WOW - Is this Rossi R92 running slick or what?

[hutch]

Rossi Gang,

A quick shout out to the folks on this forum who came to my rescue when I picked up a nearly non-functional Rossi R92 .357 magnum about 2 weeks ago. I naively described the issues I was having in the post here: http://www.rossi-rifleman.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=981 Let it suffice to say I certainly didn't appreciate Rossi rifles at the time, and was thinking wistfully about my Marlin's. Particularly the 1st time I put her back together . . . it was worse than when I started. Made some sailors blush with my expletives. Well let me just say that after at least 6 full strips, it's a piece of cake putting her back together and this little Rossi will just plain FLY. One finger full magazine emptied as fast as I could move - 4 different kinds of factory ammo in the same mag tube. 6-7 different kinds of ammo. Round nose, FP, HP, lead, jacketed, semi jacketed, Leverevolution and even some others well past 1.6 OAL. And this is a $500 rifle gang. Tell me that isn't a VALUE. I know some feel they shouldn't have to fiddle with it out of the box, but I'm not one of them. They can go buy an $1800 Winchester . . . and still have to fiddle with it.

Necessary work & Mod's in order of importance (IMHO):
1) Complete strip, scrub & proper high tech lube job.
2) Steve's Gunz Kit/parts & DVD (maybe reverse 1 & 2 so it's not so hard to put back together the first time)
3) While broken down debur any rough spots found -
4) polish everything where moving parts touch. (likely no need to 'grind' anything)
5) Springs, springs, springs. The softer ejector spring is an amazing "upgrade"
6) 1.5 coils off the trigger/main spring
7) about an inch off the magazine spring
8) 1.5 coils off the friction stud spring
9) If your adventurous, a coil+ off the carrier stop spring, combined with a thorough polishing of the Carrier & left cartridge guide
10) Replace that plastic Mag tube follower with a stainless one

I strongly suspect I'd have been just fine with the Steve's parts kit, debur, polish and a couple of spring 'adjustments', & just letting it break itself in the rest of the way with use. But I'm a mad tinkerer and I had to do something while its 20 degrees and sleet outside. Lets just hope that when I begin shooting the heck out of her, that she doesn't fall apart (too loose). Right now she runs kinda like that nearly impossible to believe video on Steve's Gunz site of the one fingered full magazine empty in about 5 seconds. She is that fast gang. Ya simply should not be allowed to own a Rossi 92 (Braziltech) without a mandatory membership to the Rossi Rifleman forum & Steve's Gunz Kit/parts & DVD.

There is just something about resurrecting a painted lady that is very satisfying eh? Thanks to the Rossi Rifleman Forum for teaching me the Rossi ropes. I'll let you all know if it shoots as well as it runs. Anyone out there able to teach me too shoot straight, as fast as they taught me to slick up a Rossi R92??

- hutch

[44-40 Willy]

Glad to hear that you got it like you want!

[pricedo]

Q: What does it take?

A: Elbow grease, persistence, patience, rudimentary common sense & manual dexterity (if you can count 1-10 on your fingers & whistle/hum the "Bridge on the River Kwai" theme song at the same time you're good to go ) & of course a little help from your friends on Rossi Rifleman.

[Arktikos]

Go out and shoot the fire out of that Rossi!! Word of warning, you may not look quite as fondly at your Marlins as you once did.. My 1894 didn't last too long once I got my Rossi before I sold it.. Just didn't need 2 leverguns that shoot the same caliber and I liked the Rossi better. I am liking it more every time I shoot it...

[Xshot]

hutch,

I'm both happy and excited for you. Think of all your time and effort as a personal endeavor with the product being a rifle customized by you! Please tell me you NOT going to sell or trade it.

Once you relieve any binding caused by the forearm, barrel bands and mag tube screw, complete dis-assembly/assembly becomes a breeze. You'll also find accuracy, including repeatability of follow-up shots (i.e. groups), greatly improved. Lastly, there's a ton of information here about sights and enhancing the appearance and durability of the furniture.

[hutch]

hutch,

I'm both happy and excited for you. Think of all your time and effort as a personal endeavor with the product being a rifle customized by you! Please tell me you NOT going to sell or trade it.

