.
Also in Silver tone for those SS guns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYLulLIzPLo

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?293052-Rossi-R92-Scout-Scope-Base-now-available-through-NOE!

[Artful]

Alternative from Googlage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12rJRhEooCg

[curator]

I have both a scout scope and Marbles tang sight on mine. I take the scope off if I am hunting piney woods rooters from the ground, but put it back on for tree stand work. I load both the Lee .255 grain FP and the LBT 280 LFN-GC in Star-line brass for the Rossi/Puma. Both are very accurate at 50 yards but the LBT will reach out to 100+ yards with real authority.

[Harter66]

I have a pair , one pre safety one late model .
I have killed 110-165# hogs from 7ft to 50 yd drt . The one that did run a ways was already running and had been shot at prior to me ......

I did work up a couple of real romper stompers for it and they would work well to 100 yd or so . They were a lot of fooling around and at the end of it all I ended up with 8.5 gr of Unique under a Lee 452-255@265gr or a 257gr 454424 being just as consistent under 75 yd .
Alloy was 50/50 plus tin .
These were probably as good as it gets for game . Those below were test and trial and not tried on game .

Due to the generous chambers I've done the 303 tape bit to better center the rear of the cases for fire form . Then I only size enough of the neck to get good seating .

As far as out in the weeds goes .
Info from a 3rd party Quick load .
Use at your own risk .
I have loaded a 350 gr 457-340 Lee over a near full case of H322 .
All indicators would suggest that it was under 20kpsi .
My goal was the maximum bullet weight (length) for the twist and to stay subsonic , by the time the 50yd groups came together I was knocking on 1300 fps with round CCI large pistol primers . That being well beyond what I was after it was abandoned .

With H110 I was able to get 1450 with the 454424 Lyman and a 429426 that was relieved to .448 paper patched at 252 and 257 gr .

[John Boy]

I'm thinking those standard level .45 Colt loads would work fine, especially since that Saeco bullet has a sizeable meplat. Any thoughts on this?
Do a calculation .... Energy, Momentum and Taylor KO calculator
http://handloads.com/calc/quick.asp

[Buckshot]

.............I have a couple Rossi's. One is a 38/357 short rifle, below:

http://www.fototime.com/1E3476AAA5405E2/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/5F7D681A0D25094/standard.jpg

I was fooling around on Midway's clearance page one evening and they had this Uberti ladder rear sight for a friendly price.

http://www.fototime.com/BD14211F2674C94/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/5A9FFAF4E7D64F6/standard.jpg

It feeds these Lee Micro Band WC's just fine. About 50 yards is max (use them for ground squirrels) and a hit makes a mess out of them.

http://www.fototime.com/7848272124A4E8F/standard.jpg http://www.fototime.com/D17E117B0ED6111/standard.jpg

I also have a Rossi rifle (24" bbl) that is actually quite accurate with the Lee 459-340F, which is surprising as it has a 32" twist (I think it is). In fact it shoots better from the Rossi then it does from a Miroku/Win M92, in 45 Colt, and it has a 16" twist :-) BTW, the barrel on the Rossi 45 Colt slugs at .446" x .450", so it's tight! Shallow grooves, but it seems to be not a problem. That's one of the 340gr Lee's on the lifter. OAL is 1.650".

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

[richhodg66]

So far, I'm still liking the Williams sight option best, and for the conditions I'd be hunting in, I think that 8.5 grains Unique and a 250ish grain SWC will work OK. I also might have to try Harter66's neck sizing method and see what that does for accuracy.

[rond]

Have you looked at the Skinner sight that replaces the safety?

[Harter66]

One very important point ! Neither of mine will run RP brass !
Which is weird since they will both feed 2 Schofields out of the magazine . Neither will except more than 2 into the mag .

They will feed PMC, FC , Starline , Win , GFL and Fiocchi but not Rem , not even nickle .

[richhodg66]

Have you looked at the Skinner sight that replaces the safety?

Mine doesn't have a safety.

[Artful]

One very important point ! Neither of mine will run RP brass !
Which is weird since they will both feed 2 Schofields out of the magazine . Neither will except more than 2 into the mag .

They will feed PMC, FC , Starline , Win , GFL and Fiocchi but not Rem , not even nickle .

Interesting - suggests Remington has something larger then other makers... have you checked out
dimensions (rim would be my thought)

[Harter66]

Artful
The Schofield has a much wider .....larger dia rim than the Colts . I'm told that with sufficient polish of the feed slots and related points that it can be mitigated to a minor studder vs a flip rattle single feed loose jam situation . I believe Buckshot had/has a similar bug in his also .

I have a friend with an SS example in 38/357 that hangs up on the case mouth with 357 . Nickle cases help but it is still double bump lever action to feed . 38s feed like greased glass as fast as you can run the lever ...... I tried some polish and lap but it needs more .

