New R92 454 Will Not Feed

[Cassy]

I have a new R92 454 Casull 20" rifle that has never been fired. I have not fired it yet because I cannot get the rifle to feed the Hornady 240gr XTP .454 Casull I bought to run in it. The bolt does not retreat all the way back and the carrier will not come up enough to index the cartridge for the barrel opening.

When unloaded everything looks to be working perfectly. And when loading 45 colt it feeds fine. With the lever all the way forward the bolt goes all the way back and the carrier comes all the way up. Unfortunately when I load the magazine with 454 and try to feed a cartridge, the bolt does not go all the way back and the carrier does not come up enough to index the cartridge for entry in the barrel opening. It seems like something is jamming near the bolt face and the carrier ramp preventing a full load/reload cycle. It does not matter how briskly or forcefully I activate the lever. Believe me I am not short cycling. It is definitely catching, preventing a complete forward cycle of the lever by about 1/16th inch.

I have taken the entire rifle apart for complete cleaning and lube to see if that would help. it did not at all. The Hornady ammo is all I have to test. Is it possibly the ammo? Has anyone else had trouble feeding Hornady XTP?

Any suggestion are welcome.

[cavelamb]

Is this a hand load or commercial cartridge?

Got to find some other ammo to see what's what.

[Cassy]

It is Hornady 240gr XTP 20 rnd box. I plan to reload down the road but just want to break the rifle in with the store-bought for now. It seems like it is binding at the rear of the cartridge near the rim.

[Nashville Stage]

If it cycles fine with no cartridge or with the shorter 45 Colt, but not the longer 454, then I'd suggest trying a few things:
- Look in the top of the action while slowly cycling. See if the front or the rear of the 454 cartridge jams on something.
- When cycling a 454 and the lever is all the way forward, stop and use a finger or something to wiggle the cartridge. That might help you see what part of the cartridge is getting jammed.
- Try loading only one cartridge in the magazine and then cycling. Then try only two. Try opening the action and dropping a cartridge in manually from the top.
- Upload some photos of the action in the jammed state and we'll see if anything looks odd.

[Cassy]

Thank you Nashville Stage. I actually figured it out last night. I noticed small nicks in the bottom rim of the cartridges that I was using, so that confirmed my suspicion the issue was occurring at the bottom of the bolt face/top of the carrier lower area. Probably excess pressure on the cartridge against the sharp ejector. First clue.

I figured out the carrier was being activated by the lever before the bolt and cartridge could get out of the way, causing the jam. I took about .060 off the carrier lug on the lever and that changed the timing enough for the bolt and cartridge to clear. Now she cycles perfectly with 454 and 45 Colt.

A little frustrating being it was a brand new gun but since I do all the work on my guns and will probably go back in for action and trigger improvements, I'm good with it. Plus I got a real good deal on the price. I also got lucky with this one in that I ordered it without seeing it. When it came in it had some of the most beautiful wood character I have seen on rifle furniture, especially for Rossi.

I hope this post helps others that experience the same issue.

[GasGuzzler]

When it came in it had some of the most beautiful wood character I have seen on rifle furniture, especially for Rossi.

Let's see it...

[Cassy]

The image tags do not work. I'll try attachments

[Cassy]

Yes of course

454C2comp.jpg

454C1comp.jpg

[dpowers92]

Do you have images of the problem areas and how you fixed it.
Thanks

[Cassy]

No problem. Here it is.

lvr.jpg