Problems with feeding 38 special in my Rossi 92

Ugly', that's where the term came from for me as well.
You have a real assortment of scooters!
Moon

Stefan A said:

The issue is that an unfired round sometimes pops out at the same time an empty casing pops out. So, I guess and ejection problem?

Anyway, I have purchased some bullets from Missouri Bullet company that says for tube magazines. I will have the ability to play around with the OAL with these bullets.

Click to expand...

Trying these cartridges you've ordered sounds like a good plan.

My Rossi 92 has never done what your Rossi 92 rifle action is doing. I've always used factory .357 ammo in it. Never attempted .38 specials.

My Rossi 92, once loaded, chambers, fires, and ejects without issues. I use the center of the buck-horn rear sight as a ghost ring. The little notch I use if needing accuracy.

One thing that bothers some folk, not me, is that this Rossi lever ejects with a mighty force throwing the casing well away. So, I never put my face anywhere near the top of the action when ejecting unfired rounds -- it throws those very hard also.
.

I shot CAS with my '92 Rossi and it would occasionally do the same thing with .38 Special's. My solution was to seat the bullet out further, which eliminated the problem. But I don't like that solution, so I'm definitely going to check the cartridge stop spring.

35W

Old Hobo said:

.......is that this Rossi lever ejects with a mighty force throwing the casing well away. So, I never put my face anywhere near the top of the action when ejecting unfired rounds -- it throws those very hard also.
.

Click to expand...

Pull the bolt, lighten the ejector spring. It's not hard and makes a huge improvement.

I have owned one Rossi 92. Mine was .45 Colt. I used it for Cowboy Action Shooting. I bought it used from another CAS shooter online that said “I bought it new and only used it in one match. I did try to ‘slick it up a little’. It only has a hundred rounds through it.”
A piece of advice to everyone. Don’t buy used guns from CAS shooters without getting more info with your hands on the gun to look it over. Mine was a little more than “a little slicked up” and it had a helluva lot more than a hundred rounds through it.

Anyway…
I found that mine was overall length sensitive and would do the same as the OP’s. Once i figured that out it and fixed all the “slickin’ up” Nimrod did it worked just fine for about 300 rounds and then it started doing it again.
I did some research and learned that sometimes the cartridge guides need shimming. What I couldn’t find was what the dimension of the distance of the spread between the cartridge guides should be, nor could i figure out a way to determine which side needed shimming or if both needed shimming and by how much.
So, I went to Harbor Freight and got a couple of sets of feeler gauges to use as shim stock.
I made up 25 dummy rounds to cycle the action.
I cut numerous shims with my Dremel tool using the cartridge guide dimensions and just as I got ready to do a whole bunch of trial and error testing a Cowboy Shooter buddy of mine said “Try a .005” shim on the right side cartridge guide. That’s what fixed mine.” So i did and it worked great.

Also, mine was bullet shape sensitive. RNFP bullets worked great. Round nose would occasionally hang up a little. The nose would catch on some factory rounds. Probably a length issue but something to consider. Mine fed Hornady Leverevolution ammo like a champ.

Good Luck snd i hope you get yours fixed.

I had two 357 rossi that cycled anything I fed them in 38. The suggestions above and some work by a competent gunsmith can assist. I cant remember the root cause of live round ejecting with spent cases but I hear the cowboy action guys occasionally refer to this issue , particularly at high speeds, aka when they are cycling a couple rounds a second. Try over at SASS Wire forums too, these are the guys who tune and race their guns in competition.

might take a look at this youtube video: (2) Fixing my Rossi R92 .357 feeding problem - YouTube

I saw a Miroku Winchester 92 that was marked ".357Magnum Only". (or something like that) Perhaps that might be good advice for Rossi. For people who have to shoot .38 special for some reason, maybe produce a rifle specifically for .38 Special. Then the problem might go away. !!! It would sure eliminate 80% of the critiques of Rossi Rifles. Just a thought.

35 Whelen said:

I shot CAS with my '92 Rossi and it would occasionally do the same thing with .38 Special's. My solution was to seat the bullet out further, which eliminated the problem. But I don't like that solution, so I'm definitely going to check the cartridge stop spring.

35W

Click to expand...

My question is, as always, if one is reloading anyway, why even use .38 Special cases???

Ugly Sauce said:

My question is, as always, if one is reloading anyway, why even use .38 Special cases???

Click to expand...

First, because .38 Special brass is plentiful and CHEAP. Second, I enjoy finding solutions to problems such as this, then applying them.

35W

Well, I won't argue with that. I still think Rossi would be smart to mark the caliber like on the Winchester, and then the problem of using .38 Special would be on the consumer and not Rossi. !!??!!

Is there a big price difference between .38 and .357 brass? Seems like one can accrue plenty of .357 brass, I've got a lot that I've picked up off the ground....dang! I'm arguing!

Well, checking prices at Grafs, .38 is two dollars and thirty cents less than .357 per 50. So, two bucks is two bucks I guess. Think I will just stick to .357 brass if I want a light load.

Ugly Sauce said:

Well, checking prices at Grafs, .38 is two dollars and thirty cents less than .357 per 50. So, two bucks is two bucks I guess. Think I will just stick to .357 brass if I want a light load.

Click to expand...

Buying new .38 Special brass would be akin to buying new .223 or 9mm brass. The cheapest .38 brass Graf's offers is 26¢ apiece when once fired sells for 6¢ or 7¢ (or less) apiece on Gunbroker.

Back to the problem with the rifle. After I started CAS with my Rossi, I slicked it up too and while the action job made it run like a top, that's when it started flipping the cartridges out. My solution was to seat the bullet out, but now I'll shim the right cartridge guide.

35W

Oh yeah, you are a high volume shooter, that makes a more bigger difference. I don't shoot my Rossi very much, (but carried often!) and have tons of .357 brass. I only tired one single factory .38 Special load, and only about ten shots, and it functioned fine. Those were the only .38's she's ever tasted. (but being a used gun, who knows what the P.O. fed the poor girl. Maybe .38S&W...wonder how those functioned)

This past weekend I tried my Ross-madei Legacy Sports Puma with .357 Magnum 158gr jacketed soft point and .38 Special 125gr jacketed hollowpoint +P.
No feed problems.
.38 Spl Wadcutters and the short .38 Colt work if you use them in singleshot mode.
To get a cartridge into the tube (past the cartridge stop so it dosn't block the cartridge carrier/lifter) requires a longer cartridge than .38 Spl WC or the short .38 Colt.

The cartridge guides are not the only thing that can cause an ejection of a loaded round along with the fired case. An excessively strong mag tube spring will do it as well.

If you pull the mag tube and remove the spring, and lay them next to each other, the spring shouldn't be more than about 3" longer than the tube. If it is, cut off a few coils, reassemble and cycle the action with dummy rounds or snap caps. If it still occurs, cut off a few more coils and try again, but don't go to far. It needs to be about 3" longer than the tube.

This is also a good opportunity to change out the plastic mag follower with a steel one.

A side benefit is that this will also make it a little easier on your thumb when loading.

Ugly Sauce said:

My question is, as always, if one is reloading anyway, why even use .38 Special cases???

Click to expand...

cheaper, less powder use, fun, doing things the hard way, all of the above for me