E-Mail to Rossi Customer Service
Posted: 26 Jan 2013 22:05
Below is an email I sent to Rossi customer service. Turns out the guy I talked to works for Taurus and said he would be forwarding my comments up the food chain at Taurus. We'll have to wait and see see if there is any follow through. I will say though that he seemed sincere and interested in the feedback. Here's what I sent:
Thanks for taking the time to review this. Hopefully, results from this may make the next Rossi I buy be a better quality product. I have a R92, 24" Octagon barrel, stainless. Serial# XXXXXXX. Purchased 10 Jan 2013.
Ordered online and FFLed to a local shop
Action was rough when I picked it up. Shop owner even commented about how bad it was.
Swarf (metal filings) fell out of the action - while at the shop and I cleaned out quite a bit out after I got home and started to work on it.
Noticed excessive lateral play at the lever. Called Rossi customer service about it and was told the owners weren't supposed to take the weapons apart. My thoughts at the time were perhaps Rossi should put it together correctly in the first place. That was his only offer as a solution.
Having done much research prior to buying the R92, I had already fully expected to do at least some work to get the rifle functioning properly.
Items I found wrong and corrected:
Front sight was mounted to the extreme right side of the barrel.
Rear sight was located to the extreme left.
All screws on receiver and tang were loose or poorly tightened.
Buttstock tang screw if tightened would bend upper tang and protrude below lower tang.
Magazine tube was full of crap, wasted two cans of brake cleaner getting all that stuff out - metal filings, dried dirt and grease.
The magazine locating pin in the front barrel band fell out before I could punch it out. Had to slightly mushroom the ends and loctite it to get it to stay in place.
Using jewelers files and polishing compound, I spent about four hours removing burrs and sharp edges left from the machining process. Polished mating surfaces to "slick up" the action. Just smoothed out all the mating surfaces.
Had a new stainless steel pivot pin made for the locking lugs. The pivot pin was undersized/poorly machined and the matching holes were quite ragged on their interior surfaces. Did not bother the holes but simply replacing the pivot pin reduced lateral play at the locking lugs by 3/8s of an inch. A lot! Reduction at the lever end was significant. Result was a much better feeling action. This seriously needs to be looked at. Would like to make up new better quality/fitting locking lugs to further reduce the sloppy feeling still in my action. See attached picture.
Based on recommendations from the lever gun forums, I replaced all the springs with the Gunslinger Spring Kit. Reinstalled the original lever detent spring as the kit spring wasn't quite strong enough. Something between the two would be ideal. Action functions much better with the kit springs.
Fore end stock was hammered into receiver - Hammer marks on the muzzle end was proof, along with the curled up edges on the receiver end.
Replaced the lawyer safe safety with a plug.
Carrier (Part #39) was very roughly machined. It was dragging on the right side of receiver creating drag to the point that it would hold until the friction was overcome and would then cause a misfeed on at least every second or third round. Spent a lot of time on this item - result was no misfeeds - at least for the first fifty rounds anyway.
Noticed the pivot pin where the lever fits into the bolt was poorly fitted and the hole in the lever was oversized. Recommend widening the lever at this point to provide more surface area and strengthen the lever. I was looking at putting in a brass bushing and a stainless pivot pin in to reduce the lateral play even further. It would significantly increase the "feel" and function of the weapon. Going to look further into this.
Things I noticed when I finally shot the gun:
Rifle cycles like goose grease on glass - slick!
Rear sight resets itself about every third round.
Vertical alignment of rounds on target easy to set, except when item 2 above happens. With sights centered front and rear the rifle shoots consistently about 10 inches to the right at 25 yards!! Ran out of light on day I was shooting. Will have to work more on this, probably this weekend. Ordered new sights front and rear. Ghost ring for rear to assist with a not yet older mans eyesight.
Weapon action feels like a well used vintage rifle versus a new one - even with the reduction of lateral play at the locking lugs.
Other items:
On your wesite - the manual for the R92 shows part numbers 39-43 and 48/49 going into the wrong holes. The small (very) screw that goes into the hole that part 48/49 is shown going into was missing on my rifle. Since all the other screws were loose/poorly tightened, I believe mine fell out. Wasn't in the box. Since it's not shown on the exploded diagram, how do I go about getting a new one?
Hope I wasn't too long winded, but you'd have a great product if you can fix the obvious QC and machining issues. They tear you up on the forums and like it or not, comments and opinions on them, I'm sure, affect sales. I restore vintage and antique motorcycles as a hobby, so I felt I could handle any mechanical items that needed to be done to bring the rifle up to speed. Most people don't have my skill set and won't buy or will return their rifles constantly for warranty work. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir about this so I'll get out of here. Would like to know about that small screw though. Thanks for your time.
