Bullet choices for Winchester / Rossi 92

[downzero]

Anyone load for a Rossi R92 or similar? I have read that they don't like shorter cartridges. I loaded some dummy rounds for mine and it seems to feed the Lee 105 SWC okay, which surprised me.

I have SWC designs in 105 and 158 grain sizes. I also have a 125 RF mold on the way and I've heard good things about that and may just use that across the board.

I'd really like to get the 105 SWC to work if I could because it uses so little lead, but it has to be loaded pretty short. Dummy rounds seem to feed but I've heard horror stories.

If you cast for your 92, I'd love to hear about it.

[Froogal]

My Rossi R92 in .357 will shoot .38 specials as well as .357s. It does not care. I cast .358 diameter, 158 grain round nose. I shoot the same ammo in the 6 shooter and seat all the bullets to the same depth.

[barney67]

Lee 158 grain RNFP in 357 doesn't feed well in my Rossi 92, feeds fine in 38 special. Lee 125 grain RNFP feeds fine for me in 357 and 38 special.

[downzero]

Lee 158 grain RNFP in 357 doesn't feed well in my Rossi 92, feeds fine in 38 special. Lee 125 grain RNFP feeds fine for me in 357 and 38 special.

That is very good news! I'm going to load some 105s this weekend and get to casting some 125RFs next week.

[KCcactus]

My 357 Rossi 92 gets mostly 38s. I've used the Lee 105 swc,125 rf and the old 150 swc with the huge meplat. All work well. It will also cycle with wc in 357 cases. I load hbwc backwards with 1/8 to 1/4" out of the case and they feed fine. The hbwc in 38s will try to load two at the same time and jam. I may just be lucky, but my 44 Rossi 92 will also feed with backwards hbwc.

[downzero]

So, update. I replaced my ejector spring and it no longer zings my empties across the room. It'll cycle the 105s as fast as I can run the lever. My dummy rounds are a bit beat up but they feed every time. Maybe everyone who said these rifles don't like short bullets didn't try? Live fire next, obviously.

[Old School Big Bore]

I don't have a 92 in .38/.357 (YET!) but I have 92s and 53s in .32-20, .44 Mag and .45 Colt. My .45 is an R92 and it likes both the 255 RF and 255 SWC. I haven't tried the 300 RF yet but I just got the mold for the 160 RF and will be trying both of them in the coming week. When I bought the little trapper, the action felt like hippies had been living in it. I put the weaker ejector spring in it, along with the steel mag follower, and did all the mods that Steve's Gunz discusses in his DVD. It made a world of difference and I then made some of the same mods to the B53 and B92.
My .44 is a B92, and when I first got it, I cut back the stop on the lifter so it would feed the 429421 Keiths. When I tried the 305 RF in it, I had it seated in the rear crimp groove; the nose hit the roof of the chamber and wouldn't let the round turn the corner into the chamber. However I recently tried it again with the boolit crimped in the front groove and it fed like it was made for the gun. This carbine shoots just about any weight or shape of boolit very well at just about any reasonable velocity.
My .32-20 is a B53 and has eaten everything I've fed it; it likes the SWCs as well as the RFs. The 130 gr Keiths look sort of strange until they're seated in a case, but they sure do shoot great.
Regarding WCs, I cast the MP HBWCs in .310, .358, 411, .432 and .452, but I haven't thought to see if any of the lever guns will feed them. I guess that's my next project; I'll come back to this thread to update.

[Prairie Cowboy]

I don't know about the 1892 but the Lee TL358-158-SWC bullet works great in my Marlin 1894C. It's a tumble-lube boollet with multiple shallow grooves and I crimp the case into the first groove before the nose. COAL is 1.60" with once-fired Federal brass. It loads into the magazine smoothly and chambers flawlessly. Bullet diameter unsized is around .358" with hard alloy.

[derek45]

Mine feeds the LEE 125 RNFP like butter, also the 358477, commercial bayou/MBC/SNS 158 SWC, XTP's, etc.

sadly, it doesn't feed 358429, the LEE 158 SWC Gas Check, very smoothly

yes, yes, no, no

https://i.imgur.com/O0yV3sI.jpg

not real smooth
https://i.imgur.com/NUvMR4H.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/o65YpYx.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/6wGfQdi.jpg

[downzero]

Live fire day was today. The 125 RF isn't here yet so I shot the 105 and the 158 tumble lube. Both feed great even with 38 brass. I must be lucky. I really love the 105 bullets. They're so economical on lead and seem to shoot great.

[fecmech]

I own 2 Rossi 92's and have shot at least 8-10k rds through them. IME those guns operate most accurately with 120-130 gr bullets with the Lee 125RF the best. If I had money on the line and needed to hit a small target at 100 yds it would be the Lee 125/4.5 Bullseye@1200fps. If you want to go faster, Power Pistol@6.2 grs is almost as accurate and 1400 fps. Just my $.02.

[downzero]

I own 2 Rossi 92's and have shot at least 8-10k rds through them. IME those guns operate most accurately with 120-130 gr bullets with the Lee 125RF the best. If I had money on the line and needed to hit a small target at 100 yds it would be the Lee 125/4.5 Bullseye@1200fps. If you want to go faster, Power Pistol@6.2 grs is almost as accurate and 1400 fps. Just my $.02.

I want to go as slow as I can get away with since these are for cowboy.

[indian joe]

Lee 158 grain RNFP in 357 doesn't feed well in my Rossi 92, feeds fine in 38 special. Lee 125 grain RNFP feeds fine for me in 357 and 38 special.

that boolit worked fine in my old Rossi so long as you ran it hard - pussyfoot around slow stroking the lever and they would get glitchy - same pill in 38 special cases worked a little better at slower speed but drive it like ya stole it and the LEE158 was fine in the magnum brass - also made a neat little blackpowder gun with 21 grains of FFFG under that boolit.

[fecmech]

I want to go as slow as I can get away with since these are for cowboy.
If that's the case I'd go with the Lee 95RF for the .380 with a light charge of Bullseye. The bullet profile will feed just like the 125rf, recoil will be non existent and accuracy more than adequate for the cowboy game.

[yeahbub]

My experience with the Rossi 92's is the tendency to feed .38's flawlessly and be "catchy" with the longer .357's loaded with the same boolits. It has to do with the cartridge OAL needing to be short enough to get "around the corner" with the rim coming up/forward through the cartridge guide cuts with the boolit nose already in the chamber. It helped to point the muzzle down and jiggle the lever once or twice for .357's loaded long. Probably tooling marks in the guide cuts. After some use and wear to smooth the cartridge guides, they'll feed the longer cartridges better. I expect that stubby Lee 105 SWC in a .357 case would shorten the OAL and facilitate smoother feeding for those whose Rossi's act like this. The Lee 125 RNFP has always fed well (narrow nose, small meplat) while the Lee 158 RNFP was more borderline with its larger nose diameter/meplat in .357 brass.

[farmbif]

ive got a very old Rossi 92 in 357 and its real picky what feeds smoothly in 357 brass, nearly everything loaded in 38spl brass feeds well and 358156 feeds and shoots great in 357 mag brass.
you really can't go wrong with 358156. its gas check bullet so full power is no problem, its very accurate and is a proven design that's been around a long time so finding a mold is pretty easy.

[rbuck351]

My Puma 92 feeds 454casull with 310gr lee boolits or 45colt cases with 230gr lee boolits just fine if you run the action smartly.

[Handloader109]

My SS new production (2 yrs old now but from the moved plant in Brazil) runs lee 142 fine, 158s well. It does like 38s better than 357s, but both work. I just got a arsenal 130rf that looks good and I hope will run well in this one. I've been using Bullseye loaded about midway out of the lyman book for these boolits. great fun

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[AlaskaMike]

My Rossi 92 doesn't seem to have any issues with bullet style at all, either with .357 or .38 loads. I was a little worried about the 359 Hammer 170 grain group buy bullet with it's large meplat, but it actually feeds better in both .357 and .38 than my RCBS 38-150-SWC bullets.