Rossi Rifleman

I read somewhere about a new mag, spring for easier loading. Or cutting the old spring down for the same effect. How much do you know to cut off the spring or is it better to just replace the spring ? And what about the follower being replaced?. My spring seems to be pretty stiff.Thank for any information..

Usually only affects the 16" barrel guns because for a very long time Rossi put the same spring in regardless of 16", 20", or 24" barrel. Ideally toy want 5-7" of extra length over the tube length.

I am not sure how big of a deal the follower is. My old .357 came with a steel follower (no no other plastic either). The .454 came with plastic and I replaced it with a brass one I found on eBay...mostly because a steel and wood gun should have no plastic (my 10/22 for example is all metal and wood). I save the plastic for my PLASTIC guns.

Guess I better say mine is 20 inch barrel. The spring seems to be really stiff, sometimes it's tough to even get 4 357,'s in the mag.

Talk about being confused. Maybe I read to much. Like cutting the magazine spring. So now I just read where it's not a good idea as over a period of time the original spring will get broke in and be fine. No mention of how much time or how many rounds. So now I'm back to square one. What to do. Lmao..Any comments appreciated. Thanks

I bought a stainless one and cut it down for my 16" barreled 357. I can fit an extra cartridge in it now. If it weakens too much, I'll put the original spring back in it and live with the additional resistance to feeding. Mine is pretty new and the follower is not plastic, so I'm not replacing it.

Where did you read the spring would weaken? It's definitely possible to read too much on the internet.

A spring will not “break in” over time, at least not in your lifetime. It will yield (take a set, get shorter, have a lower force) immediately if it’s overstressed. If you’ve loaded a full mag, then you’ve yielded it if it’s gonna. There is such a thing as fatigue, where a metal spring will fail (crack, break) with repetitive applications of less than the yield stress, but that takes many thousands of cycles.

Hope this helps.

Like I said,I read to damn much about things,so I can't remember where I seen it, sorry. Anyway I cut 4 3/4 inch off the spring. It does seem to feed 357's a little better. I'm using 158 gr round. I suppose I should play around with the oval length a little more. Hell,I want to shoot it not play with it. Lol

My initial post describes how tell if and how much to trim.