Rossi 92 257 Lever gun driving me friggen nuts...

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Analogkid

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I have Rossi .357 in blue. It is out of "warranty". It's driving me nuts. After the magazine tube is loaded the loading gate pops out and causes the action to jam up. It seems to be caused by two issues. Or one of them is causing the other.. I don't know.

1. The loading gate being able to peek out of the receiver. Seems like it is too short compared to other 1892 pattern rifles I have used.

2. The cartridge stop is not actually holding the rounds in the tube or does a poor job of it,. It does have spring tension but it doesn't seem to be able to be far enough over to hold them in. Sometimes it does but under spirited levering it'll spit a live round out with the empty.

Running .38's in it makes it 10 times worse.

Any insight you all can give me to help in getting it running?
 
Is the plastic follower damaged? You can get a metal one. Can you post a picture of the loading gate popped out?
 
Is the loading gate screw tight? A loose loading gate screw is the most common reason for lever action problems I see.
 
Pretty normal for Rossi's

If I remember correctly I just bent the loading gate till it's where i wanted.

The issue with the gun throwing live rounds out with the spent brass, is actually caused by the cartridge guides, not the stop.
Mine did that constantly with .38s, but loading slightly long .357s fixed it. As did shimming in the guides.
These are the instructions I followed.
http://marauder.homestead.com/files/rossi_92_cartridge_guide.htm
 
When I looked at other rossi's online and at the shop I noticed the loading gate doesn't come up flush with the outside of the receiver like mine has always done. More searching online showed this was a common issue. So I tore it all down and pulled the loading gate. I set the gate face down on a piece of red oak 2x4 and peened the end of the loading gate to stretch it using a dull pointed punch. This stretched the end of the loading gate and keeps it from being able to kick up flush with the receiver face. Peening it from the backside didn't hurt the finish on the exposed side. I put it all back together and ran/ fired 50 rounds through it without a hiccup. I still think I need to adjust the cartridge stop at some point. I also plan on replacing the follower soon as well even though mine is fine.


But for now it works just fine. Damn thing makes me look like a decent shot. Kinda.

Thanks for everyone's ideas and help.
 
If I remember correctly I just bent the loading gate till it's where i wanted.

My loading gate spring was so stiff it was difficult to depress it enough to get rounds up the tube...not to mention the razor edges on the port, so I tried bending the spring a little to relieve some tension. This didn't work out so well because the darn thing snapped when bent just a wee bit farther than during loading....and no replacements were to be found at that time. I ended up putting in an original Winchester part from Numrich Arms that worked OK after some fitting. The spring is MUCH less stiff so loading is easy now but after getting in the last round it needs a little wiggling to get it to work right. Once it feeds the first round it'll rip through the rest, but if you just load that last round and try to cycle the lever it won't work so there's something a bit off on the backside of the Winchester gate that I need to address.
 
Yeah Recoil Rob, that razor sharp edges on the Rossi 92 port caused me to give up a bit of blood as it sliced my fingers trying to clear a jam on a brother in law's rifle. Don't have fond memories of that particular rifle and manufacturer and it put me right off of owning one.
 
Yeah Recoil Rob, that razor sharp edges on the Rossi 92 port caused me to give up a bit of blood as it sliced my fingers trying to clear a jam on a brother in law's rifle. Don't have fond memories of that particular rifle and manufacturer and it put me right off of owning one.
I got my 92 for a very reasonable price...and normally consider anything I buy as an 'assembled kit' that very well might need tweaking to where it should be, so the razor edges just needed breaking with files to become non-issues. The basic rifle is sound and once tweaked a VERY nice little thing.:) My loading gate was a two piece affair riveted together while the Winchester original is a single milled part...which I like much better. Overall the Puma 92's are a good rifle that shows some shortcuts made to reduce the cost...which I'm fine with so long as I can do the final polishing and handwork that would have escalated the cost over my price point.
 
If you keep having issues check out Stevesgunz.com. For my .45 Colt and .357 model 92 rifles I got Steve’s metal cartridge followers to replace the plastic ones, the replacement safety lever plugs... and a lighter weight extractor spring for my .357 rifle because the extractor was chewing up the rims of fired cartridges. His assembly/disassembly CD is really a good one to have as well.

Stay safe!
 
I cleaned up the loading port on my M92 Rossi when I got it. It was stainless and I was going to refinish it anyhow.
 
I got my 92 for a very reasonable price...and normally consider anything I buy as an 'assembled kit' that very well might need tweaking to where it should be, so the razor edges just needed breaking with files to become non-issues. The basic rifle is sound and once tweaked a VERY nice little thing.:) My loading gate was a two piece affair riveted together while the Winchester original is a single milled part...which I like much better. Overall the Puma 92's are a good rifle that shows some shortcuts made to reduce the cost...which I'm fine with so long as I can do the final polishing and handwork that would have escalated the cost over my price point.

IN my case, I would not overlook a decently priced used Rossi 92 but not paying full freight for new on something I have to "fix". I restored old milsurps as a hobby with a few remaining projects left to complete but I know what I am getting into at the beginning--don't care to do so on items I buy new. Thus, I usually buy used with the understanding that I will be inheriting someone else's issues.
 
Could this gun have been disassembled and reassembled incorrectly? Just considering the obvious.
 
Aside from refinishing the stock and fore end on my .357 Rossi 92, I did three things to it which made it even more likeable. Burnished the loading port with the back of a drill bit to remove sharp edges, replaced the factory ejector spring with a Century C-530 hardware store spring, and made an ammo follower out of a .40 S&W case and a .44 Mag case by silver soldering them together, one in the other, using the plastic follower as a model.

It was necessary to cut the head off the .44 so the .40 could pass through it. The new ejector spring, aside from now laying empties at my feet, also lightened the action.

Total cost: next to nothing. Value: a whole lot.

OP: Good luck with yours!
 
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