Just ordered a Rossi M92 357 SS. Any tips/thoughts?

[RAINS]

Sick of way overpriced "black" guns I'm going old school. Rossi m92 357 ss 16'. Plan on slicking it up as a project. Hopefully she'll make a great camping, hiking and truck gun. Plus I may even break out the mothballed turret press to whip up some cheap .38 loads.
Anyone here have one or have any tips/tricks for them??? I'll put up pics when I get it next week.


R

 

[wriggly]

Get Steve Youngs DVD that shows how to disassemble the gun, and how to slick it up. The two most important mods are replacing the ejector spring with the one Steve sells, and replacing the plastic magazine follower with the steel one he offers. If you do nothing else, those two mods will insure you will have a great little carbine.

 

[BCRider]

I've used the info on the web along with a few hints from our local CAS gunsmith that shoots with us to slick mine up. It really isn't that big a deal to get these guns as slick as you could possibly desire.

The biggies are to swap the ejector spring and to ensure that the extractor is STRAIGHT and fits in the slot with NO binding and no slop. Cutting a couple of coils off the main spring eases the trigger pressure nicely. Other than that it's all about removing the burrs and LIGHTLY stoning the various parts so that you only lightly give a flat crest to any machine tooling marks. Do NOT get carried away or you'll just plain remove too much metal. You only need to lightly stone the various stuff so that the crests of the machining marks are flattened off. The parts will then slide on these flat and perfectly aligned crest "plateaus" just fine.

Pay particular attention to removing the burrs from the oddball looking ejector piece. It's got lots of nooks and edges. But when correctly deburred it made a BIG difference to the feel of my own Rossi. Especially make sure that the "hole" thru the various parts for the ejector spring is smooth and de-burred. The spring should just slide over any edges easily and without any hanging up at all.

 

[ball3006]

I have had a Rossi 92 in 357 for 20 years. It is a great rifle and was made before cowboy action took hold and the workmanship is great in fit and finish. It was easy to use stones to slick up the action. Works like warm butter now....chris3

 

[RAINS]

Ok thanks guys. Will see about buying that dvd. I looked and they have a kit with ejector spring, steel mag follower and dvd. Might just buy it.


R

 

[Jackal]

Great gun. I had one, same exact model (16", ss). The only thing I wish it had was a 20" barrel. 20" balances better and the extra rounds in the mag never hurt. Its also a hair more "practically" accurate, with the longer sight radius. Smooth the action / trigger with some stones/emery paper and wrap that lever. If its cold out, leave it home, your thumb will thank you (arg that loading gate hurts on frozen fingers).

 

[Rexster]

My ever-practical wife has a stainless 20" Rossi for SD/HD. (We also have a .357 Marlin 1894CSS in the house.) About the only criticism I have is that, as another member already mentioned, I hate loading it through that darned tiny loading gate, though my aging right thumb hurts all the time, not just when it is cold. My planned reloading technique, if under fire, is to grab another gun, not so much to avoid pain, but to minimize the chance of fumbling the relatively small .357 Magnum cartridge. I find the .30-30 cartridge easier to hold and shove through a loading gate, and we have a household Winchester '94, too.

I will mention that I moved to Mini-14 Ranch Rifles several years ago, as go-to carbines, and sold my two blued .357 Marlins. Having said that, I do feel drawn to a 16" Rossi '92, if I have the money in my pocket when an opportunity occurs.

 

[wriggly]

Steve Youngs DVD covers how to profile the loading gate spring. It makes it a lot easier to load. Also, you dont want to push the cartridges all the way in. Let the rims rest at the back of the gate, and then then you only need to push the very last cartridge all the way in. Its pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Between the two, it makes for a painless experience. I have Rheumatoid Arthritis, and I know your pain. Let the cartridges rest as in my photo, then push the last one all the way in.

 

[SFsc616171]

Congratulations!
I own the 16-incher with the big loop lever.
Everybody is out to void the warranty in the first week! Ya's gots a warranty for a reason, right? When the rifle comes in, it should be prepared for you. Get Rem UMC 130 grain MC's, or Win. white box 130 grain FMJFP's, to get your rhythm, get your lever reach right, and, because it needs to be shot in, because the impulse of the shot has its own effect on the mechanism. Watch a good Western on the tube, put a pair of gloves on, and WITH AN EMPTY RIFLE, watch the movie, and work that action, for a couple hundred times. ALL the way forward ... there is a click only if you do. Folks say the action is rough. It's made to Win. tolerances for that design! "iron sharpens iron", right? Pieces that have to move next to other pieces must make their own tolerance.

Once you do all that, and then after a few hundred shots, for the marriage of man and machine, to fit better, than if you still that the machinery is just not quite there, then decide.

The folks at Rossi, when I asked what grainage bullets for 'zero-zero' at the factory, the man told me that they used Blazer 158 grain .357 Magnum ammo.

Have fun!

 

[BCRider]

One point on the 16 inch barrel that I found. It only accepts 9.5 rounds of .38Spl. If you even think that you even might want to try cowboy action at some point this is a big deal. It's an especially big deal when it means that it only holds 8 rounds of .357.

The 20 inch barrel version has no such issue in .357 or .45Colt.

 

[35 Whelen]

I bought the wife a 20" Rossi for CAS. I slicked it up and she and I have fired several huundred rounds through it. It eventually got to where it wouldn't feed .38's at standard o.a.l. so now I have to load them a little long. I see some people at our CAS match fighting their Rossi's during rapid fire, but for normal use it'll probably be fine.

35W

 

[RAINS]

I was planning on cleaning, lubing then then annoying everyone in my house by racking the action a couple hundred times. Then I'll drive the whopping 7 miles to my local gravel pit. After 200 rounds and a good clearing I'll see how it feels. I'm sure at the very least I'll end up polish a few things.

Only things that I am for sure going to replace are the mag follower and ejector spring. Frankly I bought the gun so I could work on it myself. Winter is boring. Sure hope it will shoot cheapie .38's. Then again it's not that big of a deal if it won't. I'm going to reload for it anyway.

 

[hemiram]

I recently passed on a NIB .357 16" SS one to instead buy an AR and some toys for it. I sure wish I could have swung it. A friend of mine has a 20" one and it's great. No gunsmithing done at all, just a lot of working the lever and shooting a few hundred rounds through it. Like glass now. Even shooting pretty hot .357 loads, it's really nice to shoot, and you can basically hit anything you can see in the sights. A decent .357 load is pretty impressive out of a rifle.

 

[Leadhead]

I've got a few Rossi's.....some need a new ejector spring and some are good to go out of the box! Rossi's quality control is a bit hit and miss....but with a bit of work (or not on some) they are good guns!
The nice thing with a stainless gun is you don't have to touch up the finish if you need to smooth out some sharp edges here and there!

 

[Pete D.]

Rossi

I have had the 16" for a couple of decades. Great little shooter. The YouTube video about slicking things up is worthwhile. Brownells sells the parts.
Pete