New from Ontario, Canada

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nickkobayashi
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New from Ontario, Canada

Post by nickkobayashi »

Hi all!
First time owner of a Ranch Hand in 357 Mag! New to lever action rifle as well, RH is my first ever lever gun and the learning curve is steep! I would like to hear from you any lesson-learned for the rifle and any hand loads you have experimented on it. So far I am also using standard load. Thanks!
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Re: New from Ontario, Canada

Post by Archer »

Welcome,
Always a pleasure to meet a new budding leverholic getting into the hobby.

As someone who cut his eye teeth on a Winchester 94 .30-30 as my first rifle I've never exactly heard lever action learning curve described as steep.

Of course the Rossi IMO IS a slightly different animal in terms of it being a modified copy of the 1892 design. The fact that it IS a copy introduces some potential errors, the fact that it's 'modified' for more modern straight walled cartridges and the fact that it's modified for construction using metric threads and the fact that Brazilian manufacture and labor force is not generally ranked as first rate can make the learning curve steeper. That's particularly true if you don't look the gun over pretty close before you take it home or if you perhaps don't know what to look for or at.

A couple suggestions:

READ the Rossi 92 pre-purchase check list. A little late now that you own it but it will tell you what to look at and for that may need addressing on your weapon.

Clean the protectant out of the gun.
Lube the gun with a decent gun oil on the bolt rails and the bolt lugs plus the lever pivot points.
Dry cycle the gun several hundred times. DO NOT DRY FIRE the gun but holding the hammer with your thumb trip the trigger and ease the hammer down gently each cycle.
IF/When necessary clean out the lube as it gets dirty during the cycling (say 200 to 500 cycles depending on how nasty it gets.) and replace with clean lube.
Repeat cycling for 1000+ cycles total.

A few user hints:
#1 The little bead on the front sight gets nestled down in the little valley at the BOTTOM of the rear sight. The 'Buckhorn' wings extend out to both sides and will be seen above the front sight when you are looking at the target. https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/thre ... 98&slide=0 I personally like a good buckhorn but the Rossi version isn't generally liked by many from the get go and you may find even using it correctly with the short Ranch Hand that you are hitting pretty high compared to your aim. (Have a friend who's now in Texas who lined up the bead with the tips of the Buckhorn and wonder why he couldn't hit anything...)

#2 'Run it like you stole it!' The lever goes ALL the way down and ALL the way back up in a RAPID, SMOOTH motion. Don't baby the action trying to work it slow but practice being quick and complete with the motion.

#3 .38 Special ammo below a certain length may not feed well. Certain bullet shapes may not feed too well.
Occasionally there may be combinations in the .357 brass that are a bit balky about feeding. What works well in YOUR rifle may or may not work AS well in MY rifle. MY rifle has so far eaten anything I've feed it but I've not stepped into LSWC or some of the other shapes that may be a bit problematic. A friend of mine has one in Alabama that does not like a certain .357 with a short somewhat conical bullet profile. His gun WILL feed that round but it FEELS like it is jamming when the side of the projectile smacks the top of the chamber during the feeding cycle.

#4 Try as much as possible to feed bullets toward the CENTER of the magazine tube opening through the loading gate. You can sometimes catch the back of the bullet being feed before it goes all the way into the magazine and use the next round to push it through the loading gate to avoid pinched fingers that may occur when you push the round all the way into the magazine. I haven't really done this last trick as much with the short round levers but it is a help with the rifle caliber guns.

When you get a chance, try out a real stocked lever action that you can put on your shoulder.
I'd like to hear your thoughts regarding the differences in use between that and the Ranch Hand. Other than watching a few episodes of Wanted Dead or Alive I have to admit I've never really been drawn to the cut down lever action as pistol concept.
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Re: New from Ontario, Canada

Post by Ranch Dog »

Welcome to the forum!
Michael
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