Rossi Rifleman

Hey guys new member here, been a lurker for awhile and decided to join so that I may take part in the invaluable information exchange. I recently purchased a RG 45-70 SS and just got it back from Rossi for a Bolt issue, but that is another post. Took it out to a buddy's farm to finally shoot the darn thing, and while trying to load the rifle lost a big chunk of skin on the loading gate. Reading other post I KNOW I'm not alone with that problem. The loading gate will not open enough to allow a round to be fed into the tube at all. I have read the post by AKShawn,(good stuff there) and think my problem if very similar to Heretic's loading problem.

Heretic wrote:I had to shave metal off both the end of the lever (though carrier end) and the underside of the loading gate in order to feed a round into the magazine with ease. The lever end and gate combine way too large of a thickness to allow the loading of a round into the magazine. Probably took about half the thickness off both before round could pass through. Had to take apart the internals of the Rossi several times (not to mention clean, stone and re-blue). Have not fired a live round yet, but snap caps cycle through nicely now.

Heretic would you or someone who had a similar problem post a pic or two of their repaired lever??
Sorry if I was a bit long winded..
Thanks

Greetings BBB! Before I would start on the lever, I would start with the simple stuff first. You mention a sore thumb from trying load it. That could be one of two things or a combination of the both.

With the gun empty and the bolt closed, can you flex the Loading Spring (31) until it allows the necessary opening for your cartridge. In other words, is the restriction at the "gate"₁ or as the cartridge moves forward₂.

₁The work on the spring itself is started by first checking to ensure that the attach screw (38) is tight. This is one screw that when loose creates a bit of havoc. If the spring is tight, it can be adjusted by carefully changing its rectangular shape to that of an hourglass with file and stone.

₂When a cartridge will not enter the tube, different than the Loading Spring "gate" not allowing it's movement, remove the Magazine Plug (33) to see if the Magazine Tube Follower (20) will freely drop out. In the forum topics there are numbers of reports that have issue with the plastic follower. I don't think it is so much the material that it is injected from but the rough edges and restrictions that it is forced through at the factory. It is my belief that if the magazine's rough edges were chamfered correctly and the interior of the tube properly polished, a synthetic follow would be great. Once scared up though, it remains so and it's operation remains rough.

Some of tubes are reported with a restriction. The best way to correct this is to remove the tube, find a socket that has an outside diameter that matches the inside diameter of the tube, lube it up really good, and then force socket through the tube with a near full diameter wooden down. From there, I polish the interior of the tube with fine lapping compound and then very fine steel wool. Finally, I chunk the roughed up Rossi follower and ordered a stainless steel follower from The Smith Shop. You might as well get a SS magazine spring from him as well. I like the stainless in the tube as the interior of the tube it is not well finished and you are constantly introducing contaminants with the cartridges. You will find less corrosion or deposits created by the trash with stainless steel. You did not mention which model of RG you had but the follower and spring will be $35 (includes shipping) for the RG4570 and $29 for the RG3030.

This is what I would do before I touched a lever. Oh, welcome to the forum!

RD thanks for the quick response and the detailed information. I did replace the follower with a stainless one, I had purchased one from Beartooth mercantile before I had the rifle. What’s happening is the loading gate will not open enough to allow the rim of the cartridge to get past the front of the opening, the cartridge slides in smoothly and stops at the rim. If I partially cycle the leaver the gate will open enough to allow the rim to clear the opening. If I hold the gate all the way down with my finger and cycle the leaver I can feel the gate move. That’s what leads me to believe the problem is with the lever.
Bart

Not sure if I should resurrect this older post or start a new one, but since I have the exact same issue I'm posting to this one.

Pushing in a cartridge, the loading gate doesn't allow enough clearance between the cartridge rim and the receiver frame. I marked on the lever where the loading gate was contacting the lever and relieved the lever a little bit. Great improvement, but still a little tight. I stopped there and thought I would ask: is the loading gate too thick in that spot and should be thinned? or 2. should I relieve the lever some more?

I did find I had to smooth the outside edge corners of the loading gate (to prevent damage to my finger) and the inside loading gate corners (to prevent to damage to the cartridge rims). I have that perfect now.

Had the same issue with my RG4570S. After careful study and advice from others here, I decided to first work on the less expensive and critical loading gate before touching the lever. After relieving just enough material in the right places (apparently each rifle is different), polishing all the rough edges, especially where it contacted either the shell casing or my fingers, as well as relieving just enough material from the thickness of the loading gate spring (which Rossi designed to confound the Incredible Hulk), I got enough clearance to allow me to load up to 405 gr rounds normally. Be patient, work slowly, accept that you'll have to go through several cycles of tear-down and assembly until you eventually have the rifle working as it should. Too bad it doesn't come out of the factory that way but I'm a lot smarter on the intracacies of my rifle now!

"work on the less expensive and critical loading gate before touching the lever"

That is a very good point. I'll do that. Hope to have it done and go to the range this weekend.

Thinned the back of the loading gate a bit and smoothed all the edges again so it doesn't chew up me or my brass. Loaded like a dream. I have it all sighted in for Ohio Deer Season now, can't wait!

justchecking my problem has been resolved, I did a bit of work to both the gate and the lever. I did have a double feed problem too, so I sent it back to Rossi. It was sent back with a description of the work done by the smith (new mag tube) and I think he said he put fifteen rounds through it. Good customer service!!! I just got back from the range and had NO issues besides my shoulder hurting from some of my stouter reloads. Just an FYI I made a dummy round that I used to partially load in the gate (stopped when the rim made contact with the rifle) and left it in there for a few days to help compress that tight gate spring, worked like a charm. I was in Wyoming a couple of weeks ago and would have felt much better about my safety if I would have had my big bore bear and boar thumper..