Rossi Rifleman

I thought this would make a good topic. I purchased my Rossi 92 knowing that there is issues , as the old saying goes "You get what you pay for" . I bought mine as a project gun planning on modifying it. I didn't fire a single round before tearing it apart and changing things.

Here's what I did to mine.

(1) Polished all contact points on guides and the bolt. Milling from the factory was pretty rough.

(2) Added a reduced spring kit

(3) Replaced the goofy safty lever with a plug from stevesguns.

(4) Replaced the plastic plunger with a stainless one from stevesguns and cut the spring down 3"

(5) Added a leather lever wrap from unitech.

(6) Lubed all contact points with gun grease. I used the gun grease rather than oil because the lever action is a closed system and doesn't collect dirt like a semi-auto does.

(7) Added a saddle ring from stevesguns.

And lastly

(8) worked up a load to feed reliably finding not all brass is created equally.

That's what I did to mine. All mods costed less than $100 FYI.

So please post or reply what you have done to your Rossi.

Let's see the 45 Colt got a home turned aluminum follower and a Marbles tang sight slightly over 1000 rounds it's smooth and feeds anything I want to put through it. The 357 got a homemade follower initially but that was replaced with a SS from Steve. It too is getting shot in as it were. It will get a Marble someday when I can spring for it.

Make smoke,

I forgot to mention that my Rossi 92 is the Stainless Steel 20" .357/.38sp+p

20" stainless .357/.38 -
Polished some of the sliding surfaces on the trigger
Spring kit
Home turned aluminium follower
Tetra Grease on the action
Sanded out the barrel channel in the fore-end
NOE round barrel scope mount which carries a red dot sight
That's about it. Feeds anything, but I have been most successful with 125gr lead truncated cone and light loads of N320 or N340 in .38 brass. Plated 158gr RNFP with 12gr 2400 in .357 brass were also good but too bloody noisy....... the lighter bullets/loads work just fine on steel plates at 200 yards.
I really would like to put a decent crown on the muzzle but am not sure whether it will give any improvement.

I have replaced the factory horrible stock finish with hand rubbed linseed oil, which reminds me it's time for a cocktail on the deck and another coat...and replaced the plastic follower/magazine spring, and hand cycled/shot it a bunch. Feeds everything I run through it, cycles with one finger like butter and looks fantastic. All together I might have $30 bucks into it and really did not NEED that metal follower or spring, but Smith's had decent deal so I picked it up. I would like to put a custom cut Skinner 1894 peep sight on it, but need somebody with a mill to make those cuts.

1) Same
2) Shimmed my trigger spring with brass from a .22LR shell, replaced the ejector spring with a free one from my work tool box
3) Gun was built before safeties installed, never had one
4) Gun was built before Rossi rifles had any plastic, OEM steel follower in place
5) No leather needed or desired
6) Same but used free wheel bearing grease from work
7) Gun was factory equipped with a saddle ring, no mod needed
8) Gun feeds 1.46" or so up to 1.63" or so...no special load needed.

Cost of mods = $0

I have 2 Rossi's in 45 Colt-one blued and one SS. I stripped off the finish on both guns and sanded to 600 grit and gave both of them a hand rubbed Danish oil finish-red mahogany on one and black walnut on the other. The first one has a Lee Gunslinger kit in it but since I have replaced the Lee ejector spring with one I picked up from a local hardware store. The Lee trigger spring was too light for my liking so I re-bent it but still a little too light. I'll do a little more work there. The other has a spring kit from Palo Verde which I really like. Both guns have the bolt mounted peep from Steve's Gunz which work a lot better for my tired 70 yr old eyes. My blued gun loads like butter but I have some more work to do on the loading gate on the SS gun to slick up the loading on that gun. Love both guns!

Looks great DDJ. As far as modifications go , it's amazing how simple the lever action guns are. Like a few have already posted and I will agree. Go to the hardware store. Most mom and pop stors have a lot of springs , oil/grease , and drift pins etc...

Sometimes trial and error is the cheapest way to make something work to your liking without spending a ton of money out of the box just because it says complete kit or upgrade. Most of my AR/AK mods have been from the hardware store or workbench junk.

Keep the replies coming. Thanks everyone for making this a cool topic

My first Rossi 92, an LSI puma 44 mag had some issues right off the bat. The ejector spring was too stiff and the extractor would just bounce up over the case rim on the eject cycle. A lighter spring from stevezguns. was the ticket. Also put in the lighter hammer spring too.

I've got two Rossis, a 24" rifle and 20" carbine and I've tweaked both as follows:

24" Rifle: Steve's Gunz action and trigger slickup kit and DvD. Work was easy and fun to do. Then I added a Marbles tang sight, folding rear, and Lyman globe front sight for use as a longer range shooter. Finally, I added a couple of coats of WATCO Danish Oil, medium walnut finish to bring the dull stock to life.

Picture before I added the folding rear sight.



20" Carbine: Steve's Gunz action and trigger slickup kit using DvD from my rifle work. Then I added a Marbles semi-buckhorn rear, and Marbles 1/16" brass bead front sight for more precise aiming. Then I drilled and tapped a hole to add a saddle ring and wrapped the lever and ring with some leather. Finally, I added a couple of coats of WATCO Danish Oil, medium walnut finish to bring the dull stock to life.