Rossi 92 at 200 yds

[fecmech]

The club I belong to recently revamped their 200 yd berm and it was all fresh dirt. I took my new Rossi .357 24" octagon to play with as I could see the hits at that range. I discovered while playing around that it appeared to shoot very well at that distance both with the Lee TL 158 swc and lee 121 9MM tc bullet. So yesterday I loaded more ammo and took my 12" steel plate along for some testing. I was shooting 5.3/231 with both bullets, the 121 was lubed with Magma hard lube and the 158TL with Rooster jacket. The 121 runs about 1240 fps and the 158 does 1150 fps so it's like shooting a big .22. Shooting was off the bench with the receiver rested in my rest and me holding the forearm with my hand. The gun has a Taurus tang sight and the stock Rossi front sight.
I started off with the 121 9mm bullet and once the zero was achieved I could hit the plate with every shot with most staying near the center of the plate! I switched to the SWC and it appeared to be shooting even a little better so I went down and put a fresh coat of paint on the plate. The pictured group is 10 shots@200yds and measures 5.5" center to center. I think that's pretty darn good for a pistol cartridge lever gun! What makes it especially nice is the ease of making the bullets. Just drop em from the mold, let them cool, throw them in a sandwich baggie with some Rooster Jacket, let them dry and load! This group was shot after about 30-35 previous shots with RJ and showed no leading and a shiny bore. I don't think I will bother with my original plan to rebarrel this gun as I don't think it will cost me any targets in silhouette!

[felix]

Excellent! ... felix

[runfiverun]

good someone else that'll believe a levergun will shoot groups at more than 20'

[Ekalb2000]

Good shootin. And thanks for postin your info.
Them 357 Rossi are tons of fun, and accurate to boot.
Mine likes the Lee 158 RNFP

[RobS]

I have a Puma LSI 454 casull that shoots well too. At 150yrds I was popping a metal plate a bit over a 12" off hand with some 280g Keiths. I didn't have any tang sight though just a plain old Marble rear and Marble fiber optics front. At 200 yards the target was pretty much covered up with the front sight and was quite difficult to see things well enough.

It is fun making noise on those metal plates. :D

[Throckmorton]

Nice going !! now I gotta get my 45 Rossi out and see what I can do with it.only have 135 yards,but it'll still be fun ringing the plate.

[exile]

What is "Rooster Jacket"?

exile

[fecmech]

Rooster Jacket is a water based liquid lube from Rooster Labs. I think all it really consists of is commercial liquid floor wax. The type that you mop on the floors, let dry and use a buffer on to bring up the shine. That's my guess anyway.

[Artful]

good someone else that'll believe a levergun will shoot groups at more than 20'


I had my Puma (Rossi .357) out at range one time and a guy set up some clays at the berm beyond the 200 meter line - so say 203 meters - he was shooting and not hitting - I asked if I could take a shot - hit one first shot then proceeded to break up the larger bits into small stuff - love that little gun. :bigsmyl2:

[RobS]

I had my Puma (Rossi .357) out at range one time and a guy set up some clays at the berm beyond the 200 meter line - so say 203 meters - he was shooting and not hitting - I asked if I could take a shot - hit one first shot then proceeded to break up the larger bits into small stuff - love that little gun. :bigsmyl2:

WOW!!!! That is unbelievable shooting with open sights. How in the world did you even see a clay pigeon that is only 5" in diameter at 220-225yards. My front sight completely covers a 12"X12" steel target at that distance.

[John Boy]

fecmech, nice shooting and compliments has to go also to the barrel maker and your good set of eyes.
With the right revolver caliber lever rifle, distances can be shot even further than 200 yds. Here's what a 45 Colt Uberti '60 Henry with a blade front and ladder rear sight will do at 500 meters with a 454 Casull 300 gr bullet
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd220/Meadowmucker/Ridgeway%20Oct%202007/PDRM2905.jpg
I did manage to clean the bank also, but not consecutive hits, of Rams after these 2 consecutive hits. From a grouping viewpoint, the 2nd Ram hit was only 3 MOA (~15") distance from the 1st one. And yes, there was plenty of energy with the rounds to topple all the Rams

[fecmech]

John--It's nice to see guys pushing the envelope like you are. What velocity are you running with the 300 gr bullet? I would like to try mine at a longer range but 200 yds is about the best I have in the area. Obviously my 158 gr would not do much on a full size ram. I've had some that took a while falling even with the hunters pistol rams we use at 100 yds.

[Artful]

WOW!!!! That is unbelievable shooting with open sights. How in the world did you even see a clay pigeon that is only 5" in diameter at 220-225yards. My front sight completely covers a 12"X12" steel target at that distance.

Well, I shoot with navy hold - (6 O'clock) when it was sighted in with the load to hit center at closer range by holding under the six - luck made it hit just at the top of the blade at that range, so just put the orange bit on top of blade and squeeze.

As far as seeing the floresent clay - put one out there you'd be surprized how far you can see it. and just keep aiming for the orange. At 200 mdistance it's a litte over 2 MOA so if you can see a 2 inch orange paster at 100 you can easily see it as it's the same size.

If you have the right range get some colored golf balls and practice with you 22LR bouncing them around. Very good at sharping the eye.

[gifford]

I just picked up my Interarms Rossi .45 Carbine at the gunshow yesterday. Older Model without the new fangled safety but stainless steel none the less. 20 inch barrel and best of all the tang sight was already there. If I can do half as good as you gents with mine, I'll be a happy camper. Since I shoot .45 already, I've got some 250 grain Missouri Bullet Co RNFP already loaded up. My standard load is the old 8 grains of Unique, works great so far. Can't wait to try it out. G

[John Boy]

fecmech ... this loading data was 7.5gr Unique @ 1043 fps. It is my 300 match load for pistol caliber levers using the '60 Henry
I purposely keep the velocities low in all my lever actions to closely emulate BP loads. No sense overworking the Winchester toggle links though the double locking lugs on the '92 are a much stronger action (thanks to John M Browning :-) )
With original gunpowder (I'm a 99% BP shooter), the 300gr Casull would be loaded with 38gr FFFg and clocks probably around 800+ fps. I have not chronographed this recipe because I normally use the 255gr orginal designed Lyman 454190 factory bullets that have been around since dirt

[runfiverun]

the shape and size of your sight combo will make a big difference in each rifle too.
i shoot a peep rear and bead front on my 25-20. an open u rear and bead front on the 44 a square notch and square front on my 45.
and a peep rear, square front on my short Bbl'd 45.
each has thier personality and load likes. it's just matching the adjustments on the sights to corresponding distances.
and your comfort level.