Rossi Rifleman

Hi guys, long time reader first time writer.

I've been dying to use my 92 in .44 mag for deer hunts, but the utility of the iron sights is kind of limited after dusk and I needed to figure out how improve the situation. Night hunting is legal here in Scandinavia so most deer are taken on winter nights when animals are perfectly visible against the snow, especially with moonlight.

I'm usually high up in a tree in a climbing harness and can see the deer against the snow well past midnight, but almost immediately after dusk I have to put the 92 away and rely on a scoped .308, which certainly isn't ideal for short distances.

So I had 2 options, i.e. putting a scope on the 92 or figuring out a way to put tritium sights on it. Since I've been working with a 3D printer I thought of printing a picatinny rail that would shroud the fore end and allow me to put a scout or handgun scope on the rifle without doing any damage to it. But I happened to have a few tritium vials left over from a previous pistol sight project, so I decided to try them first since its the cheaper option ($6 per vial).

As the old style sights on my 92 are too small to drill into, I had to augment them with some 3D printed parts to put the tritium vials into. The idea is pretty simple, I'm just going to glue the bits pictured below onto the existing sights, pop in the tritium vials and see what happens. The printed parts will bring the sights around 6mm closer to my eye, so it'll be interesting to see how this affects point of impact.

I'll keep you posted on how the experiment goes.

An auspicious first posting! Do I see correctly that the rear add-on has a slot that accepts your buckhorn? My concern with any 3D printed plastic is stability over time, temperature and humidity. But you might just get away with it. Looking forward to future reports.

Thanks for the encouragement HarryAlonzo, you figured right re the rear placement. My rear is a regular dovetail, attached are a few renderings of what they should look like.

I share your concerns regarding the stability of plastic over time, however my plan is to test the concept with the 3D prints and if it works, I’ll figure out a way to make them out of metal. Unfortunately I can’t get my hands on the rifle until next week, so you’ll have to bear with me

What plastic are you planning to use? I'm thinking ABS or PETG might prove durable enough to last a season or two.

Make smoke,

For this proof of concept stage I'm just using the regular PLA that comes with the Dremel printer. ABS could be better re strength but since the parts & tolerances are so small, it might not turn out right in the printer I'm using. The goal is to machine the parts out of metal anyway if the concept works, I suspect the printed parts might not last when the temps drop to below zero come December...

Sounds like a very interesting project.

If the printer can handle POM/Acetal, then that might be a better material.

p.s.: In Denmark, Hunting is Sunrise to Sunset, except for Duck and Geese(1½ hour before and after).

JRexA, re your p.s., I'm writing from Finland and was making assumptions that all Nordics would have the same rule on night time hunting. Only just figured out that we're probably the only Scandi country with whitetails, although night time hunting/stalking would be relevant with other kind of deer as well (probably not in Greenland though). Regarding Greenland, you've probably got even less light in winter than we do but no hunting after dark? Hunting ends around 2PM then in winter?

P.S. Sorry, off topic a bit

I love the idea, and love what you've come up with. Keep us posted

I'm very interested in your results, also. I have tritium sights on a revolver, and like them very much for low light home defense. In the US, hunting laws vary state-to-state. Typically, hunting is not allowed within some time before/after sunrise/sunset. This being the US, laws are not strictly adhered to. More often than not, I stop earlier than I have to, for fear of finding my way back after dark, or having to track/dress/drag an animal in darkness. Morning is easier to judge. If you can see well enough to shoot, it must be legal. Full moons can lead to moral dilemmas, as can high latitudes with long dawns and dusks.

In Greenland, the Reindeer and Musk Ox Hunting Season for "private hunters" is Mid August til Mid Oktober.
Professional Hunters also has from End January to end February.
Hunting season changes every year, sometimes by 2 weeks.

Nights in October can be dark, until the snow comes.

In Greenland, there are no rules, about the time of day, you can hunt. Also, there is no rules about Active NightVision or FLIR Sights. Anything is legal, except handguns and Semi Auto Weapons.

manual repeaters and single shots are considered to be tools, dangerous tools, but are not mentioned by the firearms laws. Anyone from 12yo and above, can get a hunting permit, and buy a hunting rifle, and ammo.

Minimum Caliber for Reindeer is .222 Rem, Minimum for Musk Ox is 6.5x55(FMJ Recomended).
Most Inuit hunters use FMJ, for anything.

I want to hunt a Reindeer, with my Rossi M65i .44 magnum.