Rossi 92 44 mag a few problems

[Bushrat]

I bought a new stainless 92 in 44 mag at a gun show last weekend. I bought this gun for a truck gun , for social problems and a handy bear and moose gun. I love the light handy package. Now for the issues it shot 4 inches to the left at 10 yards, I haven’t had a rifle that was only adjustable with a hammer for some time. That seemed a long way off for sights that seemed centered. The other issue was two cases that separated about a half from the rim. These were all reloads, but having shot about 10,000 rounds of reloaded 44 mag and never had a case separate. Could I have a bad chamber. Any help or thoughts on these issues welcome.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I have one of those exact same rifles. Mine shoots pretty straight and I haven't had any separated or split cases, but it was a balky feeder. If you operated the lever slowly it would feed, but rapidly it would jam. Took a disassembly, a little burr removal, and some judicious polishing to make it work correctly.

On the sight adjustment, you'll need something non-marring like a brass punch or hard wooden dowel to either tap the rear sight over to the right a bit, or the front sight over to the left a bit. There isn't any formula as to how much that I know of, it's just a matter of try a bit, shoot again and see where you are, maybe tap it over a little more or back the other way some until you're hitting in the center of the bull. Since you need one hand to hold the punch and one to hold the small hammer, it's best to secure the barrel in a padded bench vise while doing this operation rather than having the rifle just lying flat on a bench as it will rock/move when the sight is tapped and possibly cause your punch to slip off the sight and make an unwanted mark in the wood, etc.

I haven't experienced any case cracks or separations, so can't really address that issue except to note that you did indicate that some of your brass has been much used. I started with a couple of boxes of new brass that have only been fired in that rifle. If the problem persists I'd consult a gunsmith and have him give an opinion on the condition of the chamber, and then go from there. Some Rossi rifles are pretty rough, and if the chamber is defective I'd surely send it back.

[knifemaker]

The odds are in your favor that if you use new brass or once fired brass, your problem will go away. separation of the case is usually caused by weak brass or head space problem or a combination of both. If your load was near max, be careful on how many times you reload the fired cases.

[onelight]

My Speer manual No.12 recommends new or once fired brass for full power loads in lever actions because they lock up at the rear of the bolt , if you look at the cases you fired that did not separate you may find a shiny ring around the case that is a sign of stretch in that part of the case.
This ring is a sign of excessive headspace caused by to hot a load or bolt spring.
We don’t know the load you were using or how many times your cases have been loaded. If the rifle has excessive headspace I would call Rossi for a fix.

[UKShootist]

I bought a new stainless 92 in 44 mag at a gun show last weekend. I bought this gun for a truck gun , for social problems...

.44 Mag rifle for 'Social problems'. Love it! :lol:

[JoeJames]

Congratulations on the R92. I've had one for several months. Traded a Henry Big Boy in 44 Special/44 Magnum for it mostly because the Henry was 8.67 pounds and the R92 is 5 pounds. One thing it will flat out not feed 44 Specials, but I have worked up a sweet 44 Magnum load that is accurate and easy on the shoulder - .431" 240 grain Oregon Trail hard cast SWC's on 7 grains of Unique - Starline 44 Magnum cases = 1150 fps out of my R92. Very accurate. Especially after I replaced the trigger spring bringing it down to about 3.5 pounds of pull - per Steve's Gunz.

[TCFAN]

On the head separation issue I had the same problem with my new Marlin 1894 44 mag I bought several years ago. When I bought the rifle all the 44 mag ammo I had was for my Super Blackhawk and when I fired them in my new Marlin almost every one blew the head off. I bought new brass and the problem went away.
Your problem with your 92 shooting to the left can be cured with a Williams reciever sight.

[JoeJames]

On the head separation issue I had the same problem with my new Marlin 1894 44 mag I bought several years ago. When I bought the rifle all the 44 mag ammo I had was for my Super Blackhawk and when I fired them in my new Marlin almost every one blew the head off. I bought new brass and the problem went away.
Your problem with your 92 shooting to the left can be cured with a Williams reciever sight.I did not have that problem with my R92, and I was using old 44 mag brass I had scrounged up. But as I stated I was not shooting full out pedal to the metal loads either.

[bmortell]

My marlin would tear starline cases in half, first it was testing loads with like 10 fire cases so i was like oh thats probably why. Then i tried new starline cases and it still did it. I tried 1fire pmc cases loaded a few times over and it did nothing to em.

My chamber had a visible "step" in it with a light looking. I wrapped up a section of rod with paper and a half inch strip of smooth sandpaper and lapped the middle of the chamber just hand spinning tyring to focus the top edge of the step. After i could shoot any cases without damage.

It seemed to be one lot of starline brass which was weak in the center combined with the chamber that did it, i bought another 100 cases and they seemed less stretched or whatever in the middle to start with.

[Bushrat]

Thanks to all who responded. I looked over all of my brass fired in that rifle about half of the cases had a bright ring inside and out, some others had blemishes in the same area of the cases. There is a visible blemish in the chamber at the same location. Not sure if I want to polish it myself or send it back. For the record the load is 20 grs of 2400 with a 240 jacketed bullet. My cast 250 SWC are to long to feed, but loaded in 44spl cases feed great. Thanks again for the input.

[onelight]

The blemish you see may be fouling from the separations hopefully will clean out with a little scrubbing. Your rifle may be fine , I would try a few factory loads or the same load put up in new or once fired cases .
Good luck.

[bmortell]

and for sight adjustment

you take you sight radius, ill guess 16", how many inches away your shooting 10yd is 360" then you take how many times your sight radius fits in between the target and gun 360/16= 22.5, your adjustment gets magnified by that number, so 4" that your off / 22.5 = .177 adjustment which is kinda a lot. not sure it could be done on one sight. you could move rear 100 thou right and front 77 thou left or some combo like that and it might not look stupid :smile: