Rossi R92 44mag measurement needed

[oley55]

I have a 24" SS R92 in 44mag that seems to have a too narrow gap between the guides and the slightly fatter loaded cast bullet rounds will not easily pass between the guides. Measuring with the use of minus pin gauges the distance between my guides are .4518" (.452" minus gauge). Reaching down in there with digital calipers I get .4515", but angle and depth probably make caliper use a best guess only measurement, but I'll take any measurements I can get.

The guides I'm talking about are on either side and above the ramp. Thanks in advance for any measurements provided.

[Ford SD]

I have a 24" SS R92 in 44mag that seems to have a too narrow gap between the guides and the slightly fatter loaded cast bullet rounds will not easily pass between the guides. Measuring with the use of minus pin gauges the distance between my guides are .4518" (.452" minus gauge). Reaching down in there with digital calipers I get .4515", but angle and depth probably make caliper use a best guess only measurement, but I'll take any measurements I can get.

The guides I'm talking about are on either side and above the ramp. Thanks in advance for any measurements provided.

I do not have any pin gauges but in my Rossi I Use a .432 cast bullet Brass is about .012 x2 = .456
Mine is tight so a bit smaller than that

I had to do a bit of work to get it to work, taking it apart and putting back together to run some dummy round through it (about 10 times)
did it over several days

I also had to hone/ sand out the crimp die because the crimp die was pushing my cast bullets deeper in to the case, when I went to crimp
( roll crimp)

[pietro]

.

It sounds like it's more an issue with the boolit diameter and/or seating than guide thickness.

Even so, in lieu of measuring, I would suggest you just remove the guides and make a few file passes (baby steps) on the rear face of the guides, re-install/test/file etc until your loaded rounds feed freely.

[oley55]

It looks like I may have solved the narrow guide opening without specific measurements or overt modifications. Today I did a complete disassembly and carefully examined the guide faces. For lack of a better description the guides appear to have been stamped out pieces with some slight ridges along the edges. I took a very fine file to them and knocked the ridges mostly off. The guides are either painted or blued and I was able file across their faces and not disturb the flat central black finish, which means I didn't remove any material except the ridges. Reassembled, I now have .4569" between the guides and my normal loaded rounds functioned perfectly. I even loaded a few dummy rounds with .434" bullets (my barrel slugs at .433") and they functioned as well.

For years I have been fearful of touching those guides and have never been able to try my own cast bullets. I gotta say I'm feeling pretty stoked right now.

[pietro]

.

And, today you became a gunsmith....

[gunboat57]

Interesting that your grooves run to .433 dia. My R92 with 20" barrel has the same groove diameter. Can you tell me what .434 cast boolit you have? I make mine by bumping up a .431 to .434 diameter.

[Froogal]

I encountered a similar issue with .357 magnums in a Rossi R92. Discovered that the brass shells were actually bulged a bit. The Lee factory crimp die solved that problem.

[oley55]

Interesting that your grooves run to .433 dia. My R92 with 20" barrel has the same groove diameter. Can you tell me what .434 cast boolit you have? I make mine by bumping up a .431 to .434 diameter.

Well there ya go trying to get me to spill my guts over the weird stuff I'm trying/doing in front of God and everybody...

I bought this rifle new from Sportmans Outdoor Superstore in 2016. I was just barely beginning to start casting and had been buying custom cast from BTB. Once I slugged this one, I decided to bump up some other 44 cast I had on hand rather than ordering bullets, waiting for them and then finding out this is one of those Rossi's that just won't ever shoot cast well. I modified/honed a Lee push through die to get me up to .434". I over shot a wee bit and ended up with .4343". As explained earlier, my completed rounds jammed in between the guides (I had to disassemble the rifle to get them out of there.)

What I'm doing right now with two different RCBS molds (44-245-KT/PB and 44-240-SWC/GC) is I double/triple PC'd the plain base boolits and decided to Beagle the GC version with 4mil aluminum tape and then PC'd. The PB are just barely .434" and the beagled version came out a bit larger (I cast them, sized with GCs, then PC'd and sized again.). These are just my check n see what might works boolits. If this Rossi does even half as well as my tack driving Case Hardened 24", 357mag, I'll buy a custom mold from NOE.

I was/am looking closely at a combination PB/GC two hole mold if I find this rifle will work with both. Just need to wait an see what happens then I'll decide on a mold, but it will likely be from NOE.

