Oal of 357 in the Rossi 92

[Johnnyjr]

Just got this rifle and want to load some 125 gr castbullets for it. What oal are you finding that feed good thru it.thanks

[Reese-Mo]

A lot depends on the shape of the bullet. AKA, you mighy need to experiment a bit.

I can say, while not a 38/357, my .44 ain't picky at all. Feeds Russians, specials and magnum, no hiccups.

[Deleted User 5041]

I had some wide, flat nose bullets that had to be loaded at an OAL of 1.566" to make it into the chamber. Using a truncated cone bullet of the same weight, I can seat it at an OAL of 1.590" without issues.

To find out what yours can handle, just load a dummy round at the max OAL and try it in your rifle. If it gets hung up, seat it incrementally deeper until it runs well through the action. This is what I wish I had done BEFORE loading up a bunch to take to the range.

[GasGuzzler]

My older one will cycle anything from the mid 1.40's to the mid 1.60's with a RNFP profile.

[Johnnyjr]

Thanks for the replies. I will make a few dummy rounds .

[Archer]

Mine has so far fed about everything I've tried to put in it.
My friend has one that does not like truncated cone 140 grain .357 although most of the complaints I've heard from others has been with .38 SP giving problems.

[Johnnyjr]

Ok I made up a few dummy rounds and think I'm going to be ok so far. I did notice that using the Lee factory crimp die that it didn't seem to apply enough crimp. As I could still spin the bullet around,so I used the regular crimp and that solved the problem. I understand there is a different ejector spring one can get to stop throwing the cases into left field. Are these easy to switch out or something a Smith should do,and where can I get the other spring ??. Thanks..

[Archer]

Do a search on this site and on Youtube and you should find detailed instructions on how to take the gun down and put it back together. BE CAREFUL of following instructions on the net about polishing up the gun to excess. One of the youtuber vids that shows nicely how to take the gun apart and put it back together polished the gun to the point the owner had issues with it later.

Key thing on the spring swap is to use a spring that does not bind and use a spent shell or dummy round putting the gun back together.

For lever actions (and to a lesser extent semi autos) a firm crimp that does not allow the bullet to move under compression is desired. Typically the Lee Carbide Factory Crimp die WILL get you there and I have used it in .38/.357 without issues. You can also get Lee Factory Collet crimp dies for several of the straight walled cases like .357 and .44 Mag if you want that sort of crimp to avoid sizing down lead bullets inside the case for example. ANY round loaded into a tube magazine needs to be loaded in a way that the bullet does not impact into the case under magazine spring compression or recoil. I have seen factory ammunition where this was not done correctly.

I maintain that ammo for use in semi autos needs the same sort of crimp due to the possibility of the bullet catching on something under recoil or feeding that might impact it AND due the the inertial bullet pulling effect of the round being shoved rapidly into the chamber such that when it stops the bullet wants to be pulled from the case mouth into the rifling. I have seen this pulling effect happen on M1As and other semi auto rifles as well as seen impacted bullets on straight walled semiauto handgun ammo that was cleared from the gun rather than being fired.

It is a balance between enough neck tension and crimp that the bullet does not move but not enough that the bullet is crushed AND/OR the brass springs back away from the bullet.

[GasGuzzler]

I suggest using the standard Lee seat and crimp die THEN run it through the Lee FCD.

For the average guy, the ejector spring is probably a 6 or 7 on a scale of 1-10 with ten the hardest. For my .357 I found a random spring and modified it. For the .454 I used a Century C562 and I like it so far.