My Rossi 92 after some minor work

[Model 52]

Here's my 20" Rossi 92 in .45 Colt after:

1) An action clean up including: polish of the bolt camming surfaces, lever detent pin and lower carrier detents; new ejector spring (from Steve's Gunz); lightened extractor, loading gate and trigger return springs; metal magazine follower (also from Steve's Gunz); and shortened magazine spring. It's not quite 1873 smooth but it's very nice with single finger operation.

2) Replacement of the firing pin block safety with a plug from Steve's Gunz.

3) A Marbles tang sight and a .534 wide and .312 high 1/16" brass bead front sight. It also includes 4 plug screws for the holes under the rear sight as well as a dove tail slot blank where the original rear sight was removed. Accuracy wise with these sights I'm getting 3" groups at 100 yards off the bench with 250 gr FNs over 18.0 grains of 2400 at an average velocity of 1,308 fps. Prone and off a pair of shooting sticks, I'm having lots of fun with 6" plates at that same distance. With the lower front sight, I've theoretically got enough elevation adjustment to reach out to 250 yards. I'll verify that with some 8" and 12" plates next time I get over to my father in law's place.

4) Tru-Oiled stock finish. It's actually just Tru-Oil on top of the original shoe polish looking finish with no stripping, sanding or re-staining. The original finish is so porous it's more like a stain. I figured it was worth a try before stripping, etc and it worked well as the color of the Rossi finish itself is fine, it's just so %@*&$ flat and lifeless. That makes it a fairly quick, simple and painless finishing project, although I needed about 10 coats of True Oil, knocking it back to almost the original finish every 3rd coat, to fill the gain. The lighter looking streak in the bottom photo is just the reflection of sunlight off the lever.

Obviously, with not much more time per rifle Rossi could turn out a much more refined product, but with labor costs being what they are, it may not make economic sense for them.

I'm still debating whether to wet sand it with 0000 steel wool to just go with a satin finish. I played with that between coats and it looks very nice as well so it's a bit of a toss up. The nice thing about Tru-Oil is that you can always change your mind and add another coat.





And here's a before picture:

[Ranch Dog]

I'm still debating whether to wet sand it with 0000 steel wool to just go with a satin finish. I played with that between coats and it looks very nice as well so it's a bit of a toss up. The nice thing about Tru-Oil is that you can always change your mind and add another coat.

Another great looking Tru-Oil finish!

I'm toying with the very same question, matte or gloss. As you mention and what is great about the Tru-Oil is that you can change back and forth anytime you want as it is always a "work in progress". Nothing but routine maintenance.

Some really nice work you have accomplished. I'm with you and others. I hope Rossi keeps turning out the same product with the same level of expertise and doesn't change a thing especially the price! Their metal finishing work is top notch on the surface so with a little elbow grease on the wood and insides we end up with an exceptional rifle at an exceptional value. My 357 Mag only cost me $395 NIB at my dealer. I just don't know how you can top that other than by accuracy on the target. So far, my R92s are out shooting my Marlin 1894s in the same cartridge chamberings

[Model 52]

I agree with you regarding accuracy. My 92 shoots the pants off my Winchester 94 in .45 Colt.

They are a lot of fun and a envision a 52203 coming home with me in the near future. I've got a soft spot for case hardened receivers.

[pricedo]

Here's my 20" Rossi 92 in .45 Colt after:

4) Tru-Oiled stock finish. It's actually just Tru-Oil on top of the original shoe polish looking finish with no stripping, sanding or re-staining. The original finish is so porous it's more like a stain. I figured it was worth a try before stripping, etc and it worked well as the color of the Rossi finish itself is fine, it's just so * flat and lifeless. That makes it a fairly quick, simple and painless finishing project, although I needed about 10 coats of True Oil, knocking it back to almost the original finish every 3rd coat, to fill the gain. The lighter looking streak in the bottom photo is just the reflection of sunlight off the lever.

That's exactly how I'm going to do my 92s when my Tru-Oil order arrives............slop it on........no fuss, no mess, no bother.......I won't get within a country mile of a piece of sandpaper during the whole process & the wood is staying ON the gun.
That's a beautiful looking gun.
The color of my 92s is OK too........just dull & lifeless as you say.

[akuser47]

I have always loved tru oil and this is a fine example of why.

[357cyrus]

Life's too short to to hunt with an ugly rifle! Yours is a sweet lookin ride now though. I've never looked through peep sights, and I'm thinking about replacing mine. If you're walking around with you're rifle, how fast can you settle those new sights on a target? Would you consider them better for brush hunting or for hunting from a stand?

[Ranch Dog]

Life's too short to to hunt with an ugly rifle!

I've never looked through peep sights, and I'm thinking about replacing mine

My R92 480 Ruger started it's life on the ranch with the SG Bolt Peep and I have a Skinner dovetail on a R92 357 Mag. Of the two, the Skinner is a much better sight but that is in my opinion as I mainly shoot scope sighted rifles. I also put the Skinner sight on a Rossi 62SA and it has racked up quite a toll of small critters in the last year.

Back to the 480 Ruger application. With the SG Peep at a maximum elevation with the stock front sight on the rifle, the bullets where hitting ground about 25' in front of the bench. The shooting was with the Lee 340 and 400-grain bullets. The rifle would need to work through some different sight heights with the SG Peep. I decided to just "scout" my rifle but that is my need here in South Texas. I did not try the Skinner on the rifle as that sight came later for the 357 Mag but it would have been more appropriate I feel.

[Model 52]

Life's too short to to hunt with an ugly rifle! Yours is a sweet lookin ride now though. I've never looked through peep sights, and I'm thinking about replacing mine. If you're walking around with you're rifle, how fast can you settle those new sights on a target? Would you consider them better for brush hunting or for hunting from a stand?

It depends to an extent on the aperture you are using.

With a small aperture (.102) and a 3/4" disc, a combination better suited to more precise shooting and long range target work, the major limiting factor is light. But with a larger aperture (.032) and a smaller 1/2" disc, your eye naturally centers itself in the aperture and you can shoot both eyes open, so seeing and tracking targets is actually easier than with regular iron sights. For practical accuracy under field conditions, I see no real difference between the .102 and .032 apertures on the Marbles sights, so the .032 is the one I leave on the gun. And for low light conditions, you can use a large rear aperture (.055) or even leave the aperture out for a ghost ring effect.

The idea essentially is that the apertures allow you to 1) naturally center the front sight in the rear aperture, and 2) reduce the light coming through the aperture to your eye to allow your eye to focus more sharply on the front sight.

Way back in the day I used the same basic system on the M16A1 snap shooting at targets and shooting in low light conditions. There's a reason just about every military uses a rear peep and post or blade front sight combination - it's ideally suited to field use.

[Arktikos]

That's a very nice rifle! Really like the Tru oil "cure" for ugly Rossi wood. There is some real beauty under the shoe polish! I'm going to set mine up with a Marbles tang too and will replace the factory Rossi rear sight with one of my extra Marlin fold down buckhorns for the rare times when a shot needs to be gotten off quickly at short range and there is no time to mess with the tang sight. Will keep the fold down buckhorn up and at the ready in bear country and sighted at 50 feet. I do like the scout scope arrangement on my Marlins but until someone like XS makes a SOLID mechanical mount for the Rossi I'm not that keen on going that route with my 454. I do pretty well with receiver mount peeps soI think the Marbles will be a bit better still.

Sent from some beach on Kauai HI

[Ranch Dog]

Sent from some beach on Kauai HI

Nice!