I have been struggling with expanding my cases for these large boollits. For certain the NOE P434-430 expander wasn't working. I could barely get the bullet to slip in, shaving was difficult to avoid and the base of the PB bullets were being swaged down to .4315-.432". Alloy is COWW with 2.5% pewter (although only cast last week and not hard yet). This morning my NOE R436-432 expander arrived and I have just now been loading up some dummy rounds for function testing. Loaded three each of the above and crimped with a Lee collet crimp die and all cycled flawlessly. Note the R436-432 is for rifle and is slightly longer than the P versions. Also note the second number is the actual diameter of the bottom portion of the expander griping the bullet. With brass spring back expanded cases are .4316" using a pin gauge giving me a bit less than .002" hold. The P434-430 was really gripping and swaging my bullets.

Over the next couple days I plan to load some work-up loads and see how they perform in the next couple weeks.

[gunboat57]

To load my bumped up .434s, I just use a Lee flaring die on the case mouth. Just a bit of a flare prevents any lead shaving for me. Adjusting the seater die removes the flare and lightly crimps.
My R92 doesn't shoot bad with .431s, it just shoots better with the .434s. Tighter groups and higher velocity with the same powder charge. My MV must be around 1000 fps.
Still looking for a recoil pad to fit. The steel butt plate makes it a real thumper. I could use an extra inch on the length of pull too.

[oley55]

I really try hard not to over work the brass with much of a flare. That's why I like the m-style expanders. Much of my brass are 1985 vintage Federal brass. Although I have been salt bath annealing them the last couple years.

I found one of those leather lace on butt covers and stuffed a pad under it made from a strip of motorcycle seat gel padding and wrapped it in some old suede leather. Before I realized cast boolits might be possible, I've been pushing some .431" copper jacketed soft point bullets pretty fast. Probably too fast cause I get a bit of an impression from the ejector on the brass. Fast enough to get a bit uncomfortable after a dozen or so shots.

[oley55]

http://www.whyteleatherworks.com/Accessories.html

at the bottom the one with the buffalo are very similar to the one I have (although without art work). Like I mentioned I cut a strip of seat "gel" which I wrapped in suede (because the old gel I used has become quite sticky with age.

That gel does an amazing job of cushioning shock. I tried it because I've seen the custom seat vendors at MC events sandwiching an egg in it and smacking it with a large hammer. A search for "motorcycle seat gel" will turn up a number of sources.

[gunboat57]

I was checking out the Whyte website and decided I would go for the soft version. Haven't called him up yet. So the Whyte covers fit the teeny R92 buttstock? I have a few recoil pads that don't fit.

[elmacgyver0]

It looks like I may have solved the narrow guide opening without specific measurements or overt modifications. Today I did a complete disassembly and carefully examined the guide faces. For lack of a better description the guides appear to have been stamped out pieces with some slight ridges along the edges. I took a very fine file to them and knocked the ridges mostly off. The guides are either painted or blued and I was able file across their faces and not disturb the flat central black finish, which means I didn't remove any material except the ridges. Reassembled, I now have .4569" between the guides and my normal loaded rounds functioned perfectly. I even loaded a few dummy rounds with .434" bullets (my barrel slugs at .433") and they functioned as well.

For years I have been fearful of touching those guides and have never been able to try my own cast bullets. I gotta say I'm feeling pretty stoked right now.

I'm glad you got it to work to your satisfaction.

[FergusonTO35]

.433 groove diameter? Seriously? Every time I think about getting a Rossi I find another thing that could be a big problem!

[oley55]

I was checking out the Whyte website and decided I would go for the soft version. Haven't called him up yet. So the Whyte covers fit the teeny R92 buttstock? I have a few recoil pads that don't fit.

can not say with any certainty, but it sure looks like it will. The lacing should make adjustments pretty easy.

[gunboat57]

Here is what my R92 is wearing for now. It's the smallest pad Hi Viz makes. I slit it, punched some holes, and laced it up to make it tight. Looks bad, works good.

[AlaskaMike]

.433 groove diameter? Seriously? Every time I think about getting a Rossi I find another thing that could be a big problem!

Don't blame Rossi, blame SAAMI. SAAMI specs for .44 mag rifle groove diameter is .431" + .002". So a barrel with a .433" groove diameter is within spec, regardless of manufacturer.

Why SAAMI came up with this different rifle spec vs handgun is baffling. I've heard the reasoning was to help prevent excessive pressures with the closed breach and no barrel/cylinder gap. That doesn't make sense when you realize .357 mag predates .44 mag by a couple of decades, and there's no separate rifle spec for it.