[rond]

Mine doesn't have a safety.

I wish mine didn't.

[Four Fingers of Death]

It seems all Rossi 92s sold in Australia are sans safety.

[Artful]

It seems all Rossi 92s sold in Australia are sans safety.

Nice - another advantage you have - are they still importing the 7.62x39 SMLE lookalikes from Vietnam?

[Four Fingers of Death]

That was an Australian company. The rifles were assembed using stocks of No.4 parts andd newly manufactured parts apparently, with Vietnamese Teak stocks. They were a tad heavy and had chrome lined bores.

From what I heard (I saw a couple at the range, but never handled or fired them) some of the new parts were not quite milspec and they missed out on supplying the Canadian Rangers, which was a nail in the coffin and the company just up and disappeared. I made extensive enquiries on behalf of some American friends with no result, which is a shame, by the time I could afford one, they were gone.

The ones I saw were all 308Wins as the most interest was shown by Military Discipline Shooters here and as the main match went to 300mtrs the 7.62x39 was struggling at that range. They also shot a side match at 500mtrs which was a cake walk for the 308Win. It is a shame they never appeared in 223 they would have walked out the door of the gun shops.

[45-70 Chevroner]

Alternative from Googlage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12rJRhEooCg

I hate to say it Artful but that is ugly. Of course I know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

[richhodg66]

I'd never scope a rifle like this. I do think the receiver sight would add enough to the sight radius would make a good difference.

[Artful]

I hate to say it Artful but that is ugly. Of course I know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

With how bad my vision is getting soon I'll be looking at defensive guns with red dots.

[BrianL]

With how bad my vision is getting soon I'll be looking at defensive guns with red dots. I had to remove the original sight and put this 2X pistol scope on my 44 for now. It shot well at 50 yds with 265 gr semi's but sits too high for a cheek weld. 199697

[Artful]

Quick cure for is a lace on leather cheek riser
https://www.triplek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/17712.jpg

or if your cheap like me - an elastic knee brace and some salvaged foam
sort of like this...
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1096/4726/products/beartooth-comb-raising-kit-brown-rifle-shotgun-cheek-weld-piece-stock-riser-no-loops_large.jpg?v=1493773302
bear tooth commercial version

[BrianL]

I am cheap enought to give that a try, thanks

[Texas by God]

A regular Williams 5D for the top eject 94 will work mounted on the RIGHT side with the windage slide reversed. I've done it on our .357 but put it back on my 94 and put a cool Dockendorff rear on the Rossi. I'm happy with both but the Rossi is more accurate than the Winchester to 100 yards. Embarrassing for the vaunted Pre64 30-30!

[Artful]

A regular Williams 5D for the top eject 94 will work mounted on the RIGHT side with the windage slide reversed. I've done it on our .357 but put it back on my 94 and put a cool Dockendorff rear on the Rossi. I'm happy with both but the Rossi is more accurate than the Winchester to 100 yards. Embarrassing for the vaunted Pre64 30-30!

The hype of the Pre-64 is mostly just that - Hype
People look at my Post 64 Model 70 and tell me how great their
Pre-64 Model 70 shoots - and then in side by side test - it fails to beat my Post-64
That's why I choose it to become my swap barrel rifle.

[BrianL]

By the way, that is a standard TC Contender scope base under the Leupold.

[Four Fingers of Death]

The hype of the Pre-64 is mostly just that - Hype
People look at my Post 64 Model 70 and tell me how great their
Pre-64 Model 70 shoots.

MOst of the advantages of the pre 64s have to do with the feel good factor and providing you with bragging rights. I've owned three pre 64s over the years and two post 64s, there wasn't much in it. Ann my mate's, mega rough, impressed checkering Model 70, which looks like it is a 1965 made one, shots like a house on fire, but looks awful.

That said, they are nice though.

[hornady308]

200126
My Rossi 45 loves the Lee 255 rf with 9gr of Unique. I'm using acww/pure lead, 50/50, in hopes of some expansion. It also likes ~250gr cast with 17gr of Alliant 2400. Either load should do the trick at 100 yards.

[45-70 Chevroner]

Quick cure for is a lace on leather cheek riser
https://www.triplek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/17712.jpg

or if your cheap like me - an elastic knee brace and some salvaged foam
sort of like this...
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1096/4726/products/beartooth-comb-raising-kit-brown-rifle-shotgun-cheek-weld-piece-stock-riser-no-loops_large.jpg?v=1493773302
bear tooth commercial version

Quit ingenious Artful. And yes a guy has to see his target so a guys got to do what a guys got to do. I guess there's no hope for making your eyes better. I had a minor stroke about nine months ago and my right eye went haywire. It is getting a little better but I have been shooting with my left eye but shooting right handed.it's a little troublesome but I' m doing ok with it.