Rossi M92 38/357

[wamj2008]

Hello all.

Finally fired my Rossi M92 today that I bought back in January or so. I got a 16" Carbine in .38/.357. It's a handy little gun and shot quite well. The rifle was a good "pointer." I bought this gun in the hopes that it would be "ban proof," and not a target of any misguided assault weapons ban. Heck, this kind of gun was the original high capacity assault weapon.

The only problem was that the hollowpoint cartridges had a shorter overall length, and so they would not chamber. When cycling the action, they flew right out through the top of the gun! The FMJ loads were long enough to cycle and chamber properly. I was only shooting .38's and do not have any .357 on hand but I am hoping that the latter's length will help it chamber.

 

[BCRider]

If you slow down a little in the lever cycle it should do fine with the shorter .38's. The action handles the rounds in a fairly violent manner. In particular the elevator snaps up at the very end of the cycle with a helluva snap. It's that snap that points the rounds up nose high. But if you're just a little more gentle and slow it should do fine.

On the other hand you're right that it's not all that tolerant of the shorter loads. You can get really aggressive with the longer .357 loads and it handles them just fine.

 

[GRIZ22]

BCRider is correct. The only thing I can add is shooting FMJ loads in a tubular magazine is not the best idea. The FMJ bullet may start a chain reaction detonating the primer in front of it. Some will say the light recoil will not cause this to happen but why chance it.

 

[HoosierQ]

BCRider is correct. The only thing I can add is shooting FMJ loads in a tubular magazine is not the best idea. The FMJ bullet may start a chain reaction detonating the primer in front of it. Some will say the light recoil will not cause this to happen but why chance it.

The .38 special FMJs I've seen are mighty blunt. Between the soft recoil and the lack of anything remotely resembling a spitzer bullet, I should think .38 FMJ (or for that matter .357 FMJ) would be fine.

 

[GRIZ22]

You can remove all possibility of a primer detonation in a tube magazine or take some, however slight, chance. Take your pick.

 

[35 Whelen]

Welcome to the world of Rossi levers. I bought my wife a '92 for CAS. At first it fed any .38's fine then as time went on, it became intolerant of them. I finally (and grudgingly) started seating my handloaded .38 bullets out a little more and the problems went away. Ironically it feeds .357's loaded with long, blunt heavy SWC's without the slightest problem.
Personally, I want to buy a rifle and SHOOT it...not lever it this way or that so it will feed better.
Other than that, they're nice little rifles for the money.

35W

Oh, regarding the RNFMJ's in a tubular magazine, as my dear old mother used to say "Don't borrow trouble." which means stop worrying about things that aren't going to happen.

 

[BCRider]

Whelan, I suspect that your wife simply got better that quickly.

A buddy's wife joined us in cowboy shooting this past spring. We got her a Rossi so she would have her own rifle and the "tolerance" for .38's lasted for just under half a day. Being a new gun she was a little slower for the first three stages. Then as the confidence built the firing rate went up and the jams began. She started out slow and hesitant but she's been shocking all of us with how she's progressing in leaps and bounds. And it's great fun to see the grins on her face at the end of a good stage!

The thing is that it'll feed .38's just fine all day long as long as the lever isn't snapped forward with a flick and provided there's about a tenth to a quarter second pause with the lever fully forward before it's brought back.

But that's simply and apparently too much to hope for when the gun is so much fun to shoot or there's a guy with a shot timer hovering nearby....

 

[Texan Scott]

Heavier cast lead round nose 38s like American Eagle 158gr have a longer COAL, heavier nose, and a nice round profile. Give something like that a try for your cheap 38 range fodder.

 

[stanger04]

I maybe wrong but wouldn't. A corbon powrball help with length when looking at hollow points. Also I had a 35 rem lever and it basically had fmj in the tube with no issue as I was using Buffalo Bore heavy rounds. They have a harder primer though I think.

 

[Riomouse911]

Rossi .38/.357 feeding issues have been around for a long time. I think they're like English cars; some work very well, some don't work at all...and the rest will give you occasional fits without lots of TLC.

I had one that just would not feed .38's, and was balky with .357 loads. I took it in to Walker /47 for some work on it, but the gun still never would feed that well.

It's too bad, because I loved the caliber and the gun was a real looker....but because it was unreliable I sold it off. Hopefully yours will be a winner!

 

[MCgunner]

Mine was a little stiff at first. After 25 years, it's slick as snot. Feeds all manor of .38 and .357 just fine. Never had it worked on, just used it.

Steve's guns (Port Arther, Texas) is the guru of the 92. Not sure there's a 92 ever made that he couldn't slick up for ya.