Thanks for taking the time to review this. Hopefully, results from this may make the next Rossi I buy be a better quality product. I have a R92, 24" Octagon barrel, stainless. Serial# XXXXXXX. Purchased 10 Jan 2013.
Ordered online and FFLed to a local shop
Action was rough when I picked it up. Shop owner even commented about how bad it was.
Swarf (metal filings) fell out of the action - while at the shop and I cleaned out quite a bit out after I got home and started to work on it.
Noticed excessive lateral play at the lever. Called Rossi customer service about it and was told the owners weren't supposed to take the weapons apart. My thoughts at the time were perhaps Rossi should put it together correctly in the first place. That was his only offer as a solution.
Having done much research prior to buying the R92, I had already fully expected to do at least some work to get the rifle functioning properly.
Items I found wrong and corrected:
Front sight was mounted to the extreme right side of the barrel.
Rear sight was located to the extreme left.
All screws on receiver and tang were loose or poorly tightened.
Buttstock tang screw if tightened would bend upper tang and protrude below lower tang.
Magazine tube was full of crap, wasted two cans of brake cleaner getting all that stuff out - metal filings, dried dirt and grease.
The magazine locating pin in the front barrel band fell out before I could punch it out. Had to slightly mushroom the ends and loctite it to get it to stay in place.
Using jewelers files and polishing compound, I spent about four hours removing burrs and sharp edges left from the machining process. Polished mating surfaces to "slick up" the action. Just smoothed out all the mating surfaces.
Had a new stainless steel pivot pin made for the locking lugs. The pivot pin was undersized/poorly machined and the matching holes were quite ragged on their interior surfaces. Did not bother the holes but simply replacing the pivot pin reduced lateral play at the locking lugs by 3/8s of an inch. A lot! Reduction at the lever end was significant. Result was a much better feeling action. This seriously needs to be looked at. Would like to make up new better quality/fitting locking lugs to further reduce the sloppy feeling still in my action. See attached picture.
Based on recommendations from the lever gun forums, I replaced all the springs with the Gunslinger Spring Kit. Reinstalled the original lever detent spring as the kit spring wasn't quite strong enough. Something between the two would be ideal. Action functions much better with the kit springs.
Fore end stock was hammered into receiver - Hammer marks on the muzzle end was proof, along with the curled up edges on the receiver end.
Replaced the lawyer safe safety with a plug.
Carrier (Part #39) was very roughly machined. It was dragging on the right side of receiver creating drag to the point that it would hold until the friction was overcome and would then cause a misfeed on at least every second or third round. Spent a lot of time on this item - result was no misfeeds - at least for the first fifty rounds anyway.
Noticed the pivot pin where the lever fits into the bolt was poorly fitted and the hole in the lever was oversized. Recommend widening the lever at this point to provide more surface area and strengthen the lever. I was looking at putting in a brass bushing and a stainless pivot pin in to reduce the lateral play even further. It would significantly increase the "feel" and function of the weapon. Going to look further into this.
Things I noticed when I finally shot the gun:
Rifle cycles like goose grease on glass - slick!
Rear sight resets itself about every third round.
Vertical alignment of rounds on target easy to set, except when item 2 above happens. With sights centered front and rear the rifle shoots consistently about 10 inches to the right at 25 yards!! Ran out of light on day I was shooting. Will have to work more on this, probably this weekend. Ordered new sights front and rear. Ghost ring for rear to assist with a not yet older mans eyesight.
Weapon action feels like a well used vintage rifle versus a new one - even with the reduction of lateral play at the locking lugs.
Other items:
On your wesite - the manual for the R92 shows part numbers 39-43 and 48/49 going into the wrong holes. The small (very) screw that goes into the hole that part 48/49 is shown going into was missing on my rifle. Since all the other screws were loose/poorly tightened, I believe mine fell out. Wasn't in the box. Since it's not shown on the exploded diagram, how do I go about getting a new one?
Hope I wasn't too long winded, but you'd have a great product if you can fix the obvious QC and machining issues. They tear you up on the forums and like it or not, comments and opinions on them, I'm sure, affect sales. I restore vintage and antique motorcycles as a hobby, so I felt I could handle any mechanical items that needed to be done to bring the rifle up to speed. Most people don't have my skill set and won't buy or will return their rifles constantly for warranty work. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir about this so I'll get out of here. Would like to know about that small screw though. Thanks for your time.