Once you relieve any binding caused by the forearm, barrel bands and mag tube screw, complete dis-assembly/assembly becomes a breeze. You'll also find accuracy, including repeatability of follow-up shots (i.e. groups), greatly improved. Lastly, there's a ton of information here about sights and enhancing the appearance and durability of the furniture.

TX Xshot. Nope - I won't be selling or trading this one. - hutch

[Clarkie46]

Thanks for the report! You give me hope. I've been out of town so unable to get down to serious business on mine. I do have Steve's DVD and have watched it through once. Just need to get a few hours when I can get in there and see what happens.

[hutch]

Thanks for the report! You give me hope. I've been out of town so unable to get down to serious business on mine. I do have Steve's DVD and have watched it through once. Just need to get a few hours when I can get in there and see what happens.

How bad is yours out of the gate Clarkie46? That inexpensive spring I received with Steve's DVD is a biggie for taking the tension out of the ejector spring. Now my brass & dummy rounds don't fly 20 feet behind me. You likely know this, but this one simple thing below was important in my situation.

I spent a great deal of time 'adjusting' trying to get my dummy rounds made for my Marlin 1894C to run in the Rossi. I didn't realize that due to the steep angle of the Rossi carrier presentation of the cartridge, the Rossi simply can't handle a round without a tight "factory crimp". If there is much of an edge on the case mouth it will hang up on mine at the chamber opening. So what chambers up nicely in a revolver, won't necessarily cycle well in my Rossi 92. A Lee factory crimp die (cheap) will roll those edges over enough so the Rossi will gobble them up. Likely I wouldn't have had to do as much to my R92, had I discovered that simple fact sooner. Marlin's carrier lift is quite a bit different and presents the round at much less of an angle than Rossi. I'm a happy camper now. If I could suggest that before you make a lot of 'adjustments" you try some tightly crimped factory ammo. What I found on the shelf that works REALLY well in mine is Blazer Jacketed HP, and Federal American Eagle semi jacket FP. Both are fairly cheap ammo. Speer Gold Dot seems to work just as well, but more expensive. Pic's of the Federal AE flat point & Blazer HP attached. So maybe those would be a good starting/reference point for factory ammo or guide to reload.You'll see the Blazer has a slight case edge showing, but its seems to be rolled just enough to work in my Rossi R92 just fine. Mine also runs those maroon Zoom .357 snap caps OK.

I'm may be a Rossi newbee, but have learned a LOT in the multiple tear downs to get this one right. I'm glad to help in anyway I can.

- hutch

R92 Ammo-1.jpg

R92 Ammo-2.jpg

R92 Ammo-3.jpg

[pricedo]

I'm not hurting in the money department but my time is at a premium.
There are times when I'll just take a gun to one of my reliable gunsmiths and get them to do the work.
Q: Do I turn down a $20,000 consulting gig so I can make the time to work on a $500 dollar rifle?
A: NOPE !
I like working on the guns but time constraints can result in me taking the odd gun problem to my gunsmith.
I much prefer to do the work myself cause I like it but there are only so many hours in a day.

[Clarkie46]

Thanks, hutch, for the great pictures and the hints about what you have learned along the way! As for ammo I've tried, the 92 will cycle 38 spl FMJ very nicely. I have yet to find a .357 that will cycle. Here are the ones I've tried: Remington JSP (the worst-catches every time); Hornady FTX Critical Defense won't smoothly cycle, but with some jiggling I can get it in the chamber; Cor-Bon JHP will not cycle and I can't jiggle it in. Obviously it's not a question of "cheap" vs. "expensive" ammo. I've been looking for something in a FMJ in a .357 caliber to see if that would work, but can't find any in local stores or online. There is an eastern European company that makes it but it's currently out of stock. The reason I wanted to try the FMJ was along the lines of your suggestion, that is, less to "catch" when the carrier brings it up to chamber. If that won't chamber smoothly either, then I would think the problem has to do with overall length of the ammo and that would require some other adjustment. I'm going to have to get a gauge and do some measuring. Thanks again for your help.